Ralph Fuller
Encyclopedia
Ralph Briggs Fuller was an American cartoonist best known for his long running comic strip
Oaky Doaks
, featuring the humorous adventures of a good-hearted knight in the Middle Ages. He signed the strips RB. Fuller.
Born in West Boothbay Harbor, Maine
, Fuller was 16 when he sold his first cartoon to Life
for $8. In the following mail, he received a letter from Life requesting the return of the $8 because they had previously used that gag. He did send back the $8. However, he soon sold Life another cartoon and followed with contributions to the New York World
s Fun supplement in 1910.
Fuller studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and went to work as a staff artist for the Chicago Daily News
. While he was at the Daily News, he received $100 for the first color picture ever published by Life. That triggered a desire to work in magazine illustration, and he moved to New York.
For years he contributed cartoons to Puck
, Judge, Collier's
, Harper's
, Liberty, Ballyhoo
, College Humor and The New Yorker
. He had his own feature, Fuller Humor, in Judge during the 1920s. With the collapse of Judge and other humor magazines, Fuller's freelance markets were diminishing, so he considered doing a comic strip. AP Newsfeatures
offered him a detective strip, but Fuller wanted to take a humorous approach.
Oaky Doaks was launched on June 17, 1935, many months before the start of Prince Valiant
. For two years, Fuller and McCleery collaborated (with no credit given to McCleery as scripter). Fuller eventually took over the writing as well as the art, along with other writing by M. J. Wing.
The Oaky Doaks Sunday strip
, which began in 1941, was initially drawn by Bill Dyer (who also worked on The Adventures of Patsy
) and later by Fuller. Oaky Doaks visited Camelot in the 1940s, but he later went to the Kingdom of Uncertainia, where he remained until the strip ended in 1961.
Fuller was also an accomplished watercolorist and a member of the Leonia, New Jersey
art colony. He drew Oaky Doaks from his home in Tenafly, New Jersey
, where his studio, painted light green and curtained in gold, overlooked his back lawn. In 1950, he reflected:
Oaky Doaks came to an end when the comics division of AP Newsfeatures folded in 1961. Fuller died two years later. Today, Oaky Doaks can be read at Steve Cottle
's I Love Comix Archive, which features various runs of the strip from 1937 to 1948.
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
Oaky Doaks
Oaky Doaks
Oaky Doaks was a popular newspaper comic strip distributed by AP Newsfeatures for more than 25 years. lt was illustrated by veteran magazine cartoonist Ralph Fuller and scripted by AP Newsfeatures comics editor William McCleery.-Characters and story:...
, featuring the humorous adventures of a good-hearted knight in the Middle Ages. He signed the strips RB. Fuller.
Born in West Boothbay Harbor, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, Fuller was 16 when he sold his first cartoon to Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
for $8. In the following mail, he received a letter from Life requesting the return of the $8 because they had previously used that gag. He did send back the $8. However, he soon sold Life another cartoon and followed with contributions to the New York World
New York World
The New York World was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers...
s Fun supplement in 1910.
Fuller studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and went to work as a staff artist for the Chicago Daily News
Chicago Daily News
The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper published between 1876 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.-History:The Daily News was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty in 1875 and began publishing early the next year...
. While he was at the Daily News, he received $100 for the first color picture ever published by Life. That triggered a desire to work in magazine illustration, and he moved to New York.
For years he contributed cartoons to Puck
Puck (magazine)
Puck was America's first successful humor magazine of colorful cartoons, caricatures and political satire of the issues of the day. It was published from 1871 until 1918.-History:...
, Judge, Collier's
Collier's Weekly
Collier's Weekly was an American magazine founded by Peter Fenelon Collier and published from 1888 to 1957. With the passage of decades, the title was shortened to Collier's....
