Richard William Dorgan (September 24, 1892 – May 5, 1953) was an American cartoonist, writer, and illustrator. His first known published work appeared in The New York Call in 1913. A wide variety of his early work was published in The Broadside: A Journal for the Naval Reserve Force, 1918–1920.
He is remembered as the illustrator of Thorne Smith's first two novels, Biltmore Oswald (1918) and Out o' Luck (1919), as well as for his work as a columnist for Photoplay Magazine and newspaper artist in the 1920s and '30s.
Biography
Richard William Dorgan was born in San Francisco, California,World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918. Registration Location: Queens County, New York; Roll: 1818488; Draft Board: 185. Source Information: Ancestry.com. World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918 [database on-line]. Provo, Utah: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005. Original data: United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm. one of 11 childrenDick Dorgan and his siblings: + The Children of Thomas J. and Anna R. Dorgan née Tobin Name Nickname Birth Death Thomas Aloysius Dorgan Tad April 29, 1877 May 2, 1929 San Francisco CA Great Neck NY John Leo Dorgan Ike April 15, 1879 December 27, 1960 San Francisco CA Bayside NY Catherine Dorgan November 13, 1880 San Francisco CA Marie Helen Dorgan February 20, 1882 May 20, 1939 San Francisco CA Cincinnati OH Charles James Dorgan June 16, 1883 September 28, 1922 San Francisco CA Colfax CA Edwin Joseph Dorgan November 27, 1885 October 31, 1956 San Francisco CA Flushing NY Anna Loretta Dorgan Nan January 14, 1888 June 1, 1967 San Francisco CA Bayside NY Irene Dorgan Eileen / Eile September 12, 1890 October 5, 1945 San Francisco CA Flushing NY Richard William Dorgan Dick September 24, 1892 May 5, 1953 San Francisco CA Bayside NY Joseph Vincent Dorgan Joe December 25, 1894 August 8, 1945 San Francisco CA Bayside NY Alice Anita Dorgan April 19, 1898 November 15, 1963 San Francisco CA Bayside NY—six sons and five daughters—of Thomas J. and Anna R. Dorgan née Tobin.Twelfth Census of the United States He died at Bayside, New York.
By 1910, he was living in New York City, where he studied art at the National Academy and the Art Students League. According to registration cards at the National Academy, "Dorgan of San Francisco" took life drawing classes in 1910 and 1911,Letter to George H. Scheetz from Laura Zelasnic, Project Archivist, National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts (June 11, 2009) and, according to records at the Art Students League, he took an illustration class from September 1912 through May 1913.Letter to George H. Scheetz from Stephanie Cassidy, Editor & Archivist, Art Students League of New York (June 16, 2009)
By October 1913, Dorgan was selling panel cartoons to The New York Call.
During World War I, Dorgan was a Seaman Second Class in the U.S. Naval Reserve Force, stationed at Pelham Bay, New York. He later lived in Bayside, New York, in the borough of Queens on Long Island.
On his World War I draft registration card (dated June 5, 1917), Dorgan reported his occupation as "Cartoonist."
He was married to Amelia Jane Murray (October 8, 1891 at New York City–February 20, 1970 at Chappaqua, New York). They had one son, Richard W. Dorgan, Jr. (August 13, 1921 at New York City–November 23, 1988 at Mount Kisco, New York).
Family His brother (and oldest sibling), Thomas Aloysius "Tad" Dorgan (April 29, 1877 – May 2, 1929), was a prominent cartoonist and creator of "Indoor Sports," as well as a well-known sportswriter.
