| The Yellow Kid | |
|---|---|
 The Yellow Kid | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Joseph Pulitzer'sNew York World William Randolph Hearst'sNew York Journal |
| First appearance | 17 February 1895 |
| Created by | Richard F. Outcault |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Mickey Dugan |
The Yellow Kid (Mickey Dugan[1]) is an Americancomic-strip character that appeared from 1895 to 1898 inJoseph Pulitzer'sNew York World, and laterWilliam Randolph Hearst'sNew York Journal. Created and drawn byRichard F. Outcault in the comic stripHogan's Alley (and later under other names as well), the strip was one of the first Sunday supplement comic strips in an American newspaper, although its graphical layout had already been thoroughly established inpolitical and other, purely-for-entertainmentcartoons.[2] Outcault's use ofword balloons inThe Yellow Kid influenced the basic appearance and use of balloons in subsequent newspaper comic strips andcomic books.
The Yellow Kid is also famous for its connection to the coining of the term "yellow journalism".[3] The idea of "yellow journalism" referred to stories that were sensationalized for the sake of selling papers, and was so named after the "Yellow Kid" cartoons. Through his cartoons, Outcault's work aimed his humor and social commentary at Pulitzer's adult readership. The strip has been described as "a turn-of-the-century theater of the city, in which class and racial tensions of the new urban, consumerist environment were acted out by a mischievous group ofNew York City kids from the wrong side of the tracks".[4]
The Yellow Kid was not an individual but a type. When I used to go about the slums on newspaper assignments I would encounter him often, wandering out of doorways or sitting down on dirty doorsteps. I always loved the Kid. He had a sweet character and a sunny disposition, and was generous to a fault. Malice, envy or selfishness were not traits of his, and he never lost his temper.[5]
— Richard F. Outcault, from a 1902 interview
The Yellow Kid was a bald, snaggle-toothed, barefoot boy who wore an oversized yellow nightshirt and hung around in aslum alley typical of certain areas of squalor that existed in late 19th-century New York City.Hogan's Alley was filled with equally odd characters, mostly other children. With a goofy grin, the Kid habitually spoke in a ragged, peculiarslang, which was printed on his shirt, a device meant to lampoon advertisingbillboards.[3]
The Yellow Kid's head was drawn wholly shaved, as if recently having been ridden oflice, a common sight among children in New York'stenement ghettos at the time. His nightshirt, a hand-me-down from an older sister, was white or pale blue in the first color strips.[6]
The character who would later become the Yellow Kid first appeared on the scene in a minor supporting role in a single-panel cartoon published in the stripFeudal Pride in Hogan's Alley on 2 June 1894 inTruth magazine. There were a few moreHogan's Alley cartoons featuring theHogan's Alley kids over the rest of 1894 and the beginning of 1895. The four different black-and-white single-panel cartoons were deemed popular, and one of them,Fourth Ward Brownies, was reprinted on 17 February 1895 inJoseph Pulitzer'sNew York World, where Outcault worked as atechnical drawing artist. TheWorld published another, newerHogan's Alley cartoon less than a month later, and this was followed by the strip's first color printing on 5 May 1895.[7]Hogan's Alley gradually became a full-page Sunday color cartoon with the Yellow Kid (who was also appearing several times a week) as its lead character.
In 1896, Outcault was hired away at a much higher salary toWilliam Randolph Hearst'sNew York Journal where he drew the Yellow Kid in a new full-page color strip which was significantly violent and even vulgar compared to his first panels forTruth magazine. Because Outcault failed in his attempt to copyright the Yellow Kid, Pulitzer was able to hireGeorge Luks to continue drawing the original (and now less popular) version of the strip for theWorld and hence the Yellow Kid appeared simultaneously in two competing papers for about a year.[8] Luks's version of the Yellow Kid introduced a pair of twins, Alex and George, also dressed in yellow nightshirts.[9] Outcault produced three subsequent series of Yellow Kid strips at theJournal, each lasting no more than four months:
Publication of both versions stopped abruptly after only three years in early 1898, as circulation wars between the rival papers dwindled. Moreover, Outcault may have lost interest in the character when he realized he could not retain exclusive commercial control over it.[10] The Yellow Kid's last appearance is most often noted as 23 January 1898 in a strip abouthair tonic. On 1 May 1898, the character was featured in a rather satirical cartoon calledCasey Corner Kids Dime Museum but he was drawn as a bearded, balding old man wearing a green nightshirt which bore the words: "Gosh I've growed old in making dis collection."[11]
The Yellow Kid appeared sporadically in Outcault's later cartoon strips, most notablyBuster Brown.[12]
The two newspapers that ran the Yellow Kid, Pulitzer'sWorld and Hearst'sJournal, quickly became known as theyellow kid papers. This was contracted to theyellow papers and the termyellow kid journalism was at last shortened toyellow journalism, describing the two newspapers' editorial practices of taking (sometimes even fictionalized)sensationalism and profit as priorities in journalism.[13][14][7]
The Yellow Kid's image was an early example of lucrative merchandising and appeared on mass market retail objects in the greater New York City area such as "billboards, buttons, cigarette packs, cigars, cracker tins, ladies' fans, matchbooks, postcards, chewing gum cards, toys, whiskey and many other products".[15] With the Yellow Kid's merchandising success as an advertising icon, the strip came to represent the crass commercial world it had originally lampooned.
Entertainment entrepreneurGus Hill staged vaudeville plays based on the comic strip.[16] His version ofMcFadden's Flats was made into films in1927 and 1935.
The Yellow Kid made an appearance in theMarvel Universe in theJoss Whedon-writtenRunaways story (volume 2, issue 27).[17] In this take on the character, he exhibits superhuman powers.
In theZiggy of 16 February 1990, Ziggy points to a smiling old man seated next to him on a park bench and says, "No kidding...You were The Yellow Kid!"[18]
Writer Chris Yambar and editorial cartoonistRandy Bish attempted to revive the series in 2020 as a comic book for the character's 125th anniversary,[19][20] in which The Yellow Kid is pulled into the modern day by a magician; however, only one issue was published before Yambar's death in March of 2021.[21]
TheYellow Kid Awards are Italian comics awards presented by the Italian International Comics and Cartooning Exhibition[22] and distributed at the annual Italian comic book and gaming conventionLucca Comics & Games.
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