'Footrot Flats' (1977).
Murray Ball was a New Zealand cartoonist, best-known for his newspaper comic 'Footrot Flats' (1976-1994). The series offers a witty but naturalistic look on farm life. It was translated into many languages, adapted into an animated feature film and inspired a theme park. Yet, earlier in his career, Ball was more notable as a political cartoonist, whose political-social opinions were equally prominent in comic series like 'Stanley the Palaeolithic Hero' (1970-1981) and 'All the King's Comrades' (1973-1974) in Punch and 'The World of Quentin Hankey' (1981) in The New Zealand Times. His gag comic 'Bruce the Barbarian' (1971-1978) appeared in the house magazine of the British Labour Party. In the 1970s, Ball also drew various children's comics for British children's magazines The Dandy, The Topper, Bunty and Cor!!, most notably 'Tor Thumb' (1972) and 'Ghastly Manor' (1974-1977). In the mid-1970s, he also created short-lived gag comics for New Zealand magazines, namely 'The Doctor' (1975-1976), 'The Kids' (1976-1979) and 'Nature Calls'.
Early life and career
Murray Hone Ball was born in 1939 in Feilding, a small farming town in Manawatu, New Zealand. His father, Nelson Ball, was a meat inspector for The Department of Agriculture and, between 1931 and 1936, also a member of the All Blacks rugby team. Murray Ball started cartooning during his childhood, copying Walt Disney characters and Hanna-Barbera's 'Tom & Jerry'. He also showed promise as a rugby player and selected for the All Blacks team. Another strong influence was cartoonist Carl Giles. Ball spent the early years of his childhood in Hastings, until his family moved to Lower Hutt in 1945. In 1947, they moved to Sydney, Australia. A year later, the family settled in South Africa, first in capital Johannesburg, later in Durban, where Ball's father worked in an amusement park. During this period, the apartheid system was implemented in the country. Ball became a staunch and lifelong opponent of this injust, racist system. In 1958, he deliberately left South Africa to return to New Zealand, while his family stayed behind.
Like his father, Ball excelled in rugby and was also selected for the All Blacks team. He often listened to radio reports of rugby matches and then visualized everything in imaginative cartoons. Later, while living in South Africa, Ball also played for the South Transvaal rugby team and in 1957 set a national junior pole vault record. In 1959, he was selected for the New Zealand Juniors, but not for the rugby national team. This disappointing news made him give up his promising rugby career to fully concentrate on cartooning.
Early cartooning career
Back in his home country, Ball spent three months as a cadet reporter on the night shift of the Wellington-based newspaper The Dominion, while submitting cartoons to The Manawatu Standard and Manawatu Daily Times. Apart from sports and political cartoons, he also livened up their weather report column. Between 1958 and 1960, they ran in The Manawatu Daily Times, followed by the Dominion between 1962 and 1963.
In 1961, Ball moved to London, where he wrote and illustrated a children's book, but failed to find a publisher. A year later, he returned to Wellington, New Zealand, where he continued drawing political cartoons for The Dominion. In the fall of 1963, he learned that his mother was at death's door and traveled to South Africa in order to see her one final time. In 1964, Ball married, having two sons and adopting one daughter. When The Dominion expressed no further interest in his cartoons, Ball's drawings found a new home in The New Zealand Truth. To gain extra income, he took a one-year training course to become a teacher. Between 1966 and 1969, he taught math at the the Mercury Bay District High School in Whitianga. Yet, according to his wife, most of his "lessons" consisted of making blackboard drawings and played sports with his pupils.
'Stanley the Palaeolithic Hero'.
Stanley the Palaeolithic Hero
In 1970, Ball decided to leave New Zealand and find his fortune in the United Kingdom. Together with his family, he moved to Exmoor. At first, none of the local magazines and papers took interest in his drawings, until he was finally accepted by the prestigious satirical magazine Punch. In their pages, he launched the gag comic 'Stanley the Palaeolithic Hero' (1970-1981), effectively one of the longest-running comics in Punch. Set in an anachronistic Stone Age, Stanley is a self-important caveman who is always put in perspective by his fellow cavedwellers. The satirical comedy tackles many modern issues, such as royalty, religion, colonialism, labor, capitalism, feminism, war, inequality and psycho-therapy. The series was also syndicated in the United States, Australia, New Guinea and Italy. Between 4 April 1977 and 8 September 1979, 'Stanley the Palaeolithic Hero' was distributed in the U.S. by Universal Press. According to his wife, Ball considered 'Stanley the Palaeolithic Hero' his personal favorite out of all series he ever drew.
