Outcault, Richard Felton
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Comment by John Coghlan on April 5th, 2011 at 10:52 pm
April 5th 2011
Great grandson of R.F.Outcault.
You have some glaring errors in your four or five articles – which tend to repeat
and also are contradictory.
1. He came from a modest home – not wealthy. Hos father was a cabinet maker and lost one or two fingers. His wife ( Mary Jane Martin ) was the eldest in the Martin family in Lancaster Ohio and they owned the largest bank in Fairfield County and had a large two story
Greek Revival home – now a main feature of Lancaster historic district.
Next door lived Wm. T. Sherman and they were friends with the Martins.
2. According to Mary Jane Outcault – who raised me -there was only one life model
in RFOs strip Buster Brown – herself. There was no model for Buster despite some
self promoting site that claims their son or father as a little boy was the model – not so.
And Mary Jane was honest to a fault and loved her brother mightily – she would not cheat
him out of any claim to being Buster. But it simply wasn’t so.
I think you have his jobs mixed up and out of sequence.
It appears to be three or four articles and repeats data.
He effected a beret for fun (rarely) but not a cape that I know of and I have over 100 pictures of him – and never a cape.
He did belong to notable New York theatrical and art groups – the Lambs Club, the Friars Club etc. and gave ‘chalk talks’ ( comedy routines where he drew Buster and ‘cut-up’
Edison sent him to Paris to draw machinery (World’s Fair) ( I have RFOs passport) and
Edison paid for a years art lessons at the Sorbonne for RFO.
They were friends – at least in his younger years.
I do not think he established the Outcault Advertising Agency with his son as partner right away.
His partner was a Charles Crewdson early on. As he got older Uncle Dick ( his son ) came on however.
A very fine person. They all were.
You may call me with questions at 818 905 6411.
John Coghlan … But please shape the article up. Some of your sources are pretty good
but the total article is erratic.
Comment by Jennifer Tanabe on April 8th, 2011 at 11:02 am
Thank you for your helpful comments! The article will be revised to incorporate your information.
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