'Charlie Chaplin' (Funny Wonder, 7 August 1915).
Bertie Brown was a prolific early 20th-century British comic artist, best-known as the creator of several celebrity comics based on popular stage, radio and film stars. His most notable and longest-running series in this niche was 'Charlie Chaplin' (1915-1944). Brown was the first British artist and second artist in general to draw a comic about Chaplin. Other signature series by Brown were the gag comics about the stray dog 'Homeless Hector' (1908-1953), which ran in Illustrated Chips, and the family gag comics 'Pa Perkins and His Son Percy' (Illustrated Chips, 1922-1958) and 'Dad Walker and his Son Wally' (Larks, 1927-1940). For over 50 years, Brown was a staff artist of the magazines published by the Amalgamated Press. He was notable for for his striking portrayals of contemporary types and settings, making his work an interesting reflection of the social life of the time.
'Homeless Hector' (18 January 1947).
Early life and career
Albert Thacker Brown, nicknamed "Bertie", was born in 1887 in Epsom, Surrey, United Kingdom. He was educated at council schools in Sutton and Brockley, and won an art scholarship for the Slade School of Art. However, he never enrolled there, because he had to earn a living for his large family. Brown started to work at the blueprint department of Elliott's in Lewisham. In his spare time, he self-studied the comics of Tom Browne and G.M. Payne, whose graphic influence in visible in most of his early comics. Later, he would apply a more hasty and sketchy drawing style.
Homeless Hector
Brown published his first work for the comics weekly Scraps by James Henderson & Sons, and became a staff artist for Alfred Harmsworth's Amalgamated Press in 1908. His first original comic strip was about the stray dog 'Homeless Hector' was published in the magazine Illustrated Chips. It was a regular feature right until the magazine's final issue of 12 September 1953.
The Brownie Boys
Brown also worked for magazines like Merry and Bright, Comic Cuts, Butterfly and Rainbow. In 1914, he created 'The Brownie Boys' for Rainbow, a feature which was quickly taken over by Freddie Crompton.
Jolly Joe Jinks
Brown also made illustrations for Puck magazine, including its first color cover (1913) in the Christmas issue which featured the story 'Xmas adventures of Jolly Joe Jinks'.
'Xmas Adventures of Jolly Joe Jinks' (13 December 1913).
Charlie Chaplin
On 7 August 1915, Brown's 'Charlie Chaplin' comic first saw print in issue #72 of Funny Wonder. Chaplin was, of course, a world famous and hugely popular film comedian, but in England the London-born Hollywood actor was also regarded as a national treasure, explaining why Chaplin celebrity comics did well in the United Kingdom. Brown got the idea for a celebrity comic about Chaplin after having watched a comedy short starring the comedian and suggested it to an Amalgamated Press editor. 'Charlie Chaplin' remained a popular front page comic in Funny Wonder for almost 30 years (!). Most episodes were drawn by Brown, but sometimes Freddie Adkins filled in when the artist needed some time off. Brown did think up the dialogues, but the captions were usually provided by the staff of Funny Wonder.
It's often said that Brown was the first artist to draw a comic strip based on Charlie Chaplin. However, on 29 March 1915, U.S. comic artist Stuart Carothers already launched a comic strip about Chaplin: 'Charlie Chaplin Comic Capers' (1915), published in The Chicago Herald. It ran until his untimely death a few months later and was continued by two cartoonists named Warren and Ramsey, later followed by Elzie Segar from 1915 until 1917. Though Bertie Brown can claim the title as the first British artist to draw a Charlie Chaplin-themed comic. And while the U.S. Chaplin comic was eventually discontinued, Brown's Chaplin comic kept running for three decades.
'Charlie Chaplin' comic strip, The Funny Wonder issue #157, 24 March 1917.
