Speaker 1: Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
Speaker 1: is Womanica. This month, we're talking about comedians women throughout
Speaker 1: history who've made us laugh. They transgressed societal norms through
Speaker 1: comedy and often spoke out about injustice using their sharp wit. Today,
Speaker 1: we're talking about a woman who used her knack for
Speaker 1: humorous social commentary to launch a syndicated cartoon empire. She
Speaker 1: drew comics that appeared in hundreds of newspapers across the
Speaker 1: country and captured the sassy, fashionable lifestyle of the care
Speaker 1: free flapper girl. Let's talk about Ethel Hayes. Ethel Hayes
Speaker 1: was born in eighteen ninety two in Billings, Montana. She
Speaker 1: displayed her talent for art at an early age. In
Speaker 1: elementary school, Ethel would draw little caricatures of her teachers
Speaker 1: on the chalkboard to make her classmates laugh. By high school,
Speaker 1: she was a staff illustrator on her school's newspaper. After graduation,
Speaker 1: most of her friends went off to finishing schools for
Speaker 1: young girls, Ethel went west to study at the Los
Speaker 1: Angeles School of Art and Design. When Ethel arrived in
Speaker 1: LA she wanted to be an illustrator, but Soon, her
Speaker 1: teachers convinced her to start painting. Her talent won her
Speaker 1: a scholarship to the Art Students League of New York,
Speaker 1: so Ethel moved across the country again to continue pursuing
Speaker 1: her art career. In the bustling city, Ethel had no
Speaker 1: shortage of subjects. She drew caricatures of people she passed
Speaker 1: on the street in her sketch books, and she was
Speaker 1: good at it. But to Ethel this was just a hobby.
Speaker 1: Her main goal was to become a serious artist. To
Speaker 1: achieve that goal, she made plans to travel to Paris
Speaker 1: to study at the prestigious Academy Julienne. Then the First
Speaker 1: World War began, which meant Ethel couldn't go to Paris.
Speaker 1: She went home to Billings instead. Ethel started working as
Speaker 1: a military chuckle girl, illustrating wartime pamphlets and posters with
Speaker 1: funny images. She also started teaching art to recovering soldiers
Speaker 1: at hospitals around the US. In Tennessee, she taught an
Speaker 1: art class and a hospital full of veterans. On the
Speaker 1: first day, she asked them what they wanted to learn.
Speaker 1: One of the men said he wanted to draw cartoons.
Speaker 1: His classmates agreed. Ethel had to break the news to them.
Speaker 1: She didn't know how to teach that the next day,
Speaker 1: her class was empty, so Ethel decided to learn how
Speaker 1: to draw cartoons. Ethyl signed up for cartooning classes through
Speaker 1: a correspondence school and then taught her students what she learned.
Speaker 1: Ethel's drawings were elegant and playful. She had a knack
Speaker 1: for capturing facial expressions. The man who ran Ethel's cartooning
Speaker 1: school was so impressed with her work that he passed
Speaker 1: along to the editor of the Cleveland Press. That editor
Speaker 1: offered Ethel a job. At first, Ethel was hesitant, but
Speaker 1: eventually she accepted and moved to Cleveland. At the paper,
Speaker 1: she teamed up with a female reporter named Victoria Benham.
Speaker 1: Victoria would write the features and Ethel would draw cartoons
Speaker 1: illustrating their misadventures through the city. The column was called
Speaker 1: Vic and Ethel. It was a hilarious hit, but it
Speaker 1: didn't last long. Six months later, Victoria got married and quit,
Speaker 1: and the cartoon became known as Just Ethel. The comics
Speaker 1: were well received in Cleveland, and soon enough they were
Speaker 1: syndicated in papers across the country. Ethyl also created another cartoon,
Speaker 1: Staple Flapper Fanny says. The cartoon ran daily, and it
Speaker 1: usually featured Flapper Fanny in an amusing scenario with a
Speaker 1: caption beneath it. In one cartoon, Flapper Fanny is dressed
Speaker 1: chekly holding a man's wallet while he looks on anxiously.
Speaker 1: The caption reads, the modern fortune teller looks at a
Speaker 1: young man's bank book before telling him his fate. Flabber
Speaker 1: Fanny was a celebration of the cosmopolitan, independent single woman.
Speaker 1: Ethel always drew her wearing the latest fashions, and reportedly
Speaker 1: the silent screen star Clara Bow took cues from Fanny's outfits.
Speaker 1: In the mid nineteen twenties, Ethel married a man named
Speaker 1: William Simms. William's job meant Ethel would have to move
Speaker 1: to Kansas City, Missouri, but Ethel's editors didn't want her
Speaker 1: to quit her job. She was too beloved by the readers,
Speaker 1: so Ethel moved and became an early twentieth century remote worker.
Speaker 1: Every morning, she would wake up and head to her office,
Speaker 1: a small studio in the backyard of her house. She
Speaker 1: would work, usually from eight to five, and send her
Speaker 1: finished cartoons to her editors. By the late nineteen thirties,
Speaker 1: Ethel pivoted from drawing daily cartoons to illustrating children's books
Speaker 1: like Mother Goose, Raggedy Ann and Andy, and The Night
Speaker 1: Before Christmas. She also illustrated paper doll cutout books. By
Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties, she had retired from commercial art completely,
Speaker 1: but she remained an artist her whole life. Her last
Speaker 1: drawing was finished in nineteen seventy nine. It was a
Speaker 1: pastel of her daughter. Ethel Hayes died in nineteen eighty nine.
Speaker 1: She was ninety seven years old. All month, we've been
Speaker 1: talking about comedians. For more information, find us on Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Wamanica Podcast special thanks to Liz Kaplan,
Speaker 1: my favorite sister and co creator. Tune in on Monday
Speaker 1: for a brand new theme, Happy New Year.