Tom Webster

(1886-1962)

Tom Webster was a newspaper cartoonist particularly known for depicting sports personalities and events.

Born on 17 July 1886, in Bilston, Wolverhampton, and christened Gilbert Tom Webster, Tom was the youngest of the ten children of Daniel Webster and his wife Sarah Ann. Daniel was an Ironmonger's manager, and also latterly took on a tobacconist's shop. He died when Tom was a baby, and Sarah Ann, a trained musician who had been giving piano lessons, took over running the tobacconist's assisted by her daughter Kate.

On leaving school at 14 Tom took a job as a clerk with the Great Western Railway. Keen on cartooning, he won prizes for humerous drawings in several competitions run by local newspapers. In 1906 he resigned from Great Western, but since he gave his occupation as bank clerk when enlisting in 1915 it may be he was merely improving the conditions of his "day job" while freelancing as a cartoonist. Around 1909 he secured a contract with the Birmingham Sports Argus to supply a minimum of twelve cartoons a week, although in practice he usually did a lot more, and in the 1911 census he gave his occupation as "Artist" in the newspaper industry.

In 1912 he moved to London to work as a political cartoonist on the left-wing Daily Citizen, while also contributing cartoons to other newspapers. Politics was not his best subject, however, and he soon returned to concentrating on sports. Realising that the use of photographs in newspapers was on the increase and illustrators would need to offer more than representation, he developed a 'running comment' style of cartoon panel, showing an 'I was there and this is what happened' series of humerous events.

In November 1915 Webster enlisted in the army, citing the past year attached to the Royal Army Medical Corps as previous experience. A lance-corporal in the Royal Fusiliers fighting in France, he was wounded in November 1916 and invalided home. After six months in hospital he was discharged in July 1917.

Lancelot Speed had developed the 'lightning artist' film into the cut-out animated cartoon, where the artist is seen to drawn an image which is then replaced by articulated cut-outs, progressively moved frame by frame. This format was taken up by other cartoonists such as Dudley Buxton and Anson Dyer and had become the expectation for animated cartoons by mid 1917.

The first mention I have found of a Tom Webster cartoon film comes in the Birmingham Daily Gazette 21 August 1917 and reads:

The Bristol-street Picture House has a long and varied programme, including a sensational drama, "The Price he Paid," and the first series of Tom Webster's cartoons showing the war from Tommy's point of view.

The use of the word "series" when referring to animated cartoons of this period can be confusing. Although it was also used to mean a series of films, the format of the cartoons, deriving from the lightning artist films, whereby the artist is seen drawing the scene initially before it comes to life, conditioned people to see these films as a series of static cartoons that were then animated, each scene being a separate cartoon. A cartoon film of more than one scene was therefore a series of cartoons.

This, unnamed, film predates the films subsequently released by the Birmingham Film Producing Company (Brum Films for short) by three months and suggests thst this film was made before any distribution deal existed. Webster's mother was living in King's Heath, Birmingham and many of his siblings resided in that area, so it is possible that on release from hospital Tom went home to Birmingham to recuperate, and that he and a local film-maker made this film, perhaps a string of 'lightning artist' cartoons based on Webster's experiences in the trenches and with only a little animation, and sold or rented it to a local cinema. There is no evidence to support this theory. But it seems likely that it was the appearance of this film at the Bristol Street Cinema, Edgbaston, that prompted the Birmingham Film Producing Company to show an interest.

Brum Films do not seem to have acquired this initial film for release — perhaps it was not of a high enough standard — but made a deal for a series of Tom Webster Cartoons, the first of which, The History of a German Recruit, was shown to the trade on 21 November 1917. The Midlands correspondent for the Kinematograph Weekly (29 Nov 1917) reported:

Mr Leonard O'Dowd, the well-known black and white artist of Punch and Bystander fame who was also present, tells me that these cartoons are the best-drawn ones he has ever seen, either in this country or the States.

Leonard P Dowd (no "O") was a noted Fleet Street cartoonist, one of three brothers similarly talented. No copy of the film seems to have survived.

On 6 December 1917 The Biograph, announcing Brum Films' forthcoming trade shows, reported that the show on the 12th would include the second of the Tom Webster cartoons, adding the postscript:

The second Webster cartoon, by the way, is entitled "Charles Chaplin in the Trenches."

