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The Yellow Kid

January 01, 1970

For the con man Joseph "Yellow Kid" Weil, see Joseph Weil.

The Yellow Kid (Mickey Dugan[1]) is an American comic-strip character that appeared from 1895 to 1898 in Joseph Pulitzer's New York World, and later William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. Created and drawn by Richard F. Outcault in the comic strip Hogan's Alley (and later under other names as well), it was one of the first Sunday supplement comic strips in an American newspaper, although its graphical layout had already been thoroughly established in political and other, purely-for-entertainment cartoons.[2] Outcault's use of word balloons in The Yellow Kid influenced the basic appearance and use of balloons in subsequent newspaper comic strips and comic books.

The Yellow Kid
The Yellow Kid
Publication information
PublisherJoseph Pulitzer's New York World
William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal
First appearance17 February 1895
Created byRichard F. Outcault
In-story information
Full nameMickey Dugan
Handwritten claim for copyright on "The Yellow Dugan Kid" to the Librarian of Congress on September 7, 1896

The Yellow Kid is also famous for its connection to the coining of the term "yellow journalism".[3] The idea of "yellow journalism" referred to stories that were sensationalized for the sake of selling papers, and was so named after the "Yellow Kid" cartoons. Although a cartoon, Outcault's work aimed its humor and social commentary at Pulitzer's adult readership. The strip has been described as "a turn-of-the-century theater of the city, in which class and racial tensions of the new urban, consumerist environment were acted out by a mischievous group of New York City kids from the wrong side of the tracks".[4]

Character edit

The Yellow Kid was not an individual but a type. When I used to go about the slums on newspaper assignments I would encounter him often, wandering out of doorways or sitting down on dirty doorsteps. I always loved the Kid. He had a sweet character and a sunny disposition, and was generous to a fault. Malice, envy or selfishness were not traits of his, and he never lost his temper.[5]
— Richard F. Outcault, from a 1902 interview

The Yellow Kid was a bald, snaggle-toothed, barefoot boy who wore an oversized yellow nightshirt and hung around in a slum alley typical of certain areas of squalor that existed in late 19th-century New York City. Hogan's Alley was filled with equally odd characters, mostly other children. With a goofy grin, the Kid habitually spoke in a ragged, peculiar slang, which was printed on his shirt, a device meant to lampoon advertising billboards.[3]

The Yellow Kid's head was drawn wholly shaved, as if recently having been ridden of lice, a common sight among children in New York's tenement ghettos at the time. His nightshirt, a hand-me-down from an older sister, was white or pale blue in the first color strips.[6]

Publication history edit

 
Richard F. Outcault's last Hogan's Alley cartoon for Truth magazine, Fourth Ward Brownies, was published on 9 February 1895 and reprinted in the New York World newspaper on 17 February 1895, beginning one of the first comic strips in an American newspaper. The character later known as the Yellow Kid had minor supporting roles in the strip's early panels. This one refers to The Brownies characters popularized in books and magazines by artist Palmer Cox.
 
A May 1895 New York World appearance of the character (lower right, above Outcault's signature) who, here, is not yet wearing yellow.
 
A year and a half later, Outcault was drawing the Yellow Kid for Hearst's New York Journal in a full-page color Sunday supplement as McFadden's Row of Flats. In this 15 November 1896 Sunday panel, word balloons have appeared, the action is openly violent and the drawing has become mixed and chaotic.

The character who would later become the Yellow Kid first appeared on the scene in a minor supporting role in a cartoon panel published in Truth magazine in 1894 and 1895. The four different black-and-white single panel cartoons were deemed popular, and one of them, Fourth Ward Brownies, was reprinted on 17 February 1895 in Joseph Pulitzer's New York World, where Outcault worked as a technical drawing artist. The World published another, newer Hogan's Alley cartoon less than a month later, and this was followed by the strip's first color printing on 5 May 1895.[7] Hogan's Alley gradually became a full-page Sunday color cartoon with the Yellow Kid (who was also appearing several times a week) as its lead character.

