Here’s an example I scanned of Buster Brown from 1915 by Richard F. Outcault. No “resolution’ at the end of this one… I’m guessing they may have gotten rid of those at some point, since this is a later strip than the previous examples.
Note that this strip contains the sort of stereotyping that was typical of comics of the era. If that sort of thing offends you, you may not want to view it.
Click the image to view the full strip.
Click here to read more examples of Buster Brown at Barnacle Press.
See the last Buster Brown strip at the Stripper’s Guide.
Click here to read about Richard F. Outcault at lambiek.net.
See a Buster Brown original (with the Yellow Kid) at the Library of Congress website.
Read more about R.F. Outcault at Ohio State University’s website.
See examples of Outcault’s Yellow Kid at Ohio State University’s website.
Click here to read more about Buster Brown at Toonopedia.
Hear a radio program on the history of Buster Brown at npr.org.
Visit the website of the R.F. Outcault Society.
Read the Wikipedia entry on Buster Brown.
Read the Wikipedia entry on R.F. Outcault..
Read the Wikipedia entry on The Yellow Kid.
See the copyright application for the Yellow Kid at the Library of Congress website.
Now the “resolution” is a diatribe at the beginning. I guess Buster was rich from schilling all those ill fitting shoes but his real money was made in a far more sinister fashion. I am sure it will reveal itself in the controversy of the over 40 “little people” who played him in the commercials. Hint – those little people were once little people. Yes, it is true. Now it is so clear. Tige pushing the buttons and Mary Jane’s plot. The Shoe Factory or more aptly put, the sweat shop where all those children toiled to hide people in the little shoes was so decrepit that it stunted the growth of all the urchins recruited to work there. Once their minds were destroyed they were planted across the United States and called one by one to play the Pied Piper himself in Print and Person. What an efficent operation. Mussolini tried to copy but got it all wrong. Joe Kennedy got it part right. The intricacies scared Eunice and destroyed Rose. Billy Ray Cyrus has resurrected the concept a strange adolescent living a double life. Call the press Bela knows the outome and it is hiding in his works over the shear horror.
It should be noted that the forty little people who seemingly played Buster Brown were actually playing W.H. “Major” Ray playing Buster Brown. Also note that they all dubiously claimed to be Frenchmen. When Ray passed away, he had all of the faux Frenchmen faux Major Ray faux Buster Browns buried with him in an underground tomb, as it was the only way he could justify paying for a large-person’s gravesite. In spite of the fact that they were all faux French faux Major Ray faux Buster Browns, individually they were all as unique as snowflakes, and their ranks included the former “Midget Mayor of Mini-Minneapolis,” Jinks Jensen, and one faux frenchwoman. Only one faux Frenchman faux Major Ray faux Buster Brown managed to avoid the massacre… Meinhardt Rabbe Jr., who would later gain acclaim for jumping the Weinermobile over 20 dancing go-go girls. Meinhardt was the son of the original Oscar Meyer… he actually was too tall to be a true little person, so he had his shins surgically removed, and hunched over in public. The faux Oscar Meyers actually greatly outnumbered the faux Buster Browns… at their peak there was one for every grocery store in America. There were frequent skirmishes between the two factions in their heyday. The Buster Browns resented the Oscar Meyers’ Weinermobiles, enormous hot dog shaped vehicles that were like mobile mansions for a little person; the Oscar Meyers resented the Buster Browns’ pose as faux little boys rather than proud little people. Bloodshed was inevitable. True story.