However, subsequent reviews of the trade show fail to mention any cartoon. The Kinematograph Weekly published a promotional item about Brum Films and its producer/director Bert Haldane on 3 January 1918 in which it says:

The company have also secured the services of Mr. om Webster, a cartoonist and black and white artist, who is almost as well known in the provinces as he is in Fleet Street. They have already produced a number of cartoons, which have met with a splendid response, and more will be seen in the immediate future.

Finally, on 7 March, The Kinematograph Weekly's Birmingham representative, Lawson T Trout, who also ran a publicity company, reported:

Through the courtesy of Mr. Frank Hall, of the Birmingham Film Producing Co., I was privileged to see the latest Tom Webster cartoons, "Charlie at the Front," when screened for the first time the other day. I must admit that it is quite the cleverest and most humerous thing Mr. Webster has yet drawn. The Mule, Tank and trench incidents, the tit-bits of the film, are far better seen than described.

Presumably a retitled, and perhaps re-edited, version of Charlie Chaplin in the Trenches, this was to be the start of a series of cartoons featuring a caricature of Charlie Chaplin. Perhaps Brum Films felt that Webster's name was not a big enough draw outside the Midlands or maybe Webster felt it would be easier to hang a film on a celebrity character rather than come up with original story ideas. Chaplin was now at the height of his fame, and, having completed twelve two-reelers for Mutual for a sum that made him the highest-paid entertainer in the world, was preparing to produce his own films.

Several cartoon animators had featured Chaplin in films. In America John Terry and Hugh Shields had made a series of 17 films with Chaplin's approval, released in 1915 by Movca Film Service. Pat Sullivan got Chaplin's permission to make a feature cartoon in 1917, but events delayed production for a year, and it ended up as a series of shorts. Other animators felt free to include appearances of Chaplin in their own series. In Britain Dudley Buxton had included skits featuring Chaplin in several of the John Bull's Animated Sketch Book films.

On 11 April 1918 in The Kinematograph Weekly Lawson Trout announced:

Tom Webster is at work on another Chaplin cartoon bearing the title of "Charlie in the Navy." This is the second of a series of four, which I understand will be released simultaneously.

In The Kinematograph Weekly 6 June he mentions that the next Brum Films trade show would include "a couple of the famous Tom Webster Cartoons." The issue also includes the announcement that the Lawson Trout Publicity Service have secured the services of Mr. Tom Webster, the celebrated black-and-white artist, of London and provincial newspaper fame.

It seems that Brum Films sold distribution rights for the Chaplin series to Leeds-based renter the Art Exclusive Company, who covered the Yorkshire region. On 11 July The Bioscope reported the series was about to go "great guns" in Leeds and Bradford, while The Kinematograph Weekly said that "the first Webster cartoon, 'Charlie Joins the Navy' was well received" at Art Exclusive's trade show in Sheffield. On 1 August The Kinematograph Weekly reported the trade showing of "the second Chaplin cartoon, 'Charlie Over the Top" in Leeds. This could be a retitling of Charlie at the Front, but both titles appear in subsequent cinema listings.

The Grand Electric Theatre, Middlesborough, screened "CHARLIE AT THE FRONT (A Laughable Cartoon)" (in the days before "laughable" became a pejorative!) from 5 to 7 September, and "CHARLIE IN THE AIR SERVICE (A Cartoon)" from 3 to 5 October; Cinema House, Chesterfield, advertised "CHARLIE CARTOONS in 'CHARLIE OVER THE TOP'" from 16 to 18 September and "CHARLIE CARTOONS in 'CHARLIE IN THE NAVY'" from 19 to 21; and The Cooperative Hall, Hebdon Bridge, showed "CHARLIE IN THE NAVY,' A Chaplin Cartoon drawn by Tom Webster, Cartoonist to the 'London Opinion'" on 21 September and "'CHARLIE AT THE FRONT,' Chaplin Cartoon by Tom Webster" on 8 November. If the series of four Chaplin films reported by Lawson Trout in April was indeed completed, these would seem to be the four titles. It should be noted that I have found no mention of these films being screened in other parts of the country.