In 1896, Outcault was hired away at a much higher salary to William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal where he drew the Yellow Kid in a new full-page color strip which was significantly violent and even vulgar compared to his first panels for Truth magazine. Because Outcault failed in his attempt to copyright the Yellow Kid, Pulitzer was able to hire George Luks to continue drawing the original (and now less popular) version of the strip for the World and hence the Yellow Kid appeared simultaneously in two competing papers for about a year.[8] Luks's version of the Yellow Kid introduced a pair of twins, Alex and George, also dressed in yellow nightshirts.[9] Outcault produced three subsequent series of Yellow Kid strips at the Journal, each lasting no more than four months:

  • McFadden's Row of Flats (18 October 1896 – 10 January 1897)
  • Around the World with the Yellow Kid – a strip that sent the Kid on a world tour in the manner of Nellie Bly (17 January – 30 May 1897)
  • A half-page strip which eventually adopted the title Ryan's Arcade (28 September 1897 – 23 January 1898).[1]

Publication of both versions stopped abruptly after only three years in early 1898, as circulation wars between the rival papers dwindled. Moreover, Outcault may have lost interest in the character when he realized he could not retain exclusive commercial control over it.[10] The Yellow Kid's last appearance is most often noted as 23 January 1898 in a strip about hair tonic. On 1 May 1898, the character was featured in a rather satirical cartoon called Casey Corner Kids Dime Museum but he was drawn as a bearded, balding old man wearing a green nightshirt which bore the words: "Gosh I've growed old in making dis collection."[11]

The Yellow Kid appeared sporadically in Outcault's later cartoon strips, most notably Buster Brown.[12]

Yellow journalism edit

The two newspapers that ran the Yellow Kid, Pulitzer's World and Hearst's Journal, quickly became known as the yellow kid papers. This was contracted to the yellow papers and the term yellow kid journalism was at last shortened to yellow journalism, describing the two newspapers' editorial practices of taking (sometimes even fictionalized) sensationalism and profit as priorities in journalism.[13][14][7]

Merchandising edit

The Yellow Kid's image was an early example of lucrative merchandising and appeared on mass market retail objects in the greater New York City area such as "billboards, buttons, cigarette packs, cigars, cracker tins, ladies' fans, matchbooks, postcards, chewing gum cards, toys, whiskey and many other products".[15] With the Yellow Kid's merchandising success as an advertising icon, the strip came to represent the crass commercial world it had originally lampooned.

Other versions edit

 
1902 poster for Gus Hill's stage production of McFadden's Flats

Entertainment entrepreneur Gus Hill staged vaudeville plays based on the comic strip.[16] His version of McFadden's Flats was made into films in 1927 and 1935.

The Yellow Kid made an appearance in the Marvel Universe in the Joss Whedon-written Runaways story (volume 2, issue 27).[17] In this take on the character, he exhibits superhuman powers.

In the Ziggy of 16 February 1990, Ziggy points to a smiling old man seated next to him on a park bench and says, "No kidding... You were The Yellow Kid!"[18]

Writer Chris Yambar and editorial cartoonist Randy Bish attempted to revive the series in 2020 as a comic book for the character's 125th anniversary,[19][20] in which The Yellow Kid is pulled to the modern day by a Magician, however only one issue was published before Yambar's death in March of 2021.[21]

