Do you have older relatives who embarrass you with their retrograde ways of describing things? We have this in the internet archives, too. Here is a brief bio on pioneer cartoonist Paul Fung, taken from Cartoons Magazine in 1913. They called the bio 'The Only Chinese-American Cartoonist in Captivity', and apparently, they meant it kindly. Cue eyerolls.

Paul Fung (1897-1944) was the son of a Chinese clergyman. Born in Seattle, Paul Fun moved to China with his missionary parents when he was five. As an adult, he returned to the country of his birth, where he became a successful cartoonist. One of his comic strips was called Dumb Dora. It was a hit back when people liked 'dizzy blonde' jokes. Of course, nobody tells jokes like that today…

Fung's son, Paul Fung, Jr, also became a cartoonist. He worked with Chic Young on the even more famous comic Blondie. Blondie began life as a flapper – her last name was Boopadoop – but later morphed into the sensible housewife in charge of her much ditzier husband Dagwood and their two kids, whom she managed with the help of Daisy the dog, also a sensible mother. Feminism advanced slowly in the 20th Century.

Here's the bio of Paul Fung, Sr.

Dmitri Gheorgheni

26.03.18 Front Page

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