Toonerville Folks
Datenot dated
Artist
Fontaine Talbot Fox
(American cartoonist, 1884–1964)
Illustration CitationNewspaper cartoon begun in 1908 in the Chicago Post. Subsequently distributed by Wheeler Syndicate and, beginning in the 1930s, by McNaught Syndicate. Date and place of publication not identified
MediumInk and graphite on bristol board
Dimensionscomposition: 10 × 9 1/2 in. (25.4 × 24.1 cm)
sheet: 14 9/16 × 11 7/16 in. (37 × 29.1 cm)
sheet: 14 9/16 × 11 7/16 in. (37 × 29.1 cm)
Credit LineGift of Helen Farr Sloan, 1987
Object number1987-98
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextToonerville Folks was a single-panel newspaper cartoon (with longer from on Sundays) begun in the Chicago Post in 1908 and then syndicated nationally until 1955. It featured caricatures of antic suburbanites and farmers who frequented the Toonerville Trolley, which met all the commuter trains. The 53 recurring characters constituted the largest cast of any cartoon of the period. Because of its popularity, Toonerville Folks generated 17 silent films, 55 comdey shorts, and 3 animated cartoons; several of the characters appeared as spokepeople in advertisements of products such as Kellogg's cereals and Chef Boyardee food. Fontaine Fox drew the cartoon so that elements of the composition reflected the oddities of Toonerville and its inhabitants. Telephone poles are tilted; aerial perspective gives the viewer a sense of hovering bird-like over the scenes.