Another brother, John L. "Ike" Dorgan (April 15, 1879 – December 27, 1960), was a bookbinder, boxing manager (for Harry Ebbets and Charles Francis "Frank" Moran, known as "The Fighting Dentist"), press agent (for boxing promoter George L. "Tex" Rickard),Roberts, Randy. Jack Dempsey: The Manassa Mauler. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 2003, p. 140. and publicity manager for the Madison Square Garden. He was a founding partner of The Ring magazine in February 1922 and remained with this influential publication until his retirement in 1930."Ike Dorgan" in BoxRec (Boxing Records Archive) Boxing Encyclopaedia
A third brother, Joseph V. "Joe" Dorgan (December 25, 1894 – May 8, 1945), a cartoonist in his own right, was a Seaman Second Class in the U.S. Navy during World War I. Joe enlisted in October 1917 and was assigned to the USS SC-338 (a submarine chaser) by January 1918 at New York, where he was a member of the crew until the ship's return to New York in 1919. He kept a daily diary of events over this interval, annotated with cartoons and photographs, which was privately published in 1997 as The Guy Sleeping Over Me Is Misty in the Peak: World War One Naval Diaries of Joseph V. Dorgan.Dorgan, Joseph V. The Guy Sleeping Over Me Is Misty in the Peak: World War One Naval Diaries of Joseph V. Dorgan. Edited by Douglas N. Travers. San Antonio, 1997. 373 pp.
Career Early work Dorgan's first known published work, a political cartoon, appeared in The New York Call in October 1913. From 1913–ca. 1916, he published several "politicals" (as he called them) for The New York Call and The Lamb: A Magazine of Fun and Finance.The Lamb: A Magazine of Fun and Finance. New York: Plummer Publishing Co., vol. 1, no. 1 (May 13, 1916)–vol. 2, no. 11 (September 29, 1917).
One of Dorgan's drawings, "The Looter," won a Christmas contest sponsored by The New York Sun in 1913 and was published in that newspaper.The New York Sun, n.d. [ca. Christmas 1913]
In 1914, The New York Times announced that Richard Dorgan, which it identified as a "brother of T. A. Dorgan, who draws cartoons over the signature 'Tad,' won the prize for the best poster heralding the big carnival at Bayside."The New York Times, Monday, September 28, 1914, p. 13
Not Now Dorgan produced "Not Now," a comic strip for the Adams Newspaper Service, 8 W. 40th St., New York (ca. 1916)."Dorgan" [promotional announcement]. The Adams Newspaper Service, n.d.George Matthew Adams (1878–1962) was a newspaper columnist, author, and publisher who founded the Adams Newspaper Service in 1907, which branched out into comics in 1910 with the "Abe Martin" panel. The syndicate's name was changed to the George Matthew Adams Service after 1916.
The Broadside By 1918, Dorgan, now a member of the U.S. Naval Reserve Force stationed at the Naval Reserve Training Camp at Pelham Bay Park, New York, was producing artwork for The Broadside: A Journal for the Naval Reserve Force.
In the seventh issue (May 10, 1918), there was a short article announcing the departure of Homer Conant, "the man who has done so much in so short a time with his gifted pen to improve the appearance of The Broadside," and the arrival of W. C. Hoople, "an artist of wide repute and distinguished ability.""Hail and Farewell." The Broadside: A Journal for the Naval Reserve Force, 1:7 (May 10, 1918): 8.
Unheralded though it was, Dick Dorgan's first contribution to The Broadside—"A Boot's First Night on Guard," a one-panel cartoon—appeared in the same issue.Dorgan, Dick. "A Boot's First Night on Guard." The Broadside: A Journal for the Naval Reserve Force, 1:7 (May 10, 1918): 13.
Beginning with the eighth issue (May 24, 1918), "Richard Dorgan (sea. 2)" was listed on the masthead of The Broadside as the fourth member of the Art Department, along with George Y. Shanks (b. m. 2), W. C. Hoople (sea. 2), and Jules Ruppert (sea. 2).The Broadside: A Journal for the Naval Reserve Force, I (May 24, 1918): 8 His second appearance in The Broadside was a two-page, eleven-panel comic-strip feature, "Sniping at the Sham Battle,"The Broadside: A Journal for the Naval Reserve Force, I (May 24, 1918): 12–13 which was inspired by the first sham battle of the season at the Naval Reserve Training Camp.
Among many other contributions to The Broadside, Dorgan illustrated the Biltmore Oswald stories by Thorne Smith, which were collected in two books, Biltmore Oswald: The Diary of a Hapless Recruit (1918) and Out o' Luck: Biltmore Oswald Very Much at Sea (1919).