Legacy edit

The Yellow Kid Awards are Italian comics awards presented by the International Cartoonists Exhibition[22] and distributed at the annual Italian comic book and gaming convention Lucca Comics & Games.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b The Yellow Kid 4 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine. The Ohio State University Libraries. Retrieved 1 December 2007
  2. ^ Wood, Mary (2004). The Yellow Kid on paper and stage, Contemporary illustrations. Retrieved October 17, 2007.
  3. ^ a b Quimby, Rachel (12 June 2009). . Back Story: The American History Guys (Virginia Foundation for the Humanities). Archived from the original on 15 August 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  4. ^ The Yellow Kid on paper and stage: Introduction. Retrieved 17 October 20
  5. ^ The Yellow Kid on paper and stage, Origins of the Kid, retrieved 23 March 2011
  6. ^ The Kid From Hogan's Alley, John Canemaker, New York Times Book Review. Retrieved 16 October 2007
  7. ^ a b Olson, Richard D. . Neponset.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2007.
  8. ^ Gordon, Ian (1998). Comic Strips and Consumer Culture, pp. 31–32. Retrieved on 2013-07-09 from [1]
  9. ^ . Archived from the original on 16 October 2015. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  10. ^ The Yellow Kid on paper and stage, Death of the Kid. Retrieved 17 October 2007
  11. ^ The Ohio State University Libraries, "Casey Corner Kids Dime Museum" 3 January 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 11 December 2007
  12. ^ Wood, Mary (2004). "Over the Bounding Main (Buster Brown Postcard)". R. F. Outcault Society's Yellow Kid Site. 10 December 2003. Retrieved October 17, 2007.
  13. ^ The Yellow Kid on paper and stage, Selling the kid. Retrieved 10 October 2014
  14. ^ The "New" Journalism, W. Joseph Campbell. Retrieved 10 October 2014
  15. ^ Wallace, Derek (18 July 2005). The Yellow Kid. Virtue Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 14, 18 July 2005. Retrieved on 2007-10-16 from Virtuemag.org 28 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Slide, Anthony (2012). "Gus Hill". The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 239. ISBN 978-1-61703-250-9. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  17. ^ Prada, Luis (5 January 2013). "6 Important Things You Won't Believe Were Invented in Comics". Cracked.com. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  18. ^ "Ziggy comic strip, February 16, 1990".
  19. ^ https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2020/01/23/the-yellow-kid-returns/
  20. ^ https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/cartoonist-writer-bring-back-iconic-comic-the-yellow-kid/
  21. ^ https://businessjournaldaily.com/pop-artist-chris-yambar-dead-at-59/
  22. ^ "Non-American Awards". Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved 22 December 2015.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yellow Kid.
  • Radio piece detailing the story behind the Yellow Kid, particularly his role in commercial advertising
  • The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum: Digital album of 88 Yellow Kid tearsheets from the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection
  • New York Times Book Review: "The Kid From Hogan's Alley" by John Canemaker
  • Yellow Kid Pinbacks
  • Yellow Kid at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
  • The Yellow Kid at Comic Vine

