Walter Ball (cartoonist)
Encyclopedia
Walter Ball was cartoonist for the Canadian
comic strip
feature Rural Route, which became a familiar fixture in the Toronto Star
Weekly between 1956 until the publication's demise in 1968. He was born in Cookstown, Ontario
.
Ball, who grew up on a farm near Cookstown, originally looked at electrical engineering as a career, but it was his application to the Toronto Daily Star, with only a few sample correspondence school art lessons under his belt, that got him hired as a graphic artist in 1932.
Early in his tenure at the Star, Ball (not yet a cartoonist) befriended legendary Canadian artist Jimmy Frise
, who accepted a more lucrative offer from the Montreal Standard in the late 1940s. When the Star Weekly made a format change from broadsheet to tabloid in 1956, an editor asked Ball if he knew a cartoonist interested in creating a comic feature for the new publication. Ball suggested some names, but having always had a desire to enter the field, worked concurrently on his own strip. It was quickly accepted and one month into the new format, a reader survey indicated Rural Route had become the most read feature in the publication.
Featuring the woodsy adventures of a small town youth named Willie and his farm-dwelling Uncle Elmer & Aunt Myrtle, Ball drew largely on his own childhood farm experiences in creating and developing Rural Route. It could be argued that Ball, Frise and cartoonist Doug Wright
are co-creators of a distinct Canadian comic strip style of that time, with ornately detailed drawings and a simple, folksy humour style.
When Rural Route and the Star Weekly folded in 1968, Ball continued in the Star's art department, being promoted to art director in 1970. He retired in 1976 and, with his wife, resided in the Toronto, Ontario suburb of Richmond Hill until his death.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
feature Rural Route, which became a familiar fixture in the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
Weekly between 1956 until the publication's demise in 1968. He was born in Cookstown, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
.
Ball, who grew up on a farm near Cookstown, originally looked at electrical engineering as a career, but it was his application to the Toronto Daily Star, with only a few sample correspondence school art lessons under his belt, that got him hired as a graphic artist in 1932.
Early in his tenure at the Star, Ball (not yet a cartoonist) befriended legendary Canadian artist Jimmy Frise
Jimmy Frise
Canadian cartoonist Jimmy Frise was born James Llewellyn Frise on Scugog Island, Ontario. It was a stroke of fate that Frise would endure in cartooning as long as he did, after maiming his left hand in a munitions accident during the Battle of Vimy Ridge in World War I.His career began during a...
, who accepted a more lucrative offer from the Montreal Standard in the late 1940s. When the Star Weekly made a format change from broadsheet to tabloid in 1956, an editor asked Ball if he knew a cartoonist interested in creating a comic feature for the new publication. Ball suggested some names, but having always had a desire to enter the field, worked concurrently on his own strip. It was quickly accepted and one month into the new format, a reader survey indicated Rural Route had become the most read feature in the publication.
Featuring the woodsy adventures of a small town youth named Willie and his farm-dwelling Uncle Elmer & Aunt Myrtle, Ball drew largely on his own childhood farm experiences in creating and developing Rural Route. It could be argued that Ball, Frise and cartoonist Doug Wright
Doug Wright (cartoonist)
Douglas Austin Wright was an English-born Canadian cartoonist. Creator of the long-running comic strip Doug Wright's Family, or Nipper, he is the namesake for the Canadian Wright Awards....
are co-creators of a distinct Canadian comic strip style of that time, with ornately detailed drawings and a simple, folksy humour style.
When Rural Route and the Star Weekly folded in 1968, Ball continued in the Star's art department, being promoted to art director in 1970. He retired in 1976 and, with his wife, resided in the Toronto, Ontario suburb of Richmond Hill until his death.