Friday Mieography

How about something lighthearted this week, shall we?

Ethel Hays was born and raised in Billings, Montana, in 1892. She, unlike most young ladies of her era, was able to convince her parents to allow her education. She completed high school there, where she distinguished herself as the illustrator for the school newspaper.

After high school, she attended the Los Angeles School of Art and Design, transferring, eventually, to the Art Students League of New York. She was all set to transfer again, this time to the Academie Julian in Paris, where she had won a scholarship. Unfortunately, WW I derailed her trip. So instead of Paris, she took on the task of teaching the wounded, convalescing soldiers to paint. It was here that she encountered a group of students who preferred to learn cartooning, instead of painting. She determined to learn to do it, herself, and enrolled in the Landon School of Cartooning, a correspondence course. She kept "a couple of lessons ahead", and taught the soldiers as she was learning, herself.

The cartoon experience changed her life, and career. She ended up getting work as a staff illustrator for the Cleveland Press. She quickly began drawing flapper themed satire, including a cartoon called "Flapper Fanny".

She eventually married, but kept cartooning under her maiden name. She also became a mother, and, after her second child, had a hard time keeping up, so Flapper Fanny was turned over to another female cartoonist. She did, however continue to illustrate stories, and numerous books, including Raggedy Ann and Andy books, paperdolls, and coloring books.

She died in New Mexico in 1989.