January 01, 1970
yellow, joseph, yellow, weil, joseph, weil, mickey, dugan, american, comic, strip, character, that, appeared, from, 1895, 1898, joseph, pulitzer, york, world, later, william, randolph, hearst, york, journal, created, drawn, richard, outcault, comic, strip, hog. For the con man Joseph Yellow Kid Weil see Joseph Weil The Yellow Kid Mickey Dugan 1 is an American comic strip character that appeared from 1895 to 1898 in Joseph Pulitzer s New York World and later William Randolph Hearst s New York Journal Created and drawn by Richard F Outcault in the comic strip Hogan s Alley and later under other names as well it was one of the first Sunday supplement comic strips in an American newspaper although its graphical layout had already been thoroughly established in political and other purely for entertainment cartoons 2 Outcault s use of word balloons in The Yellow Kid influenced the basic appearance and use of balloons in subsequent newspaper comic strips and comic books The Yellow KidThe Yellow KidPublication informationPublisherJoseph Pulitzer s New York WorldWilliam Randolph Hearst s New York JournalFirst appearance17 February 1895Created byRichard F OutcaultIn story informationFull nameMickey Dugan Handwritten claim for copyright on The Yellow Dugan Kid to the Librarian of Congress on September 7 1896 The Yellow Kid is also famous for its connection to the coining of the term yellow journalism 3 The idea of yellow journalism referred to stories that were sensationalized for the sake of selling papers and was so named after the Yellow Kid cartoons Although a cartoon Outcault s work aimed its humor and social commentary at Pulitzer s adult readership The strip has been described as a turn of the century theater of the city in which class and racial tensions of the new urban consumerist environment were acted out by a mischievous group of New York City kids from the wrong side of the tracks 4 Contents 1 Character 2 Publication history 3 Yellow journalism 4 Merchandising 5 Other versions 6 Legacy 7 See also 8 References 9 External linksCharacter editThe Yellow Kid was not an individual but a type When I used to go about the slums on newspaper assignments I would encounter him often wandering out of doorways or sitting down on dirty doorsteps I always loved the Kid He had a sweet character and a sunny disposition and was generous to a fault Malice envy or selfishness were not traits of his and he never lost his temper 5 Richard F Outcault from a 1902 interview The Yellow Kid was a bald snaggle toothed barefoot boy who wore an oversized yellow nightshirt and hung around in a slum alley typical of certain areas of squalor that existed in late 19th century New York City Hogan s Alley was filled with equally odd characters mostly other children With a goofy grin the Kid habitually spoke in a ragged peculiar slang which was printed on his shirt a device meant to lampoon advertising billboards 3 The Yellow Kid s head was drawn wholly shaved as if recently having been ridden of lice a common sight among children in New York s tenement ghettos at the time His nightshirt a hand me down from an older sister was white or pale blue in the first color strips 6 Publication history edit nbsp Richard F Outcault s last Hogan s Alley cartoon for Truth magazine Fourth Ward Brownies was published on 9 February 1895 and reprinted in the New York World newspaper on 17 February 1895 beginning one of the first comic strips in an American newspaper The character later known as the Yellow Kid had minor supporting roles in the strip s early panels This one refers to The Brownies characters popularized in books and magazines by artist Palmer Cox nbsp A May 1895 New York World appearance of the character lower right above Outcault s signature who here is not yet wearing yellow nbsp A year and a half later Outcault was drawing the Yellow Kid for Hearst s New York Journal in a full page color Sunday supplement as McFadden s Row of Flats In this 15 November 1896 Sunday panel word balloons have appeared the action is openly violent and the drawing has become mixed and chaotic The character who would later become the Yellow Kid first appeared on the scene in a minor supporting role in a cartoon panel published in Truth magazine in 1894 and 1895 The four different black and white single panel cartoons were deemed popular and one of them Fourth Ward Brownies was reprinted on 17 February 1895 in Joseph Pulitzer s New York World where Outcault worked as a technical drawing artist The World published another newer Hogan s Alley cartoon less than a month later and this was followed by the strip s first color printing on 5 May 1895 7 Hogan s Alley gradually became a full page Sunday color cartoon with the Yellow Kid who was also appearing several times a week as its lead character In 1896 Outcault was hired away at a much higher salary to William Randolph Hearst s New York Journal where he drew the Yellow Kid in a new full page color strip which was significantly violent and even vulgar compared to his first panels for Truth magazine Because Outcault failed in his attempt to copyright the Yellow Kid Pulitzer was able to hire George Luks to continue drawing the original and now less popular version of the strip for the World and hence the Yellow Kid appeared simultaneously in two competing papers for about a year 8 Luks s version of the Yellow Kid introduced a pair of twins Alex and George also dressed in yellow nightshirts 9 Outcault produced three subsequent series of Yellow Kid strips at the Journal each lasting no more than four months McFadden s Row of Flats 18 October 1896 10 January 1897 Around the World with the Yellow Kid a strip that sent the Kid on a world tour in the manner of Nellie Bly 17 January 30 May 1897 A half page strip which eventually adopted the title Ryan s Arcade 28 September 1897 23 January 1898 1 Publication of both versions stopped abruptly after only three years in early 1898 as circulation wars between the rival papers dwindled