All the King's Comrades
Ball also drew another comic in Punch, titled 'All the King's Comrades' (1973-1974). Another anachronistic historical gag comic, it was set in the Middle Ages, where a group of peasants interact with a medieval king. Much of the satire comes from the fact that the serfs act like modern-day employees, complete with a union, asking for worker's rights within a feodal system.
Bruce the Barbarian
By appearing in one of the oldest and most enduring satirical magazine of the world, Punch, many doors now opened for Ball. His newspaper comic 'Bruce the Barbarian' (1971-1978) was published in The Labour Weekly, the home magazine of the British Labour Party. Just like his previous gag comics for Punch, 'Bruce' was an anachronistic humor comic in an ancient historical setting. Bruce is a Celt who lives in ancient Rome, but has socialist ideas far ahead of his time. His egalitarian ideals are contrasted with Roman society's slave labor, class system and snobby attitude towards anybody not living in Rome. The anachronistic jokes were direct attacks on British Prime Minister Edward Heath, the British Conservatives and Enoch Powell's xenophobic politics. One book compilaton was published: 'Migod! It's Bruce the Barbarian' (Quartet Books, 1973).
DC Thomson / IPC
In the early 1970s, Ball also became a prolific creator of children's comics, drawn for publishers DC Thomson and IPC, creating features like 'Boss of the Backyards' (1972) for The Dandy and 'Thor Thumb' (1972), 'Janet the Gannet' (1978) and 'Ghastly Manor' (1974-1977) for The Topper, 'My Pal Cuddles' and 'The Cheddar Mob' for Bunty, and 'The Chumpions' for Cor!!. 'Ghastly Manor' (1974-1977) is set in a haunted mansion, where all kinds of ghouls and monsters have a lot of fun. The manor's owner, Mr. Fear, tries in vain to sell the place, but any potential buyer is always scared away, no matter what measures he takes to prevent them from seeing the frightening but otherwise friendly inhabitants. Although drawing children's comics didn't offer him any opportunities for political-social commentary, Ball's editors did give him significant and helpful feedback. It helped him improve his artwork.
Move and permanent settling in New Zealand
In November 1974, Ball eventually left the United Kingdom again, returning to New Zealand, this time permanently. He bought a 1.6 hectare farm near Gisborne in the North Island. Later, he would buy an additional 202 hectare of hill country, which he named Te Kuri Farm. In the paddocks behind his homestead was originally a slip-prone hill. According to Ball's longtime friend, Tom Scott, Ball planted thousands of trees there and went to water them on a daily basis. In 1995, in collaboration with the Department of Conservation, he developed a public walkway through it. According to his son, Ball not only wanted to counter erosion, but also the "travesty" of the European agriculture that tried to modify the picturesque Australian landscapes.
Mid-1970s comics
Originally, he kept submitted his daily and weekly comics and cartoons to his British publications by mail. But in 1975, a postal strike in the United Kingdom delayed everything, leaving him without money for several weeks. During this period, Ball created several new comics for New Zealand magazines. 'The Doctor' (1975-1976) ran in Thursday, while 'The Kids' (1976-1979) was serialized in The New Zealand Listener. Another comic was 'Nature Calls'. Apart from these straightforward gag comics, Ball also created 'Damn Dog', the embryonal version of what would eventually become his signature series, 'Footrot Flats'.
'Footrot Flats' (1978).
Footrot Flats
In 1976, Ball created a farm-themed gag comic, 'Footrot Flats', about a farmer, Wallace Cadwallader Footrot, and his border collie. Footrot's name is often shortened to "Wal", while his naïve dog never received a name beyond the simple "Dog". Originally, newspaper editors didn't see much potential in 'Footrot Flats'. It was rejected both by The New Zealand Hearld and The Auckland Star, until it debuted in The Wellington Evening Post on 16 February 1976. Appearing three times a week, it soon caught on with readers.
