Isaac Davis Ripley, whose son would one day explore all corners of the earth, fled his dead-end Appalachian home at age fourteen and headed west.
He didn't get far before the Ohio River blocked his path. Unable to pay for a ferry crossing, Isaac swam solo across the turbulent river, eventually making his way to Northern California, seeking gold but instead finding work as a carpenter and cabinetmaker. By 1889, having settled in Santa Rosa, he fell in love with a woman fourteen years younger.
Description:
Is there anyone not familiar with the "Believe It of Not" cartoons portraying our unusual and astounding world and its residents? But who knows anything about the man, Robert Ripley, behind these cartoons, his origins, his inspiration, and his life as a famous celebrity?
To fill in the gaps is Neal Thompson, in his new book, A Curious Man: The Strange & Brilliant life of Robert "Believe It or Not!" Ripley. He carefully takes readers on a journey through the life of Ripley and reveals all aspects of this wonderfully talented artist, social eccentric, international traveller, and one of the wealthiest men in the world of print journalism.
As a boy in Santa Rosa, California, Ripley was a buck-toothed, jug-eared stutterer who obviously hated oral reports. After convincing his high school English teacher to let him substitute an illustration instead of writing an essay or giving an oral presentation, his drawing career was born.
Comics were just entering newspapers in 1907 and when teenager Ripley discovered that staff artists could earn $1,000 a year "drawing pictures for a living," he was hooked. Life magazine published his first drawing that year for $8.00, and he was off, taking a job at the San Francisco Bulletin at $8.00 a week "with the promise of a $2 raise if you make good." He didn't, and was fired after four months.
Eventually he landed at the New York Globe as its sports reporter/cartoonist. His cartoons depicted sports in a new way and the prolific output from "Rip" impressed his bosses. He was given plum assignments to travel to Europe, Asia, and eventually around the world to draw what he saw and submit entertaining stories. This travel became his lifelong passion, and his resulting cartoons about the strange people and customs he found were immensely popular.
In December 1918, desperate for an idea to meet a deadline, he skimmed through the folder he had collected of odd facts about baseball. Pulling a few together, he quickly knocked off "Champs and Chumps," a paneled cartoon featuring unusual players and records. Ripley's next cartoon of oddities did not appear until 10 months later under the new title, "Believe It or Not!" and then appeared only sporadically over the next two years. Ripley didn't care for this hastily-drawn cartoon that much, but his editors encouraged this style and Ripley soon realized he had hit on his winning formula.
Author Thompson's smooth style describes Ripley's rise to international fame and riches based on the popularity of "Believe It or Not!" He lets readers accompany Ripley on his fabulous world travels, his hectic social life, his ongoing research into library archives, and his successful ventures into television. Thompson lets us marvel at the museums Ripley sponsors to house his artifacts, the peculiar homes he builds, the books of cartoons he compiles, and the parade of women who are always at his side.
Ripley, the homely kid from Santa Rosa, California, became a larger-than-life figure, fabulously wealthy, and well-travelled. His work was (and still is) read worldwide. I know I learned to read by examining his drawings and compelling facts in his cartoon found in our Sunday newspaper. "Believe It or Not!" has had a lasting impact on my interest in words, pictures, and the world, so I was fascinated and immensely satisfied to read that the cartoonist responsible for such exotic pictures lived a life suitable to someone so full of interesting facts.
Highly recommended for all readers who know of "Believe It or Not!" - in other words, everyone.
Happy reading.
Fred
Fred
www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com
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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
Republication of the original book of his collected newspaper cartoons.
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