Jim Russell
Encyclopedia
James Newton Russell AM
MBE
(26 March 1909 – 15 August 2001) was an Australia
n cartoonist
who drew The Potts
for 62 years. Jim's brother Dan Russell
was also a cartoonist.
, the son of William John "Billy" Russell, a foreman plumber
with the Sydney City Council, the president of the New South Wales Plumbers’ Union, the national secretary of the Plumbers’ Union, and unsuccessful labour candidate for the seats of Parkes and Canterbury
, who was killed in a workplace accident in 1915. His mother Catherine Elizabeth
(nee Diggs), remarried in 1926 and was one of the first two woman members of an Australian Upper House of Parliament
. Russell was educated at Tempe
Technical School and Christian Brothers' High School, Lewisham
In 1924 at age 14 he began work as a copy boy on the Daily Guardian before transferring later that year to Smith's Weekly
's working as an art room messenger boy to Stan Cross
. Russell also studied at Julian Ashton
's Sydney Art School, for six years, while working at various jobs, including a box office attendant at the Sydney Stadium
. This led to a brief boxing career, which included winning all five bouts as a welterweight
at the Sydney Stadium. During this time he improved his drawing, with sketches he made of notable boxers being published in various Sydney papers. In 1926 the head artist of Fox Films offered to tutor Russell in the basics of art, for which he paid £100 and worked unpaid there for two years.
Russell became Australia's youngest political cartoonist, when in 1928 (at the age of nineteen) he got a job as cartoonist
on the Sydney Sunday News until the paper folded in 1931. Russell briefly went to the Referee as sports caricaturist until he rejoined Smith’s Weekly and by 1933 was Australia's youngest daily cartoonist, In 1939 he temporarily abandoned cartooning and accompanied the Australian Davis Cup
team to the United States
as a tennis writer. The team won the cup just as World War II
broke out. Russell tried to enlist in the Royal Australian Air Force
, unsuccessfully.
When Stan Cross left Smith’s in 1940 Russell succeeded him as art editor and also took over drawing Cross’s comic strips, including You and Me
, which he renamed Mr and Mrs Pott, and from 1950, The Potts
. Through the war years Russell was responsible for two satirical strips, Adolf, Herman and Musso (which made fun of Adolf Hitler
, Hermann Goering and Benito Mussolini
) and Schmit der Sphy. He won 1st prize in the Voluntary Services section in the National Gallery of Victoria
’s 1945 "Australia at War" exhibition.
Russell branched out into comic books during the 1940s when import restrictions gave Australian comics a lion's share
of the market. At the beginning of 1947, Jim and his older brother, Dan, began their own publishing company, All-Australian Comics. The lead title of the company was Tex Morton
's Wild West Comics, starring the popular country music
singer. Like many Australian comics of the time, it was a copy of American material, in this case, featuring cowboy actors such as Roy Rogers
and Gene Autry
. Tex Morton
was always featured in a lead-off story along with his mates Jacky, Shorty and Slim, drawn by Dan Russell. For the first two years companion features were Keith Chatto
's Bunny Allen, Les Dixon
's Alfie the Jackaroo and a series of bush yarns by Jack Hemming. Early in 1949 they added another title, Kanga's K.O. Comics, with the lead strip drawn by Russell, who used the pseudonym
'Mick Newton'. Russell also used the pseudonym on a revised version of Wanda Dare in Tex Morton Comics (the earlier version of Wanda Dare, a lady reporter, having previously been drawn by Dan).
In the middle of 1950 All-Australian Comics ran into finacial difficulties due to rising production costs and the company folded by the end of the year. Russell resigned from Smith's Weekly after a dispute with the new editor, and not long after, in October 1950, Smith's Weekly folded. By a complex financial arrangement, the Melbourne Herald had acquired copyright to The Potts
, and he resumed drawing the strip in its new role as a daily
Russell also wrote film reviews and other articles, was a radio and television personality, a publisher of dancing and music magazines and ran two travel agencies.
In 1924 Russell was one of the founders of the Black and White Artists’ Club. He succeeded Cross as president in 1955-57, then again in 1965-73. He won the Club’s first Silver Stanley in 1985 for his contribution to black and white art, was appointed its patron in 1984 and a life member in 1991. In 1993 he was elected a member of the United States National Cartoonists Society
, the only Australian ever to receive this honour.
The Australian Cartoonist's Association
Silver Stanley Award
is now known as the Jim Russell Award and is awarded to a cartoonist for services to the cartooning industry. Russell was their longtime secretary (then known as the Black and White Artists' Club).