The reference to the London Opinion, a weekly humour magazine best known for the Alfred Leete cover illustration (5 September 1914) of Kitchener saying "Your Country Needs You" which subsequently became the famous recruiting poster, underlines the fact that while the films were being made Webster was submitting cartoons to Fleet Street in an attempt to pick up his black and white career. In 1918 he became sports cartoonist for the London Evening News, and the following year he was moved to its bigger sister, the Daily Mail, where his 'running commentary' sports cartoons became a popular feature. In 1920 the Daily Mail published a collection of his cartoond, titled Tom Webster among the Sportsmen, the success of which led to a series of Tom Webster Annuals that ran for twenty years.

In 1921 the heavily-backed joint favourite racehorse Tishy finished last in the Cesarewitch Handicap at Newmarket. Webster depicted her with her front legs twisted together, and subsequentlly used her to comment on other sporting failures. She became one of his most popular creations.

On 12 December 1922 King George V and Queen Mary made their third visit that year to the London Hippodrome for a performance in aid of the Variety Artists' Benevolent Fund. Next day the Westminster Gazette reported:

One of the most popular "turns" was a film—a clever moving cartoon by Tom Webster, who was called before the curtain—based on the pedal intricacies of Tishy.

The real Tishy, having won the 1922 Summer Handicap, had repeated her previous performance and again come last in the Cesarewitch in September, putting her back in the spotlight and probably the inspiration for making the cartoon. The only print of the film available opens with a title card reading "Under the personal supervision of TOM WEBSTER Directed by Tom Aitken." Denis Gifford credits Tom Webster with directing, W D Ford and Joe Noble as animators and relegates Tom Aitken to cameraman, probably resulting from an interview with Joe Noble. In an online history of animation, Danish animator Harry Rasmussen says that Noble "took over and completed" the Tishy film.

Joe Noble had been animating the drawings of newspaper cartoonists W D Ford and Tom Titt for the B J Film Producing Company in Brentford. I suspect that it was Aitken, who had worked briefly as an animator in New York before the War and was now a live-action director, who had approached Webster with the idea of a Tishy cartoon film, probably with the idea of it being shown at the Royal Command Performance. Finding the task more daunting than he had expected, he then called on Noble to help out. Noble brought W D Ford with him and they took over the animation. I do not, however, have any evidence to back up my supposition. Webster has to have the main credit as Tishy's creator, but the "personal supervision" line suggests that he was not directly involved in the production work. Crediting Aitken as Director may reflect his role as instigator and producer.

On 18 January 1923 The Kinematograph Weekly reported:

     Tom Webster's Cartoon Films.—Napoleon Films, Ltd., has acquired the rights of the single-reel cartoon films drawn by Tom Webster, the Daily Mail's celebrated artist, of which an example so greatly amused the King and Queen at the recent command performance. There are six films in the series, and the first, entitled "Tishy" (the subjest shown to their Majesties), will be displayed at the "Royal Divorce" Trade show on January 26 and released in Lincoln Handicap week. This is an amusing comedy record of the career of one of the most celebrated "bogey horses" of history. Th whole series is said to be brilliantly executed, and the fame of the executant gives it obvious publicity value.

This, of course, was information provided by Napoleon Films' publicity department. When it was reviewed by The Bioscope (1 February 1923) there was one note of criticism:

"Tishy"
Napoleon Films (Tom Webster)     1 reel

     Quite a masterpiece of humour is this racing cartoon, the first of a series, based upon Tom Webster's celebrated drawings in the Daily Mail.
     As the title indicates, the subject of the film is the now famous racehorse, Tishy, who is shown plaiting her legs in readiness for the start, and then advising the jockey to get off and take a taxi. Although the rest of the field has long since passed the winning post, Tishy continues on her shambling way, while the crowd waits patiently for her arrival. Night falls and the moon climbs high into the sky before she completes the course and drops, a shapeless mas of twisted limbs, at the post.
     Thanks to Mr. Webster's brilliant draughtsmanship and inimitable captions, the film is even funnier than the original cartoons. The animation might be rather better, but that is a flaw which Mr. Webster will doubtless eliminate as his eperience of film technique increases.
     "Tishy" is a unique attraction which should delight almost any class of audience.

The quality of the animation is variable. There are some nice touches, like the jockey descending from the saddle by rope ladder, but some of it is quite crude. I suspect the need to complete in time for the command performance may be partly to blame.

