May 5 is Cartoonists Day! May 3-9 is Cartoon Appreciation Week! Here are some ways you can celebrate... Read the comics pages every day! Rent an animated movie! Send a card or a fan letter to the cartoonist that draws your favorite comic strip! (Click here for a directory of cartoonists' e-mail addresses.) Write a letter to your local newspaper, telling them which comic strips you enjoy most, and why! (Click here for a directory of American newspaper and magazine e-mail addresses.) Visit a comic book shop and try something new! (Saturday, May 5, 2007 is also Free Comic Book Day at many participating shops!) Send a cartoon greeting card to a friend! Buy a paperback collection of a comic strip you enjoy… or one you never read before! Visit the library and read about the history of comics and cartoons! Try drawing your own comic strip or cartoon! Recapture your youthful sense of wonder... read the comics with a child! Take a cartoonist to lunch! BOOKSTORES, LIBRARIES, AND ART STORES can prepare special displays of books on cartooning and collections of comic strips. A local cartoonist could be invited to give a “chalk talk” or to autograph books. RADIO STATIONS AND NEWSPAPERS can interview cartoonists, or present stories on the impact and popularity of cartoons. Programming a block of cartoon-related music could be fun… the Coasters’ Charlie Brown, the Royal Guardsmen’s Snoopy vs. the Red Baron, the Hollywood Argyles’Alley Oop, Five For Fighting’s Superman’s Song, and so on.

You can download a brochure to send to your favorite bookstore, library, art supply store, radio station, or newspaper to remind them that May 5 is Cartoonists Day, and suggest ways to acknowledge the occasion! Click on the icon below to download the brochure in MS-Word DOC format. Print it out on both sides of a sheet of good quality paper, and fold along the lines. Tape it closed, address it, add a stamp, and drop it in the mailbox! Thanks for helping to make Cartoonist Day an occasion to remember!

On Sunday, May 5, 1895, readers of the New York World discovered something new and different in their morning papers. Printed in full color was a drawing by artist Richard Outcault, depicting the antics of a rowdy group of street urchins. Prominent among them was a big-eared, barefoot little boy wearing a grimy nightshirt and a mischievous grin.
This was the first color installment of the cartoon feature Down Hogan’s Alley, and the lad was named Mickey Dugan, though he soon became known to the public as the Yellow Kid. He was soon to be the first commercially successful cartoon icon. His amazing popularity led to scores of imitators, and it quickly became clear that comic strips were powerful tools that could sell newspapers… and many other products.
Eventually, comics themselves became a marketable product. In 1933, Famous Funnies was the first comic book sold through newsstands. Priced at ten cents, it reprinted several popular Sunday newspaper comics of the day… Mutt and Jeff, Joe Palooka, Dixie Dugan, Reg'lar Fellers, Tailspin Tommy, The Bungle Family and The Nebbs. It was a great success. Soon, many other publishers started producing comic books with original characters and material. Detective Comics in 1937 was the first comic book to feature all new stories based on a single theme.
Almost a century after the Yellow Kid made his debut, the National Cartoonists Society proclaimed May 5 to be Cartoonists Day, a special day to recognize the warmth, fun, humor, and thought-provoking commentary that cartoonists have brought to our lives. Cartoonists reach us every day, through newspaper comic strips, magazine gag panels, greeting cards, comic books, animated television shows and movies, advertising, and websites.
Cartoonists are entertainers who rarely, if ever, get a chance to hear the laughter and applause of their audience. Take advantage of the day to let your favorites know how much you enjoy their work. Send a card, fan letter, or e-mail in care of your local newspaper.

  © 2007 Robert A. Buethe