Charles M. Payne (1873–1964) was an American cartoonist best known for his popular long-running comic strip S'Matter, Pop?. He signed his work C. M. Payne and also adopted the nickname Popsy.
Biography In 1896, Payne was employed at the Pittsburgh Post. Coon Hollow Folks, his first comic strip, was followed by Bear Creek Folks, Scary William and Yennie Yonson. He created Honeybunch's Hubby (originally titled Mr. Mush), for the New York World,Holtz, Allan. "Obscurity of the Day: Honeybunch's Hubby," Stripper's Guide (September 16, 2013). and in 1911, he drew Peter Pumpkin for The Philadelphia Inquirer. His 1910 strip, Nippy's Pop, was later retitled S'Matter, Pop? Initially carried by the Bell Syndicate, it ran from 1911 to 1940. During the 1920s, S'Matter, Pop? was a Sunday strip in the New York World, followed by decades as a daily strip in The Sun. In the early 1930s, S'Matter, Pop and Honeybunch's Hubby (which returned from a 20-year hiatus) spent times alternating as the main strip and the topper strip.
Traveling with his wife and two daughters, Payne spent the summer of 1915 in Los Angeles and Southern California, where he planned an automobile trip to the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Diego. "What the Cartoonists Are Doing", Cartoons Magazine, July 1915.
He was a member of the Southern California Camera Club, and in 1920, he exhibited photographs he had taken at remote locations in the Arizona desert.Camera Craft, volume 27. Photographers' Association of California, 1920.
In 1964, Payne died in poverty.
Bibliography Bibliography of Charles Payne's comic strip work:
Bear Creek Folks (aka Coon Hollow Folks), Sunday: Oct 9, 1904 - June 10, 1906 Scary William, Sunday: Nov 26, 1905 - June 3, 1906 Little Possum Gang (aka Wild Scenes in Possum Hollow), Sunday: April 4, 1909 - Dec 1, 1912 Honeybunch's Hubby, weekday: Nov 27, 1909 - March 30, 1911 Chantecleer -- He's a Bird, weekday: March 3, 1910 - Sept 1, 1910 Kid Trubbel, Sunday: Aug 7, 1910 - Dec 22, 1912 S'Matter, Pop? (aka Nippy's Pop), daily/Sunday: July 12, 1911 - Sept 21, 1940 Peter Pumpkin, Sunday: July 16, 1911 - Nov 5, 1911 Little Sammy, Sunday: Nov 29, 1914 - Jan 31, 1915 Say, Pop, daily/Sunday: Jan 2, 1918 - 1921 Little Johnny Bear, Sunday: Jan 2, 1927 - April 12, 1931 Honeybunch's Hubby, Sunday topper: April 19, 1931 - 1936
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