and across a total of 585,000miles in the course of forty years. Ripley was
dubbed the “Modern-Day Marco Polo” by the Duke of Windsor. Unlike
Mr. Polo, he recorded his findings in crayon using the common realistic
cartoon style. But despite this tame presentation, Ripley’s comic was
decidedly surreal in its plumbing of the unusual. All irony was curiously
suppressed as it tested the public’s capacity to believe the incredible. And
believe they did.
The cartoon was imbued with a distinct character, both from the
lettering and from the drawing styles. Moreover, Ripley’s signature, while
typical of the way contemporary cartoonists signed their works, was a
powerful brand: The flourish or end-line after the “Y ” gave it a particularly
witty look. The “logo” for Believe It or Not!, reminiscent of the typeface
Cooper Bold with a shadow, was an unmistakable identifying mark as well.
Real type was never used for body text—only a somewhat crude, speedball
hand-lettering. And the drawings, done in pen and ink and grease crayon,
were also somewhat primitive. Nonetheless, the overall graphic impact was
impeccable. Together, all the elements got the message across and gave the
work a singular personality. Had the cartoon looked any different—had the
overpoweringly garish red been a soothing yellow—it might not have
succeeded as it did.
A self-taught artist, Ripley sold his first drawing in 1907 to the
American humor magazine Lifewhen he was only fourteen. Nonetheless,
he was a natural-born athlete who dreamed of pitching in Major League
baseball. A freak injury during his first professional game brought an end to
his career, so he quickly turned to cartooning for his livelihood and landed
a job as a sports cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle.Ever peripatetic,
he moved to New York, where he worked on the sports desk of the New
York Globe.In 1918 , while drawing sports cartoons, he created a feature
called “Champs and Chumps,” a comic sampler of individual athletic highs
and lows and odd sporting feats. His editor, however, rejected the title as
too limiting, and ultimately Ripley settled for the more encompassing
“Believe It or Not!” The cartoon was such an overnight sensation that soon
after its debut, he decided to expand the scope. The cartoon ultimately
developed into a regular radio show on which he would regale his audience
with exotic discoveries and fantastic claims. Eventually, Ripley turned to
television.
Ripley reveled in oddities and lived the life of an eccentric. A
millionaire a few times over, he filled his houses and apartment with artifacts
from Europe, Asia, and South America. A colleague once said “the most
curious object in the collection is probably Mr. Ripley himself.” Among his
many quirks, he is said to have drawn his comic strips, while holding them
tuis.
(Tuis.)
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