Juanita Hamel Early Fowle (April 27, 1891 – July 12, 1939) was an American artist and writer whose syndicated stories and illustrations appeared in newspapers across the United States in the 1910s and 1920s.
Early life
editJuanita Hamel was born in DeSoto, Missouri, the daughter of Frederick G. Hamel and Lucile McCormack Hamel (later Lucile Hamel Craven). She studied at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts, part of Washington University in St. Louis.[1]
Career
edit
By 1916, Hamel was employed as an artist at the St. Louis Times. Soon after, she moved to Chicago and joined the staff at the Chicago Herald. She moved to New York City by 1920. Her illustrations, often young pretty women with voluminous hair,[2][3][4] were syndicated nationally through the Hearst Newspaper Feature Syndicate.[5] She also illustrated magazines and sheet music.[6][7] Her style is sometimes considered as influenced by comic artist Nell Brinkley.[8]
She was quoted in 1921, summarizing her career path to that date:
I landed my first job on the St. Louis Times, and covered all sorts of assignments, from murder trials to interviewing Mrs. Woodrow Wilson. Then I went to the Chicago Herald where I wrote fiction in serial and short story form. Another short step and I was in New York drawing for the Newspaper Feature Service.[9]
Fiction by Hamel included The Girls of the Second Floor Back (serialized in 1916)[10] and The Straight Girl on the Crooked Path (serialized in 1917).[11]
Personal life
editJuanita Hamel married twice. She married John Vinton "Tim" Early,[8] a fellow newspaper illustrator, in 1921.[12] She was widowed when Early died in 1925.[13] She later married Alison Fowle, an English lord, and lived in Hamilton, Bermuda, with regular visits back to the United States. She died there in 1939, aged 48 years.[14] Illustrations by Hamel are in the Swann Collection of the Library of Congress.[5]
References
edit- ^ Alex Jay, "Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: Juanita Hamel" Stripper's Guide (December 4, 2013).
- ^ Juanita Hamel, "Pearl" Norwalk Hour (July 26, 1922): 8.
- ^ Juanita Hamel, "When They All Come Home" Evening News (February 1, 1919): 12. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Juanita Hamel, "Outrivalled" Lincoln Evening Journal (July 1, 1925): 7. via Newspapers.com
- ^ a b Sara Duke, Biographical Sketches of Cartoonists and Illustrators in the Swann Collection of the Library of Congress (Lulu.com 2014): 139. ISBN 9781304858887
- ^ Dorothy Dale, "How to Be an Old Maid" Chicago Sunday Herald Fiction Magazine (October 21, 1917), illustrated by Juanita Hamel.
- ^ "Famous Cupid Cartoons" Journal and Courier (June 13, 1921): 1. via Newspapers.com
- ^ a b "Newspaper Artists' Wedding Announced" Pittsburgh Press (August 6, 1921): 17. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Our New Artists" Iowa City Press-Citizen (September 28, 1921): 6. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Juanita Hamel, "The Girls of the Second Floor Back" San Francisco Chronicle (October 15, 1916): 22. via Newspapers.com
- ^ Juanita Hamel, "The Straight Girl on the Crooked Path" Winnipeg Tribune (May 5, 1917): 58. via Newspapers.com
- ^ "Artist Home from Europe" Fourth Estate (October 22, 1922): 20.
- ^ Obituaries, Pittsburgh Daily Post (October 7, 1925): 9.
- ^ "Mrs. Allison Fowle, Former Newspaper Artist, Dies" St. Louis Post-Dispatch (July 12, 1939): 17. via Newspapers.com
External links
edit- A photograph of Juanita Hamel painting at an easel outdoors in Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1929, in the Alton H. Blackington Collection of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries
- Trina Robbins, "Women in Comics: An Introductory Guide" Archived 2022-08-15 at the Wayback Machine National Association of Comic Art Educators.
- Trina Robbins and Catherine Yronwode, Women and the Comics (Eclipse Books 1985).
- Dave Strickler, Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index (Comics Access 1995).
- Allen Holtz, American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide (University of Michigan Press 2012).