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(26 March 1909 – 15 August 2001) was an Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
who drew The Potts
The Potts
The Potts is said to be the world's longest-running cartoon strip drawn by the same artist. The strip appeared in Australia's The Sun News-Pictorial. It was syndicated in the United States from 1957 to 1962, during which time it was renamed Uncle Dick...
for 62 years. Jim's brother Dan Russell
Dan Russell (cartoonist)
Dan Russell was an Australian cartoonist. Dan's younger brother Jim Russell was also a cartoonist.-Biography:Russell was born in Millers Point, New South Wales, the son of William John "Billy" Russell, a foreman plumber with the Sydney City Council, the president of the New South Wales Plumbers’...
was also a cartoonist.
Biography
Russell was born in Campsie, New South WalesCampsie, New South Wales
Campsie is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Campsie is located 13 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, on the southern bank of the Cooks River. Campsie is the commercial and administrative centre of the City of...
, the son of William John "Billy" Russell, a foreman plumber
Plumber
A plumber is a tradesperson who specializes in installing and maintaining systems used for potable water, sewage, and drainage in plumbing systems. The term dates from ancient times, and is related to the Latin word for lead, "plumbum." A person engaged in fixing metaphorical "leaks" may also be...
with the Sydney City Council, the president of the New South Wales Plumbers’ Union, the national secretary of the Plumbers’ Union, and unsuccessful labour candidate for the seats of Parkes and Canterbury
Electoral district of Canterbury
Canterbury is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is represented by Linda Burney of the Australian Labor Party.-History:...
, who was killed in a workplace accident in 1915. His mother Catherine Elizabeth
Catherine Green (Australian politician)
Catherine Elizabeth Green was an Australian politician.Born in Curban in New South Wales to farmer Daniel Diggs and Catherine Kain, she was educated at the Curban public school until the family moved to Dubbo when Catherine was fourteen. She was a domestic in a hotel before moving to Sydney around...
(nee Diggs), remarried in 1926 and was one of the first two woman members of an Australian Upper House of Parliament
New South Wales Legislative Council
The New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of New South Wales in Australia. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney. The Assembly is referred to as the lower house and the Council as...
. Russell was educated at Tempe
Tempe, New South Wales
Tempe is a suburb in the inner west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Tempe is located 9 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Marrickville Council....
Technical School and Christian Brothers' High School, Lewisham
Christian Brothers' High School, Lewisham
Christian Brothers' High School, Lewisham , is a Roman Catholic, day school for boys, located in Lewisham, an inner-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
In 1924 at age 14 he began work as a copy boy on the Daily Guardian before transferring later that year to Smith's Weekly
Smith's Weekly
Smith's Weekly was an Australian tabloid newspaper published from 1919 to 1950. An independent weekly published in Sydney, but read all over Australia, Smith’s Weekly was one of Australia’s most patriotic newspaper-style magazines....
's working as an art room messenger boy to Stan Cross
Stan Cross
Stanley George Cross was born in the United States but was known as an Australian strip and political cartoonist who drew for Smith’s Weekly and The Herald and Weekly Times...
. Russell also studied at Julian Ashton
Julian Ashton
Julian Rossi Ashton was an Australian artist and teacher, known for his support of the Heidelberg School and for his influential art school in Sydney....
's Sydney Art School, for six years, while working at various jobs, including a box office attendant at the Sydney Stadium
Sydney Stadium
The Sydney Stadium was a sporting and entertainment venue in Sydney, New South Wales, which formerly stood on the corner of New South Head Road and Neild Avenue, Rushcutters Bay...
. This led to a brief boxing career, which included winning all five bouts as a welterweight
Welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
at the Sydney Stadium. During this time he improved his drawing, with sketches he made of notable boxers being published in various Sydney papers. In 1926 the head artist of Fox Films offered to tutor Russell in the basics of art, for which he paid £100 and worked unpaid there for two years.
Russell became Australia's youngest political cartoonist, when in 1928 (at the age of nineteen) he got a job as cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
on the Sydney Sunday News until the paper folded in 1931. Russell briefly went to the Referee as sports caricaturist until he rejoined Smith’s Weekly and by 1933 was Australia's youngest daily cartoonist, In 1939 he temporarily abandoned cartooning and accompanied the Australian Davis Cup
1939 International Lawn Tennis Challenge
The 1939 International Lawn Tennis Challenge was the 34th edition of what is now known as the Davis Cup. 20 teams would enter the Europe Zone, while 7 would enter the Americas Zone....
team to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as a tennis writer. The team won the cup just as World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
broke out. Russell tried to enlist in the Royal Australian Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
, unsuccessfully.
When Stan Cross left Smith’s in 1940 Russell succeeded him as art editor and also took over drawing Cross’s comic strips, including You and Me
The Potts
The Potts is said to be the world's longest-running cartoon strip drawn by the same artist. The strip appeared in Australia's The Sun News-Pictorial. It was syndicated in the United States from 1957 to 1962, during which time it was renamed Uncle Dick...
, which he renamed Mr and Mrs Pott, and from 1950, The Potts
The Potts
The Potts is said to be the world's longest-running cartoon strip drawn by the same artist. The strip appeared in Australia's The Sun News-Pictorial. It was syndicated in the United States from 1957 to 1962, during which time it was renamed Uncle Dick...
