Will B. Johnstone (American, 1883-1944). Say It Isn't So, 1920s. India ink on heavyweight paper. 17 x 14 inches (43.2 x ...

Description

Will B. Johnstone (American, 1883-1944)
Say It Isn't So, 1920s
India ink on heavyweight paper
17 x 14 inches (43.2 x 35.6 cm) (image)
Signed lower right: Will B Johnstone

Will B. Johnstone was a multi-talented newspaper artist, playwright, and movie script writer. His New York newspaper work began with a brief stint with the Hearst newspapers followed by some years at the city's rival newspaper The World. At The World he drew his comic strip based on an incident in the news of the day, and this original published in the 1920s picks up on a news item about female drivers: "Woman driver picks up second car, doesn't know it. Tows it six blocks after bumpers become caught."

In addition, Mr. Johnstone drew the nationally syndicated comic strip You Know Me, Al from 1922 to 1925 based on Ring Lardner's 1916 book of baseball stories written in the form of letters from a major league baseball player named Jack Keefe. Later in the decade he became a writer for the Marx Brothers and contributed to, and received screen credit for, the landmark films Monkey Business (1931) and Horse Feathers (1932).


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