The proposed series of six became just three, and featured two more of Websters favorite sports personalities. The Bioscope of 1 November 1923, in a piece on Napoleon Films, noted:

     An attractive novelty also offered by Napoleon Films is a series of three cartoon pictures drawn and titled by Tom Webster, the famous cartoonist of the Daily Mail. "Tishy," "Jimmy Wilde" and "Inman" are the titles of these three subjects, which admirably convey and expand Mr. Webster's inimitable style as a humorous draughtsman and caption writer.

Denis Gifford lists the last two films (the last as Inman in Billiards), giving them the same credits he did Tishy (Producer/Director/scriptwriter: Tom Webster; Animators: W D Ford, Joe Noble; Cameraman: Tom Aitken) and this is probably based on information from Joe Noble. He could find no trace of any reviews or release dates. Jimmy Wilde was a Welsh boxer, rated by many at the time as "the Greatest Flyweight Boxer Ever" and had come out of retirement in 1923 to defend his World Championship against Pancho Villa in New York on the 18th June, losing by a knockout. I found several newspaper references to cinemas showing the Webster cartoon, which had been made before his defeat, including this from the Bexhill-on-Sea Observer 30 June 1923:

     The plucky little loser, Jimmy Wilde, will be at the St. George's Cinema all the week and is presented in a film cartoon by Tom Webster. It is a very clever piece of work, and will be followed in a week or two by another dealing with Inman at billiards.

The earliest screening for Jimmy Wilde that I can find is at the Stoll Picture Palace, London, from 30 April to 2 May 1923, which suggests it was released in late April.

The title of the film featuring Melbourne Inman, the World Billiards Champion, varies in the newspaper cinema listings of the time, some calling it Inman in Billiards and others Inman at Billiards, while a few just call it Inman, or Melbourne Inman. On 3 June 1923 the Sunday Pictorial reported, in its film column The Shadow Show:

     ... Tom Webster's animated cartoon, "Melbourne Inman," is ready for release. Those who have seen Inman play may remember that on one occasion he questioned the rotundity of the billiard balls. This solitary incident has been made the theme of Tom Webster's cartoon.

The cartoon is listed as showing at the Cinema Electric Theatre, Sevenoaks 4-6 June 1932, so the release date would presumably be in the latter part of May.

The Sunday Pictorial column also announced that Leslie Henson and Tom Walls were to film their stage hit comedy Tons of Money (the first of the Aldwych farces) and that Tom Webster was to write the sub-titles and decorate them with original drawings. Subsequently, Webster was credited with the scenario and editing of the live-action film. Reviewing it after the Trade showing, on 18 March, Lionel Collier, review editor of the Kinomatograph Weekly said that the director, Frank Crane,

has kept to the main thread of the stage success, and the settings are good, but the laughs are not nearly frequent enough, and some sadly misfire. The scenario must be mainly held to account for this. Tom Webster, as a cartoonist, is in a class by himself, but because he happens to have achieved success in this direction it is hardly logical to conclude that, therefore, he must be brilliant as a scenarist; it is reminiscent of Army methods of allotting specialised jobs.
[Kinematograph Weekly, 27 March 1924]

The film was released 24 August 1924.

Webster also collaborated with musical revue producers Harold Simpson and Morris Harvey (whose 1923 revue From Dover Street to Dixie had featured an interval fire curtain designed by cartoonist G E Studdy, showing Bonzo in various stages of crossing to America) on a revue entitled Cartoons. The review in the Daily News, 21 April 1924, softened its criticism by suggesting that revue first nights are but final rehearsals:

     With "Cartoons," produced on Saturday night at the Criterion, the trouble is that even the best turns end without sufficient snap. Harold Simpson, Morris Harvey, and Tom Webster between them have hit on several happy ideas, but very few of them were as funny as they should have been.
     To open with a cartoon film showing the call-boy knock up Cicely Debenham and Morris Harvey was quite a good idea, and the following scene, showing impersonations of the well-known caricatures of Suzanne Lenglen, Georges Carpentier, Melbourne Inman, Joe Beckett, Battling Siki, Jimmy Wilde and the Chelsea footballers, promised much fun.
     But the cartoon idea was soon abandoned, although we did have a film of Tom Webster's horses and a really funny series of satires on portraits in illustrated weeklies. But even these successful turns did not come to quite the right climax. "The Sage Way," an excellent satire of the well-known furniture advertisements, a "Mah Jongg" ballet, and "When Prohibition Came to Texas" were the most successful of the turns because they did go with a snap.