Wal and Dog live in the fictional New Zealand town Raupo. Many gag focus on typical rural activities, like sowing, guarding sheep, milking, feeding animals,... Through his detailed graphic style, Ball shows a picturesque, yet realistic view of agrarian life. He doesn't shy away from depicting less romantic activities, like wallowing through mud, gathering manure, helping barnyard animals give birth to observing the rotting carcass of a goat. Animals are drawn with realistic anatomy. Cecil the Ram, for instance, is depicted with large, visible testicles. Other gags show Wal and his friends during leisure time, playing cricket, tennis, golf, rugby, or going fishing. Wal also trains a school rugby team, while Dog is their mascot. For many readers, especially in the outskirts of New Zealand, 'Footrat Flats' was very relatablle.
Despite the comic's title, the true star is not Wal Footrot, but Dog. Dog can be a great help on the farm, guarding sheep and fetching Wal the stuff he needs. But most of the time, the mutt has a will of his own and brings the expression "man's best friend" into serious doubt. Much like Snoopy, Dog can't talk, but readers can read his mind in thought balloons. Another thing he has in common with Charles M. Schulz' famous beagle is that Dog enjoys daydreaming. He fantasizes about being "The Scarlet Manuka", a masked hero who doesn't save damsels in distress, but cricket balls. Dog has also imagined himself to be the heroic 'Mitey Iron Paw' and the scary 'Grey Ghost of the Forest'. Despite inventing fictional names for himself, Dog is always referred to by his species name. As a running gag, readers never find out what his actual name is, though we learn that it is "refined, aristocratic, but so embarrassing" that he doesn't want anybody to find out. Ball once considered revealing it in the very final episode, but wisely decided to leave it a mystery, since it would never match up to people's expectations.
Dog isn't smart enough to realize that his well-intended plans often make things worse. Whenever there is trouble, Dog usually dashes away. In 1978, Wal received a love interest, Darlene Hobson, nicknamed "Cheeky". Cheeky works as a hairdresser and Wal tries to win her heart. Unfortunately, Dog sees her as a rival who could potentially ruin the "great" friendship he has with Wal. Whenever Dal and Cheeky have a passionate moment, the mutt always gets in between them. If Dal feels lovesick, Dog usually gives inappropriate advice, like "Relax, she probably wasn't in heat, anyway." Wal also has an attractive cousin, Kathy, who debuted in 1983. However, readers have to take other characters' word for it, because most of the time, her face doesn't appear in view.
Throughout the years, Ball added many other colorful characters, like Wal's Aunt Dolly. Dolly's old-fashionedness and conversative viewpoints are often played for laughs. She has a tendency to refer to people by their full names and thinks Cheeky is not a good match for Wal. Dolly is also a staunch monarchist. She believes that New Zealanders ought to be proud to be part of the British Commonwealth. Much like Queen Elizabeth II, Dolly owns a corgi dog, named "Prince Charles" (a nod to real-life Charles III's nickname when he was still a crown prince). Prince Charles is an overly pampered pet, who fancies himself being of higher class than Dog. Nevertheless, he can't function on the farm, since he has never worked a day in his life. When Walt's niece Janice, nicknamed "Pongo", was introduced in the series in 1980, she was originally a little girl. As the series progressed, she grew into a teenager. Pongo enjoys helping out on the farm and isn't afraid of making her hands dirty. Much like Aunt Dolly, Ball used Pongo as a straw character. Pongo is a committed feminist, whose opinions often clash with the male cast members. In 1981, a boy of Maori descent was added, Rangi. Just like Pongo, with whom he is best friends, he originally started out as a child, but grew into a teenager. Rangi is a useful aid on the farm and a rugby champion.
Wal also hangs out with his hippie neighbor Socrates Windgrass, nicknamed "Cooch" or "Coochie". Cooch helps Wal out on the farm, but is too idealistic and soft-hearted to do things right. Other times, he makes witty remarks whenever Wal fails at something. Cooch also owns a dog, Jess, who is Dog's girlfriend, and has a pet magpie, Pew. Among the other notable barnyard animals are Major the dog, Cecil the Ram and Horse, who despite his confusing name is actually a tomcat. Horse the cat, who debuted in 1979, is a wild, fierce animal who has the courage that Dog lacks. He is a merciless predator, capable of capturing all kinds of vermin and intimidating other animals, including Dog. While all animals in 'Footrot Flats' are anthropomorphic, human characters can't understand them. 'Footrot Flats' also has a recurring nemesis: Stewart Murphy, nicknamed "Irish", the neighbor farmer with whom Wal has an ongoing rivalry. He was added to the series in 1982, to give more dramatic tension. Irish is very rough, filthy and defensive. His sons, Elvis, nicknamed "Spit", and Ronald, nicknamed "Hunk", have enherited his aggressiveness. Irish' barnyard animals are equally menacing. His pigs and pig-dogs often threaten Dog.
