The Irish Kid Wearing the Yellow Shirt that lived in Hogan’s Alley

DBF

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500px-YellowKid.jpeg


Meet Mickey Dugan (aka) “The Yellow Kid”
America’s 1st Successful Comic Strip
with his signature expression , “Hullygee!”

(United States Public Domain)

* * *​

In the late 19th century America, “ethnic stereotypes of every sort provided the plots, jokes and backdrops to countless vaudeville skits, musical comedies”, {1} and so it was in this environment Hogan’s Alley was born.

Between June 1894 and February 1895 Truth magazine (a weekly magazine and a monthly reader published from 1881 until 1905 in the United States) {*} featured a cartoon titled “Hogan’s Alley”. It told the story of street urchins from the Irish slum that unfortunately thrived in New York City. Through the use of mostly children, readers followed their adventures as they lived in poverty. The story and creator was told by Richard Felton Outcault, who was neither Irish or from New York, was born January 14, 1863 in Lancaster, Ohio.

Outcault’s main character was a “big-eared, bald street kid in a gown.” He deliberately drew Mickey Dugan, as he was named, without hair as shaving hair was the common remedy when anyone was infested with lice which was rampart among the children living in squalid city conditions.

Mickey Dugan moved up in the world on May 5, 1895 when he made his first appearance in color and published in Joseph Pultizer’s “New York World”. The cartoon was titled “At the Circus in Hogan’s Alley”. In the illustration below, you can see the character Mickey wearing a blue gown in the lower right hand corner. Mickey Dugan hit the big time when he became the star of the strip and when his gown changed from blue to yellow he was forever remembered as “The Yellow Kid”.

fullsizeoutput_12b9.jpeg


At the Circus in Hogan’s Alley
Mickey Dugan (lower right) wearing his blue gown

(United States Public Domain)

Historians credit Outcault’s comic strip as a thin line between journalism and fiction. He presented the poverty and tough street life that certain Irish children were living through the lens of a cartoon character. Outcault in an interview in “Bookman” magazine explained:

“The Yellow Kid was not an individual, but a type. When I used to go about the slums on newspaper assignments I would encounter him often wandering out of the doorways or sitting down on dirty doorsteps. I always loved the Kid. He had a sweet character and a sunny disposition, and was generous to a fault.” {2}

fullsizeoutput_12bb.jpeg


The concept of having characters talk in a bubble
was not in use at this time,
so The Kid’s night shirt provided his speech.

(United States Public Domain)

The Irish street urchins were Outcault’s vehicle for showing a disparity that existed in society. He walked the streets and knew the inhabitants and knew that in the city of New York some parts of the city and some inhabitants were viewed (or thought themselves) as more important than others. By using children from the Irish slum to show this disparity through a comic strip was his stroke of genius. In the interview to “Bookman” illustrates how he tried to balance his cartoon:

“Before I let a joke go out of my richly furnished studio I always try it on some one to see how it goes. Usually I have my butler call all my servants into my studio-the coachman, the cook, the laundry-maids and the chamber-maids, my valet and the man who cares for my golf sticks. After they are all assembled I explain to them the joke, being careful to avoid putting my own very humorous personality into it and letting the joke stand for itself. They usually roar with laughter, when suddenly it occurs to me that, perhaps, they do so because I pay them their wages. Then comes in the man with the wash bill, and that puts an end to everything humorous. Seriously speaking… The punch-line of this scene is the intrusion of power relationships and financial necessity (wages and bills) into the employer's pretension to humor, a punchline that depends on the perspective of servants who pretend to be more amused than they are. Outcault's implied understanding of this perspective grants him a certain authenticity, for the servants' heightened awareness of material considerations, based in their own material need, makes their position undeniably genuine.” {2}

From May 5, 1895 to October 4, 1896, Outcault drew his comic exclusively for Joseph Pultizer’s “New York World". The comic proved to be popular in the nation and eventually caught the attention of William Randolph Hearst. He managed to lure Outcault away from the “New York World” to write exclusively for his paper the “New York Journal”. Pultizer was not happy to lose his comic strip writer so he sued. It was a split decision - Hearst was legally able to hire Outcault - Pulitzer owned the comic strip “Hogan’s Alley” and therefore the Yellow Kid character.

Outcault began drawing another Yellow Kid in a comic strip titled “McFadden’s Flats”. While working for Hearst the “Yellow Kid appeared in three series, “McFadden’s Row of Flats” (October 18, 1896-January 10, 1897), “Around the World with the Yellow Kid “(January 17, 1897-May 30, 1897), and “Ryan’s Arcade” (September 28, 1897-January 23, 1898)”. {4}

YellowKidMcFadden2.jpg


The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats - 1897
(United States Public Domain)

* * *​

It became a battle between the publications as Pultizer hired another artist to keep "Hogan’s Alley” running while using the original “Yellow Kid”. The dueling comic strips by 1898 brought a new term into the United States culture that is still used today - “Yellow Journalism”.