Moreover Outcault may have lost interest in the character when he realized he could not retain exclusive commercial control over it 10 The Yellow Kid s last appearance is most often noted as 23 January 1898 in a strip about hair tonic On 1 May 1898 the character was featured in a rather satirical cartoon called Casey Corner Kids Dime Museum but he was drawn as a bearded balding old man wearing a green nightshirt which bore the words Gosh I ve growed old in making dis collection 11 The Yellow Kid appeared sporadically in Outcault s later cartoon strips most notably Buster Brown 12 Yellow journalism editThe two newspapers that ran the Yellow Kid Pulitzer s World and Hearst s Journal quickly became known as the yellow kid papers This was contracted to the yellow papers and the term yellow kid journalism was at last shortened to yellow journalism describing the two newspapers editorial practices of taking sometimes even fictionalized sensationalism and profit as priorities in journalism 13 14 7 Merchandising editThe Yellow Kid s image was an early example of lucrative merchandising and appeared on mass market retail objects in the greater New York City area such as billboards buttons cigarette packs cigars cracker tins ladies fans matchbooks postcards chewing gum cards toys whiskey and many other products 15 With the Yellow Kid s merchandising success as an advertising icon the strip came to represent the crass commercial world it had originally lampooned Other versions edit nbsp 1902 poster for Gus Hill s stage production of McFadden s Flats Entertainment entrepreneur Gus Hill staged vaudeville plays based on the comic strip 16 His version of McFadden s Flats was made into films in 1927 and 1935 The Yellow Kid made an appearance in the Marvel Universe in the Joss Whedon written Runaways story volume 2 issue 27 17 In this take on the character he exhibits superhuman powers In the Ziggy of 16 February 1990 Ziggy points to a smiling old man seated next to him on a park bench and says No kidding You were The Yellow Kid 18 Writer Chris Yambar and editorial cartoonist Randy Bish attempted to revive the series in 2020 as a comic book for the character s 125th anniversary 19 20 in which The Yellow Kid is pulled to the modern day by a Magician however only one issue was published before Yambar s death in March of 2021 21 Legacy editThe Yellow Kid Awards are Italian comics awards presented by the International Cartoonists Exhibition 22 and distributed at the annual Italian comic book and gaming convention Lucca Comics amp Games See also edit nbsp Victorian era portal Hogan s Alley magazine Hogan s Alley Vancouver Ally Sloper Histoire de Mr Vieux Bois Max and Moritz The Katzenjammer Kids The Little Bears Little Nemo Platinum Age of Comic BooksReferences edit a b The Yellow Kid Archived 4 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine The Ohio State University Libraries Retrieved 1 December 2007 Wood Mary 2004 The Yellow Kid on paper and stage Contemporary illustrations Retrieved October 17 2007 a b Quimby Rachel 12 June 2009 The Adorable Origins of Yellow Journalism Back Story The American History Guys Virginia Foundation for the Humanities Archived from the original on 15 August 2012 Retrieved 25 January 2012 The Yellow Kid on paper and stage Introduction Retrieved 17 October 20 The Yellow Kid on paper and stage Origins of the Kid retrieved 23 March 2011 The Kid From Hogan s Alley John Canemaker New York Times Book Review Retrieved 16 October 2007 a b Olson Richard D R F Outcault The Father of the American Sunday Comics and the Truth About the Creation of the Yellow Kid Neponset com Archived from the original on 10 March 2016 Retrieved 17 October 2007 Gordon Ian 1998 Comic Strips and Consumer Culture pp 31 32 Retrieved on 2013 07 09 from 1 George Luks The Other Yellow Kid Artist Hogan s Alley 13 Archived from the original on 16 October 2015 Retrieved 16 October 2015 The Yellow Kid on paper and stage Death of the Kid Retrieved 17 October 2007 The Ohio State University Libraries Casey Corner Kids Dime Museum Archived 3 January 2007 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 11 December 2007 Wood Mary 2004 Over the Bounding Main Buster Brown Postcard R F Outcault Society s Yellow Kid Site 10 December 2003 Retrieved October 17 2007 The Yellow Kid on paper and stage Selling the kid Retrieved 10 October 2014 The New Journalism W Joseph Campbell Retrieved 10 October 2014 Wallace Derek 18 July 2005 The Yellow Kid Virtue Magazine Volume 1 Issue 14 18 July 2005 Retrieved on 2007 10 16 from Virtuemag org Archived 28 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Slide Anthony 2012 Gus Hill The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville Univ Press of Mississippi p 239 ISBN 978 1 61703 250 9 Retrieved 12 May 2014 Prada Luis 5 January 2013 6 Important Things You Won t Believe Were Invented in Comics Cracked com Retrieved 21 December 2013 Ziggy comic strip February 16 1990 https www dailycartoonist com index php 2020 01 23 the yellow kid returns https triblive com local westmoreland cartoonist writer bring back iconic comic the yellow kid https businessjournaldaily com pop artist chris yambar dead at 59 Non American Awards Hahn Library Comic Book Awards Almanac Retrieved 22 December 2015 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yellow Kid Radio piece detailing the story behind the Yellow Kid particularly his role in commercial advertising The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library amp Museum Digital album of 88 Yellow Kid tearsheets from the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection New York Times Book Review The Kid From Hogan s Alley by John Canemaker Yellow Kid Pinbacks Yellow Kid at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe The Yellow Kid at Comic Vine Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Yellow Kid amp oldid 1220770735 Legacy, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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