By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — Notable work by many of the cartoonists who have called Fairfield County home over the last century are showcased in two new exhibits at the Westport Library.

On display are cartoons by: Dik Browne (“Haggar the Horrible”); Mort Walker (“Beetle Bailey”); John Cullen Murphy (“Prince Valiant”); Leonard Starr (“Little Orphan Annie”); Jack Tippit (Henry); Mel Casson (“Sparky”); Stan Drake (“The Heart of Juliet Jones”) and more.

“Cartoon County: The Golden Age of Cartooning in Connecticut,” featuring more than 40 original cartoons from Westport Public Art Collections (WestPAC) is a tribute to local cartoonists, both current and past. It is displayed in the Sheffer Gallery.

“The State of Cartooning,”in the South Gallery, features work by active members of the Connecticut Chapter of the National Cartoonists Society.

“We have kind of a look back and a look ahead,” said Carole Erger-Fass, the library’s exhibit curator.

Guest curator for the exhibits is Brian Walker, from a cartooning family that included his father, the late Mort Walker. Brian Walker and several of Mort Walker’s sons continued their father’s legacy, creating new comic strips  for “Beetle Bailey” and “Hi and Lois.”

Brian Walker, a comics historian, gave a talk about the history of cartooning in the Fairfield County area for the exhibits’ opening Sept. 10. He is the author of “The Comics: A Complete Collection” and “The Comics since 1945.”

The presence of so many cartoonists living and working in Connecticut created “an extended family of colorful characters,” he said.

The cartooning community enjoyed playing golf together at the Longshore Golf Course, hanging out at Max’s art supply store on Post Road East and even bowled together. Although they came from Wilton, Weston and Greenwich, as well as Westport, they often were seen around town. Mario’s Restaurant in Saugatuck adjacent to the railroad station was a favorite spot, where cartoonists gathered right off the train after delivering their cartoons to New York publishers, Walker said. 

He traced the history of cartooning in the area, showing numerous old photos, starting with the 1900s. Among the earliest was Westporter Harold Gray, who created “Little Orphan Annie,” and Helen Hokinson, a New Yorker magazine staff cartoonist at a time when few women were in the field.

Other famous cartoons created locally in the 1930s included “Flash Gordon” by Alex Raymond and “Nancy” by Ernie Bushmiller.

Walker also spoke about Westport cartoonists in the 1960s and ’70s, recognizing their contributions to the art world. They include longtime Westporter Bill Yates, comic strip editor for King Features Syndicate, who Walker called “the dean of cartoon country,” and Westport art teacher and art historian Burt Chernow, who started WestPAC in 1964. The collection now numbers nearly 2,000 artworks.

In the 1970s and ’80s, several Westport artists specialized in editorial cartoons, with a political bent, including Gil Fox and Howard Munce, Walker said.

Brian Walker’s cartooning career began in childhood, following in the footsteps of his father Mort, who started selling cartoons as a young man, creating “Beetle Bailey” in 1950. He died in 2018, and his sons continued their father’s work. 

Several large cartoon characters are displayed in the Sheffer Gallery, cavorting around the framed works on exhibit. They are large-scale reproductions of Mort Walker’s drawings in his book, “The Lexicon of Comicana,” and chosen by his son for the Westport exhibit.

“All cartoonists have different ways of telling stories,” Brian Walker said. 

“Cartoon County: The Golden Age of Cartooning in Connecticut” and “The State of Cartooning” are on exhibit at the Westport Library, 20 Jesup Road, through Dec. 10. They can be viewed during regular library hours: Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Call 203-291-4800.

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Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman and has taught journalism at New York and Southern Connecticut State universities.