Many personal events and problems on Ball's farm found their way in his comic. The Dog was based on Jumble, a fox terrier he owned as a child, and, in adult life, the border collie Finn, whom he acquired in the early 1980s. Horse the cat was based on a stray cat on his farm. Several other cast members were directly based on friends and relatives. Wal, for instance, was inspired by Ball's cousin Arthur Waugh, who worked as a sheep shearer.
Footrot Flats: success
'Footrot Flats' quickly became popular, being picked up by The Press (in Christchurch) and The Waikato Times. By February 1977, its schedule changed from three times a week to five, complete with a double-length weekend comic. Every Christmas, compilation annuals were published, which frequently topped the bestsellers' lists. While being distinctively New Zealandian in atmosphere, the series still found tremendous success in export. It ran in about 120 newspapers, including in Australia, the United Kingdom, Dutch, German (as 'Dog von der Stinkfußfarm'), Norwegian ('Bikkja'), Danish ('Faehunden') Swedish ('Fähunden'), South African, Chinese and Japanese. The strip's popularity was at its peak in the mid-1980s, with book collections selling six millions copies throughout the country. A compilation book, ''The Essential Footrot Flats' (2014), collects 450 of the best episodes, chosen by Ball and his family themselves.
The series spawned various merchandising items, including T-shirts, stickers, posters, coloring books, calendars, greeting cards, coffee mugs, stuffed toys, puzzles, bed sheets, hot water bottles and a beer brand. Many were manufactured by Ball's brother, Barry. A musical based on the strip was first performed in late 1983, with lyrics by A.K. Grant and music by Philip Norman. It is still frequently staged in New Zealand to this day.
The dog from 'Footrot Flats' became the official mascot of the All Blacks rugby team, the very team both Ball himself and his father were once members of. However, Ball was strongly and vocally opposed to the All Blacks planned trip to South Africa in 1985, which would ignore the boycot against the country's apartheid regime. Not wanting his character to be associated with apartheid, Ball wrote a letter to The Dominion, prentending to be Dog and resigned from his mascot position: "I just wouldn't feel right sittin' there while we played rugby with the people who have killed more than 300 men, women and children in the last six months because they are not white." The tour was eventually canceled. Ball did greenlight the use of his dog character for fundraising campaigns by Amnesty International, Unicef and the campaign promoting the MMP system in the lead-up to the 1993 electoral referendum.
In November 1986, 'Footrots Flats' had the honor to be subject of New Zealand's first feature-length animated film, 'Footrot Flats: The Dog’s Tale' (1986). Though the picture was entirely animated in Sydney, Australia, with Ball as its director and Tom Scott as the screenplay writer. Comedians John Clarke and Pete Rowley provided voices of the title characters. Pop musician Dave Dobbyn provided the soundtrack. Two songs, 'You Oughta Be In Love' and 'Slice of Heaven' actually became hits in New Zealand that year. The film itself was a box office hit, even becoming the most successful animated feature film in Oceania until Disney's 'The Lion King' broke that record in 1994. Its script won the 'Best Script Award' at the New Zealand Guild of Film and Television. In 1986, the film's success also led to the Leisureland theme park on the Te Atatū Peninsula in West Auckland being rebranded as a 'Footrot Flats Fun Park' for a few years. There was a life-size recreation of the town from the comic, complete with costumed characters. In 1989, it closed down.
Another testament to Ball's fame was that he once visited Sydney with his family when his jacket was stolen. He went to a police station, where he was initially told that it wasn't uncommon to be robbed at Kings Cross. But once Ball insisted to file a report and told the policemen his name, they initially recognized him as "the bloke who does 'Footrot Flats'" and instantly made it an urgent preoccupation. While his jacket was never recovered, Ball cheered up when everybody at the station wanted a personalized drawing.
Still, despite all the wealth, attention and success 'Footrot Flats' brought him, