Cy Hungerford Hones His Craft in the Friendly City
— written by Terri Blanchette
Few people in Pittsburgh today know of an institution who once graced their city with his people-centered perspective and sensitivity, and his great talent. Even fewer know that without five pivotal years spent in Wheeling, West Virginia, he would not have become the icon he was.
Cyrus Cotton “Cy” Hungerford was born in the small town of Manilla, Indiana, located halfway between two of southeast Indiana’s more major cities of Rushville and Shelbyville, on June 27, 1888. Both of his parents were part of the agrarian pioneers and were raised on significant farmsteads – Addison Hungerford’s family being one of the first to settle Manilla, and Florence Cotton’s prominent family a major force in developing Shelbyville into a notable city. Neither parent wanted to stay on the farm and so met, married in 1884 and began a life together.
Leaving their homesteads was only the first move in what would become a trend with the little family. In 1890, when Cy was two, his parents again felt the need to move on and headed for Parkersburg, West Virginia. Addison had many of the traits one associates with his profession of salesman. He was gregarious, a “dandy” when it came to his impeccable dress, and if his son was any reflection, Addison had the gift of gab. He took those traits and combined them with his deep knowledge of farming to sell reapers and other farming equipment. Of course, Florence was the homemaker and that allowed her to form a strong bond with her only child. That bond determined much of his future until the day she died.
While in Parkersburg, Cy began his career in drawing and cartooning. He had a natural draw to the effort, if not the natural talent. But talent can come with time and so it was with Cy. In 1903, at the age of 15, he sold his first cartoon to the Parkersburg Sentinel. Like many boys of the time, he was initially a paperboy for the publication. One of the areas he worked was the “red light” district where he was teased by the inhabitants of the local brothel. Cy knew he wanted to have his cartoons in the Sentinel, but was often told that the paper couldn’t afford to take a chance with his untested talents. At the time, printing a cartoon meant creating and carving an image in reverse which would then be carved from a wood block. The block was used as a stamp onto the newspapers.
However, it was an expensive and time-consuming method that only lasted so long as the wooden block held together. That old method was giving way to a new and improved chalk plate method. The cartoonist would draw an image on tissue paper, invert it and carve it onto a fine layer of chalk adhered to a metal plate. When the drawing was complete, lead was poured into the grooves on the plate and ultimately created a metal stamp with a much longer lifespan, thereby saving costs. To make himself more saleable to the paper, Cy decided to learn the new method and successfully sold himself as not only a cartoonist, but one who could save the paper time and money. They bought the idea.
Cy had a healthy dose of his parent’s wanderlust and following his graduation from Parkersburg High School, in 1907, he headed for Wheeling.
Like Parkersburg, Wheeling was a boomtown thanks to the natural oil and gas that was found in the region. Iron, tobacco, tin, and glass were also elements of Wheeling’s success at the time. Cy, like his father, was attracted to the promise that a new town offered. Just months following his high school graduation, he was hired by the Wheeling Register and his first illustration (literally, of a train wreck) appeared in the Wheeling Register Sunday paper on September 29, 1907.
His time in Wheeling was pivotal for several reasons. First, Wheeling represented his first full-time cartooning gig. He still drew and produced the stamps for his cartoons, however, he regularly appeared as the paper’s artist in any capacity they needed, illustrations of stories, caricatures and editorial pieces. He drew it all, but no longer had to have a paper route as well.
Wheeling also was a time where Cy honed his style and sharpened his abilities. Comparing his first work to cartoons that were done 3 years later show a significant growth in his skills as an artist. It was also where he created his retinue of reappearing characters. One significant character was “Pa Wheeling”. First developed in Wheeling as a representative of the city, Cy would use that same character once he moved to Pittsburgh naming him, of course, “Pa Pitt” and creating a persona that is still used and referred to today.
➤ Click to see our Gallery of “Pa Wheeling” and “Father Wheeling” cartoons by various artists.
For more on Pa Wheeling, see below.
Besides new characters and improved skills, Cy also developed his identity while in Wheeling. Originally signing his cartoons as “Cyrus H—-” he began using “Hungerford” which would not only remain his signature for the rest of his long career, but it was the name people used for him. Few of his public knew his first name was Cyrus.
But Wheeling also gave him the ability to become himself. He often told the story of how he learned to drink after hanging around with “Bud” Taney, namesake nephew to James Ballantyne Taney, co-founder of the West Virginia Printing Company who produced the Register, and son of the papers’ General Manager Charles Taney.
Cy’s last cartoon in Wheeling was on August 11, 1912 and reflected the notable election of that year. He returned often to visit Wheeling as his career, and fame, grew. He gave chalk-talks and appeared at newspaper conferences and community gatherings alike. Cy was never one to forget those who helped him along the way. The people he met and the friends he made remained with him until his death in 1983.
Hungerford began drawing for the Pittsburgh audience the day after leaving Wheeling and continued there for the next 65 years. First at the Sun-Post paper and then, starting in 1927, with the brand new Post-Gazette.
Without a doubt, Cy is the longest published cartoonist in history – even beating out the likes of Herb Block. And if Cy were alive today, he would quickly acknowledge that Wheeling played a significant part in his success.
Watch Terri’s presentation for Archiving Wheeling Presents at LWB Livestream for the Ohio County Public Library.
Profiling Pa: The Simon Young Story
— Aside written by Sean Duffy
Originally from Weston, West Virginia, “Colonel” Simon Young made his reputation as a night clerk and greeter, primarily at the Stamm Hotel on Water Street in Wheeling in the early 20th century. He was good enough at his job to be elected a few times to represent West Virginia as a delegate to the National Hotel Clerk’s convention in Chicago and other places (Intelligencer, June 15, 1912). He later got elected president of the state’s Hotel Clerk Association and was active in Democratic politics.
At some point, according to an April 2, 1915 article appearing in the Intelligencer, “Colonel Young [had] the distinction of being the subject from which a formal well known local newspaper artist, now located at Pittsburgh [thought to be a reference to Cy Hungerford] took his profile in cartooning ‘Pa Wheeling.'”
Based on Hungerford’s early sketches of Pa Wheeling, we can deduce that Colonel Young was a robust fellow.
Hungerford’s character was imitated and restyled by a few different cartoonists, most notably Harry Elmer Stupp, who worked for the Intelligencer during the same period and served as Chairman of the West Virginia Cartoon Association. Stupp and other artists transformed Pa or “Father” Wheeling into a leaner, more traditional “Founding Father” type.
Also a musician and composer, Stupp led a 24 piece orchestra and composed the music for a 1913 semi-centennial anthem called “West Virginia,” with lyrics by newspaperman James Arthur Mills.
Despite Hungerford’s departure for Pittsburgh, where he created an even more robust “Pa Pitt” (see above), Pa Wheeling continued to serve as a symbol of the city into the war era, where he encouraged registration for Wheeling’s draft-aged men. He faded out for while, but was resurrected in the 1930s in a chamber of commerce publication called “Forward Wheeling.” He then led the way as a symbol of the city’s history during the centennial celebration of 1936. The Ohio County Public Library featured the character (portrayed by Earl Foreman) in a March 8, 2016 Lunch With Books program.