After suggesting that a little intensive work should make Cartoons quite an amusing revue, the piece ended by noting:

     A small section of the audience indulged in the usual first night criticism, but on the whole the revue was well recieved.

The Sunday newspaper The People was more blunt:

     The Tom Webster revue, "Cartoons," written by the great cartoonist in conjunction with Harold Simpson and Morris Harvey, was badly booed at the Criterion Theatre last night, although the stalls, largely filled with theatrical celebrities, were politely appreciative.
     Morris Harvey appeared in what was described as an "Ancient British Cabaret." He wore a prehistoric costume like George Robey's, but it was scarcely fitting for the West End stage. Nor was Marion Peake anything but indifferent.
     There is a black-and-white outline kinematography, showing Tom Webster's impressions of well-known racehorses, which is both novel and funny, and an opening sketch in which Lenglen, Carpentier, Jimmy Wilde, Joe Beckett, and the great Inman protest against popular cartoonists, caught the humour of the house with a sure touch.
     A "Mah Jongg" scena, with chorus dressed as the winds, dragons and seasons, in the Chinese game, was one of the best items. It was beautifully dressed, and the ballet of winds and dragons was well expressed.
     At the end Tom Webster concealed himself behind the curtains of a box. He had announced beforehand that he would not take a call. It was better that he did not do so.
[The People, 20 April 1924]

It should be noted that the reviews in the Weekly Dispatch, The Scotsman and The Sunday Mirror were entirely positive, and The Daily Mirror merely adds that "Greater concentration would improve some of the items." The following week The Sunday Mirror reported that:

     "Cartoons," Tom Webster's revue at the Criterion Theatre, is rapidly developing into one of the finest shows in London.
[Sunday Mirror, 27 May 1924]

The revue continued running at the Criterion until 24 April 1924.

The Weekly Dispatch (20 April 1924) described the opening cartoon:

     Fear of missing the surprise opening of the Tom Webster revue "Cartoons" was more effective last night at the Criterion Theatre than all the threats of closing doors upon latecomers.
     When the curtain rose there were not half a dozen vacant seats. The eagerly expected novelty was an amusing use of the film screen, upon which were projected animated Tom Webster drawings of Cicely Debenham and Morris Harvey being summoned from their dressing-rooms by a minute callboy. They tumble down the stairs, the screen vanishes, and there they are in the flesh all unready to go on.

The other animated spot, the racehorses, is variously described as "a film of an international horserace for which Mr. Webster has constructed a moving cartoon which causes much laughter" (Daily Mirror) and "racecourse favourites competing for the Wembley Stakes" (Sunday Mirror). It may well be that more animations were intended, but could not be completed in time.

The two animated cartoon segments were presumably animated by Joe Noble, perhaps still with the help of W D Ford and Tom Aitkin. But during 1924, according to Jez Stewart in his book The Story of British Animation, American animator Dick Freil came over to London. I do not know how he came to work with Joe Noble, but it is possible that he had known Aitken in New York and that Aitkin introduced him to Noble and Webster. He brought with him the latest advance in animation technique — the Bray-Hurd Process. animator Earl Hurd had pioneered the idea of animating on transparent sheets in 1914, and he and studio head John Bray formed a company to patent the method. Sheets of celluloid were much more expensive than paper, so other studios continued animating on paper with held elements and backgrounds inked on celluloid and laid over the paper animation. But this limited the image to stark black and white, whereas Hurd's cells, painted on the back, could be laid over a background of different tones. This improvement in quality, plus the fact that the cels could be washed clean and used again and again to reduce costs, meant that many studios began paying royalties to use this method, which would become the standard process for the rest ot the century.

During 1925 Noble and Freil animated a series of films designed by Tom Webster, featuring would-be racehorse Alfred and his trainer Steve, for the Ideal Film Renting Company. Strictly speaaking Ideal were the distributors for the Alfred and Steve series, but as whatever production finance Noble and Freil had is unclear I have listed the films as productions of Ideal.

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Filmography

Links to Other Sites

British Cartoon Archive: Tom Webster Biography From the University of Kent Special Collections Site.

British Pathé: Flashbacks Reel 2 A compilation reel of silent shorts including "Tishy" at 10:28.

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