Ring W. Lardner's Weekly Letter Ringgold W. "Ring" Lardner (1885–1933) produced a syndicated column—usually referred to as "Ring Lardner's Weekly Letter"—for The Bell Syndicate, Inc., from November 2, 1919 through March 20, 1927.Bruccoli, Matthew J., and Richard Layman. Ring W. Lardner: A Descriptive Bibliography. (Pittsburgh Series in Bibliography.) Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1976. These 374 weekly columns were illustrated by Dick Dorgan.
A complete bibliography of "Ring Lardner's Weekly Letter" is found in Ring W. Lardner: A Descriptive Bibliography by Matthew J. Bruccoli and Richard Layman, as entries E3149–E3522. Examples include:
"Ring Lardner's Letter on Recipes with Kicks" (Sunday, 18 April 1920)Lardner, Ring W. "Ring Lardner's Letter on Recipes with Kicks." Illustrated by Dick Dorgan. The Atlanta Journal, Sunday, 18 April 1920, p. 7. Bruccoli E3173 "Lardner Writes of the Lady in Upper 9" (Sunday, 11 February 1923)Lardner, Ring. "Lardner Writes of the Lady in Upper 9." [Galley proof.] Illustrated by Dick Dorgan. Set for release on Sunday, 11 February 1923, or Saturday, 10 February 1923, for newspapers with no Sunday edition. The Bell Syndicate, Inc. Bruccoli E3320 "Dorgan's Fire, Buck's New House and an Anonymous Cow Add Thrills" (Sunday, 15 February 1925)Lardner, Ring W. "Dorgan's Fire, Buck's New House and an Anonymous Cow Add Thrills." Illustrated by Dick Dorgan. San Francisco Examiner, Sunday, 15 February 1925, p. E3. Reprinted as "The Season Is On: Things Have Been Happening Out Great Neck Way" (n.d.)—the copy examined was a newspaper reprint billed as "A Ring Lardner Classic," ca. 1949–1953. Bruccoli E3414
According to Bruccoli (p. xv), "Lardner did not write the headlines for the columns, nor are the headlines consistent in subscribing newspapers." Appendix I in Bruccoli lists newspapers that are known to have subscribed to "Ring Lardner's Weekly Letter."
Lardner was a next-door neighbor of Tad Dorgan's in Great Neck, New York, and Dick Dorgan's home in Bayside, New York, was not far away. Lardner devoted a substantial portion of the article, "Dorgan's Fire, ...," to an anecdote involving Dorgan—and Dorgan's illustration featured Dick Dorgan.
Dorgan's early work with Lardner was a preview of things to come. In early 1923, Dick Dorgan joined Lardner on the comic strip, "You Know Me Al."
Photoplay magazine Dorgan appeared with a cartoon in the November 1920 Photoplay.Cartoon accompanies "Film Reviewing from the Press Box," by Weed Dickinson, Photoplay, November 1920, p. 38.
In 1922, Dorgan's "slang reviews" of current moving pictures, which he illustrated, appeared in Photoplay magazine:
"Giving 'The Sheik' the Once Over from the Ringside," a slang review of George Melford's The Sheik (1921)Dorgan, Dick. "Giving 'The Sheik' the Once Over from the Ringside." Photoplay Magazine, XXI (April 1922): 90–92. Illustrated by Dick Dorgan. "Solving the Million Dollar Mystery: A Slang Review" of Erich von Stroheim's Foolish Wives (1922)Dorgan, Dick. "Solving the Million Dollar Mystery: A Slang Review." Photoplay Magazine, XXI (May 1922): 76, 100. Illustrated by Dick Dorgan. "Bathing de Luxe on Saturday Night: A Slang Review" of Cecil B. DeMille's Saturday Night (1922)Dorgan, Dick. "Bathing de Luxe on Saturday Night: A Slang Review." Photoplay Magazine, XXII (June 1922): 51, 97. Illustrated by Dick Dorgan. "The Loves of Pharaoh a la King: A Slang Review" of Ernst Lubitsch's Das Weib des Pharao—Pharaoh's Wife in English—(1922)Dorgan, Dick. "The Loves of Pharaoh a la King: A Slang Review." Photoplay Magazine, XXII (July 1922): 119–120. Illustrated by Dick Dorgan.