1600px-PulitzerHearstWarYellowKids.jpg


Yellow Journalism may have started with a comic strip character
it didn’t stop an editorial cartoon by Leon Barritt in 1898.
He drew both publishers Pultizer/Hearst dressed as the Yellow Kid
in an attempt to drum up the public opinion in the United States
to support going to war with Spain.

(United States Public Domain)

* * *​

Like fads throughout the ages, the Yellow Kid faded away 4 years after his debut. The sensation he became would be forgotten and by the turn of the century there was another comic strip hero on the scene - Buster Brown (another city kid but he was from wealthy parents) Also created by Richard F. Outcault in 1902 Buster Brown would go on the be the mascot of a famous shoe company while the nation read daily the adventures of Mary Jane (the young girl was modeled after his daughter also named Mary Jane) and the ever faithful American Pit Bull Terrier Tige. But first there was The Yellow Kid from Hogan’s Alley and telling the story of the children living in the Irish slum during the late 1800’s.

1026px-The_Yellow_Kid,_he_meets_Tige_and_Mary_Jane_and_LCCN2001698002.jpg


In 1907 Outcault created a comic strip where
The Yellow Kid meets the Buster Brown gang,
and now they speak in the bubble cloud
first used by R.F. Outcault in an American comic strip

(United States Public Domain)

* * *​


Sources
1. https://www.irishecho.com/2011/02/108-years-ago-hogans-alley-debuts-2/
2. http://chnm.gmu.edu/aq/comics/reallex1.html
3. http://cbldf.org/2012/07/a-history-of-censorship-richard-felton-outcalt-and-the-yellow-kid/
4. https://cartoons.osu.edu/digital_albums/yellowkid/
Wikipedia: Richard F. Outcault/Truth Magazine/The Yellow Kid/Buster Brown
 
Although the first picture here is in color, as I remember when Mickey Dugan aka TheYellow Kid first appeared everything was still in black-and-white just as in the Civil War days of Harper's and Leslie's Weeklies. As noted, there were as yet the dialog "balloons" and the humor was through the illustration or maybe a single caption beneath all. Once the idea of putting dialog on Mickey's garment occurred, it (only) was colored - yellow, so as to attract the most attention.
 
View attachment 350789

Meet Mickey Dugan (aka) “The Yellow Kid”
America’s 1st Successful Comic Strip
with his signature expression , “Hullygee!”

(United States Public Domain)

* * *​

In the late 19th century America, “ethnic stereotypes of every sort provided the plots, jokes and backdrops to countless vaudeville skits, musical comedies”, {1} and so it was in this environment Hogan’s Alley was born.

Between June 1894 and February 1895 Truth magazine (a weekly magazine and a monthly reader published from 1881 until 1905 in the United States) {*} featured a cartoon titled “Hogan’s Alley”. It told the story of street urchins from the Irish slum that unfortunately thrived in New York City. Through the use of mostly children, readers followed their adventures as they lived in poverty. The story and creator was told by Richard Felton Outcault, who was neither Irish or from New York, was born January 14, 1863 in Lancaster, Ohio.

Outcault’s main character was a “big-eared, bald street kid in a gown.” He deliberately drew Mickey Dugan, as he was named, without hair as shaving hair was the common remedy when anyone was infested with lice which was rampart among the children living in squalid city conditions.

Mickey Dugan moved up in the world on May 5, 1895 when he made his first appearance in color and published in Joseph Pultizer’s “New York World”. The cartoon was titled “At the Circus in Hogan’s Alley”. In the illustration below, you can see the character Mickey wearing a blue gown in the lower right hand corner. Mickey Dugan hit the big time when he became the star of the strip and when his gown changed from blue to yellow he was forever remembered as “The Yellow Kid”.

View attachment 350790

At the Circus in Hogan’s Alley
Mickey Dugan (lower right) wearing his blue gown

(United States Public Domain)

Historians credit Outcault’s comic strip as a thin line between journalism and fiction. He presented the poverty and tough street life that certain Irish children were living through the lens of a cartoon character. Outcault in an interview in “Bookman” magazine explained:

“The Yellow Kid was not an individual, but a type. When I used to go about the slums on newspaper assignments I would encounter him often wandering out of the doorways or sitting down on dirty doorsteps. I always loved the Kid. He had a sweet character and a sunny disposition, and was generous to a fault.” {2}

View attachment 350791

The concept of having characters talk in a bubble
was not in use at this time,
so The Kid’s night shirt provided his speech.