. Through the war years Russell was responsible for two satirical strips, Adolf, Herman and Musso (which made fun of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, Hermann Goering and Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
) and Schmit der Sphy. He won 1st prize in the Voluntary Services section in the National Gallery of Victoria
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. Since December 2003, NGV has operated across two sites...
’s 1945 "Australia at War" exhibition.
Russell branched out into comic books during the 1940s when import restrictions gave Australian comics a lion's share
Lion's Share
The lion's share is an idiomatic expression which develops from a number of fables ascribed to Aesop and is now used as their generic title, although they exist in several different versions...
of the market. At the beginning of 1947, Jim and his older brother, Dan, began their own publishing company, All-Australian Comics. The lead title of the company was Tex Morton
Tex Morton
Tex Morton was a pioneer of Australian country music.-Early life:At age 14 he left home to launch himself into show business...
's Wild West Comics, starring the popular country music
Australian country music
Australian country music is a part of the music of Australia. There is a broad range of styles, from bluegrass, to yodelling to folk to the more popular. The genre has been influenced by Celtic and English folk music, by the traditions of Australian bush balladeers, as well as by popular American...
singer. Like many Australian comics of the time, it was a copy of American material, in this case, featuring cowboy actors such as Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye , was an American singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain...
and Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
. Tex Morton
Tex Morton
Tex Morton was a pioneer of Australian country music.-Early life:At age 14 he left home to launch himself into show business...
was always featured in a lead-off story along with his mates Jacky, Shorty and Slim, drawn by Dan Russell. For the first two years companion features were Keith Chatto
Keith Chatto
Ronald Keith Chatto was an Australian comic book artist and writer. Chatto was the first Australian artist to illustrate a full-length comic episode of The Phantom.-Biography:...
's Bunny Allen, Les Dixon
Les Dixon
Leslie "Les" Dixon , was an Australian cartoonist and commercial artist.Dixon was born Leslie Charles Brailey in Sydney, New South Wales on 25 July 1910 and adopted by Charles and Lillian Dixon when he was only six months old...
's Alfie the Jackaroo and a series of bush yarns by Jack Hemming. Early in 1949 they added another title, Kanga's K.O. Comics, with the lead strip drawn by Russell, who used the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
'Mick Newton'. Russell also used the pseudonym on a revised version of Wanda Dare in Tex Morton Comics (the earlier version of Wanda Dare, a lady reporter, having previously been drawn by Dan).
In the middle of 1950 All-Australian Comics ran into finacial difficulties due to rising production costs and the company folded by the end of the year. Russell resigned from Smith's Weekly after a dispute with the new editor, and not long after, in October 1950, Smith's Weekly folded. By a complex financial arrangement, the Melbourne Herald had acquired copyright to The Potts
The Potts
The Potts is said to be the world's longest-running cartoon strip drawn by the same artist. The strip appeared in Australia's The Sun News-Pictorial. It was syndicated in the United States from 1957 to 1962, during which time it was renamed Uncle Dick...
, and he resumed drawing the strip in its new role as a daily
Russell also wrote film reviews and other articles, was a radio and television personality, a publisher of dancing and music magazines and ran two travel agencies.
In 1924 Russell was one of the founders of the Black and White Artists’ Club. He succeeded Cross as president in 1955-57, then again in 1965-73. He won the Club’s first Silver Stanley in 1985 for his contribution to black and white art, was appointed its patron in 1984 and a life member in 1991. In 1993 he was elected a member of the United States National Cartoonists Society
National Cartoonists Society
The National Cartoonists Society is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the troops...
, the only Australian ever to receive this honour.
Personal
Russell married Lillian "Billie" Brann (d. 1995) in 1931; they had a daughter Judith Aileen. He died 15 August 2001.Recognition
In 1978 he was awarded the MBE, then later the AM.The Australian Cartoonist's Association
Australian Cartoonist's Association
The Australian Cartoonists' Association is the Australian professional cartoonists' organisation and was established on 17 July 1924 as the Society of Australian Black and White Artists....
Silver Stanley Award
Stanley Award
Named after Stan Cross, the Stanley Awards, also known as The Stanleys are issued annually by the Australian Cartoonists' Association and recognise the best of Australian cartoonists and cartooning....
is now known as the Jim Russell Award and is awarded to a cartoonist for services to the cartooning industry. Russell was their longtime secretary (then known as the Black and White Artists' Club).
External links
- ACE biographical portraits: the artists behind the comic book characters: the Australian comic book exhibition, Australian comics 1930s-1990s, touring Australia during 1995/96 / edited by Annette Shiell and Ingrid Unger (1994, ISBN 0-7326-0829-5)
- The Potts and Uncle Dick / by Jim Russell
- Vale - Jim Russell