, Harper's
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
, Liberty, Ballyhoo
Ballyhoo (magazine)
Ballyhoo was a humor magazine published by Dell, created by George T. Delacorte Jr., and edited by Norman Anthony , from 1931 until 1939, with a couple of attempts to resuscitate the magazine after the war between 1948 and 1954.In common with other magazines of the era it featured a central...
, College Humor and The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
. He had his own feature, Fuller Humor, in Judge during the 1920s. With the collapse of Judge and other humor magazines, Fuller's freelance markets were diminishing, so he considered doing a comic strip. AP Newsfeatures
AP Newsfeatures
AP Newsfeatures, aka AP Features, was the cartoon and comic strip division of Associated Press, which syndicated strips from 1930 to the early 1960s.In February 1930, I.M...
offered him a detective strip, but Fuller wanted to take a humorous approach.
Oaky Doaks
In 1935, Fuller had a syndicate offer to take over a top humor strip because it was believed the creator was planning to leave. However, Fuller had a tough decision to make, since AP Newsfeatures was auditioning several artists to draw Oaky Doaks, scripted by the syndicate's comics editor, Bill McCleery. Fuller recalled that AP handed him several pages of Oaky Doaks script to look over. He walked to the Roosevelt Hotel, where he sat in the lobby reading the script. When he finished, he had made his decision; he saw the comic possibilities of Oaky Doaks, and he also would have the opportunity to do a strip displaying his name as the artist.Oaky Doaks was launched on June 17, 1935, many months before the start of Prince Valiant
Prince Valiant
Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur, or simply Prince Valiant, is a long-run comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretch of that story now totals more than 3700 Sunday strips...
. For two years, Fuller and McCleery collaborated (with no credit given to McCleery as scripter). Fuller eventually took over the writing as well as the art, along with other writing by M. J. Wing.
The Oaky Doaks Sunday strip
Sunday strip
A Sunday strip is a newspaper comic strip format, where comic strips are printed in the Sunday newspaper, usually in a special section called the Sunday comics, and virtually always in color. Some readers called these sections the Sunday funnies...
, which began in 1941, was initially drawn by Bill Dyer (who also worked on The Adventures of Patsy
The Adventures of Patsy
The Adventures of Patsy is a newspaper comic strip which ran from 1935 to 1954. Created by Mel Graff, it was syndicated by AP Newsfeatures....
) and later by Fuller. Oaky Doaks visited Camelot in the 1940s, but he later went to the Kingdom of Uncertainia, where he remained until the strip ended in 1961.
Fuller was also an accomplished watercolorist and a member of the Leonia, New Jersey
Leonia, New Jersey
Leonia is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 8,937. It is located near the western approach to the George Washington Bridge....
art colony. He drew Oaky Doaks from his home in Tenafly, New Jersey
Tenafly, New Jersey
Tenafly is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 14,488. Tenafly is an affluent suburb of New York City....
, where his studio, painted light green and curtained in gold, overlooked his back lawn. In 1950, he reflected:
- I liked a sequence when Oaky was captured by the Vikings. They got over to the American Coast and got mixed up with the Indians. That gave me Vikings, and Indians as well as knighthood to burlesque. I just finished a Sunday sequence where there was a combination of pirates and Indians and buried gold, shipwrecks, cast-ashore-on-a-desert-island and anything a kid would want in a feature. I was sorry when I had to quit it. I think every man has a little of the knight in him... I think a situation is funnier than a gag—but if you get both, it's really fine. Maybe I'm trying to burlesque the serious adventure strips, I don't know.
Oaky Doaks came to an end when the comics division of AP Newsfeatures folded in 1961. Fuller died two years later. Today, Oaky Doaks can be read at Steve Cottle
Steve Cottle
Steve Cottle, Jr. , dedicated to the preservation of vintage comic strips, is also known as Mr. ilovecomix. In 2008, he founded the I Love Comix Archive and began to recruit vintage comic strip collectors as contributors, noting, "This is a collaborative effort to save and digitize old newspaper...
's I Love Comix Archive, which features various runs of the strip from 1937 to 1948.