(United States Public Domain)

The Irish street urchins were Outcault’s vehicle for showing a disparity that existed in society. He walked the streets and knew the inhabitants and knew that in the city of New York some parts of the city and some inhabitants were viewed (or thought themselves) as more important than others. By using children from the Irish slum to show this disparity through a comic strip was his stroke of genius. In the interview to “Bookman” illustrates how he tried to balance his cartoon:

“Before I let a joke go out of my richly furnished studio I always try it on some one to see how it goes. Usually I have my butler call all my servants into my studio-the coachman, the cook, the laundry-maids and the chamber-maids, my valet and the man who cares for my golf sticks. After they are all assembled I explain to them the joke, being careful to avoid putting my own very humorous personality into it and letting the joke stand for itself. They usually roar with laughter, when suddenly it occurs to me that, perhaps, they do so because I pay them their wages. Then comes in the man with the wash bill, and that puts an end to everything humorous. Seriously speaking… The punch-line of this scene is the intrusion of power relationships and financial necessity (wages and bills) into the employer's pretension to humor, a punchline that depends on the perspective of servants who pretend to be more amused than they are. Outcault's implied understanding of this perspective grants him a certain authenticity, for the servants' heightened awareness of material considerations, based in their own material need, makes their position undeniably genuine.” {2}

From May 5, 1895 to October 4, 1896, Outcault drew his comic exclusively for Joseph Pultizer’s “New York World". The comic proved to be popular in the nation and eventually caught the attention of William Randolph Hearst. He managed to lure Outcault away from the “New York World” to write exclusively for his paper the “New York Journal”. Pultizer was not happy to lose his comic strip writer so he sued. It was a split decision - Hearst was legally able to hire Outcault - Pulitzer owned the comic strip “Hogan’s Alley” and therefore the Yellow Kid character.

Outcault began drawing another Yellow Kid in a comic strip titled “McFadden’s Flats”. While working for Hearst the “Yellow Kid appeared in three series, “McFadden’s Row of Flats” (October 18, 1896-January 10, 1897), “Around the World with the Yellow Kid “(January 17, 1897-May 30, 1897), and “Ryan’s Arcade” (September 28, 1897-January 23, 1898)”. {4}

View attachment 350822

The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats - 1897
(United States Public Domain)

* * *​

It became a battle between the publications as Pultizer hired another artist to keep "Hogan’s Alley” running while using the original “Yellow Kid”. The dueling comic strips by 1898 brought a new term into the United States culture that is still used today - “Yellow Journalism”.

View attachment 350793

Yellow Journalism may have started with a comic strip character
it didn’t stop an editorial cartoon by Leon Barritt in 1898.
He drew both publishers Pultizer/Hearst dressed as the Yellow Kid
in an attempt to drum up the public opinion in the United States
to support going to war with Spain.

(United States Public Domain)

* * *​

Like fads throughout the ages, the Yellow Kid faded away 4 years after his debut. The sensation he became would be forgotten and by the turn of the century there was another comic strip hero on the scene - Buster Brown (another city kid but he was from wealthy parents) Also created by Richard F. Outcault in 1902 Buster Brown would go on the be the mascot of a famous shoe company while the nation read daily the adventures of Mary Jane (the young girl was modeled after his daughter also named Mary Jane) and the ever faithful American Pit Bull Terrier Tige. But first there was The Yellow Kid from Hogan’s Alley and telling the story of the children living in the Irish slum during the late 1800’s.

View attachment 350794

In 1907 Outcault created a comic strip where
The Yellow Kid meets the Buster Brown gang,
and now they speak in the bubble cloud
first used by R.F. Outcault in an American comic strip

(United States Public Domain)

* * *​


Sources
1. https://www.irishecho.com/2011/02/108-years-ago-hogans-alley-debuts-2/
2. http://chnm.gmu.edu/aq/comics/reallex1.html
3. http://cbldf.org/2012/07/a-history-of-censorship-richard-felton-outcalt-and-the-yellow-kid/
4. https://cartoons.osu.edu/digital_albums/yellowkid/
Wikipedia: Richard F. Outcault/Truth Magazine/The Yellow Kid/Buster Brown
So that's where the FBI got the name for " Hogan's Alley " which featured pop up targets for training FBI agents in practical combat training circa 1930s.
Leftyhunter
 
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PBS had a fine documentary on Joseph Pulitzer a year or two ago. The Yellow Kid was prominently featured in the program. I was very curious about what happened to the offices of the New York World. I believe that site was cleared for the construction of one of the bridge approaches in Manhattan--not sure about that.
 
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