Comics after World War I
During the First World War, Brown served in the Royal Field Artillery. After the war, he reassumed his work as an artist for publications like Bubbles, Rainbow, Puck, Jester, Butterfly, Funny Wonder, Chips, Comic Cuts and Jolly Comic. His main serials include 'Our Kinema Couple' (Funny Wonder, 1919), 'Pa Perkins and His Son Percy' (Illustrated Chips, 1922-1958), 'Dad Walker and his Son Wally' (Larks, 1927-1940), 'Constable Cuddlecook' (Jester, 1920s-1940), 'Jessie Joy' (The Jolly Jester/The Wonder, 1923-1932), 'Smiler and Smudge' (Butterfly, 1926-40) and 'Pinhead and Pete' (Comic Cuts, 1940-1951).
'Pa Perkins and His Son Percy' featured a mustached father and his son, usually ending in disaster for Pa Perkins.
In 1928, Bertie Brown drew 'Jumbo Jim and Brother Tim' for Sunbeam. It starred two young elephants and their guardian Uncle. These are however but a few of his many creations.
'Constable Cuddlecook' (1932).
Throughout his career, Brown has also made a variety of short-lived features, including 'John Willie's Jackdaw', (1911), 'Nibby Nugget' (1911), Peter Parsnips (1911), 'Marmaduke Maxim' (1912), 'Coffdrop College (1912), 'Herr Kutz' (1913), 'Cyril Slapdab (1913), 'Willy & Wally' (1914, a rip-off of Rudolph Dirks' 'Katzenjammer Kids'), 'Ragged Reggie' (1914), 'Angel and Her Playmates' (1915), 'Gussy Goosegog' (1915), 'Sally Cinders' (1915), 'Corny Cachou' (1916), 'Rushing Rupert' (1916), 'Dandy and Dinky' (1918), 'Pimple' (1920), 'Moonlight Moggie'(1920), 'Annie Seed' (1920), 'Wizzo the Wizard' (1921), 'Piggy and Wiggy' (1921), 'Billy and Buster' (1922), 'Abie the A.B.' (1923), 'Merry Boys of Dingle School' (Comic Life, 1925), 'Prairie Pranks' (Larks, 1927), 'Skinny and Scotty' (1928), 'Jolly Uncle Joe' (1930), 'Snappy Sammy' (1931), 'Nelson Twigg' (1932), 'Kitty, Ken and Koko' (Sparkler, 1934), 'Captain Skittle' (1935), 'Ping the Panda' (1939), 'Little Teddy Tring' (Tip Top, 1940), 'Troddles and Tonkytonk' (1941) and 'It's That Man Again' (1945).
'Smiler and Smudge' (Butterfly, 14 May 1938).
Celebrity comics
Brown drew several other celebrity comics for magazines like Jolly Comic, Radio Fun, Film Fun and TV Fun, most notably in the 1940s and 1950s. Among the many comedians and other performers portrayed in a comic strip by Bertie Brown are Harry Weldon (1921), Will Hay (1936), Richard Hassett (1940), Vic Oliver (1941), Petula Clark (1945), Jimmy Durante (1945, 1959), Charlie Chester (1946), Gracie Fields (1948), Derek Roy (1948), Joy Nichols and Dick Bentley (1949), Sid Fields (1950), Reg Dixon (1950), Arthur English (1951), Mustava Bunn (1952), Red Skelton (1953), The Beverley Sisters (1953), Diana Decker (1953), Martin & Lewis (1954), Frankie Howerd (1956), Shirley Eaton (1956) and Harry Secombe (1958).
Celebrity comic starring Arthur English, from Radio Fun, 20 January 1951.
Final years, death and legacy
Brown retired in 1958 and passed away in Croydon, Surrey in 1974. His oeuvre has been estimated at about a million comic frames, yet in all those years, Bertie Brown never once signed his name. Amalgamated Press had a policy of anonymity for artists. Had they been more generous, Bertie Brown would surely be more hallowed in the world of comic art.
'Dick Bentley, Joy Nichols and Professor Jimmy Edwards', 24 September 1949.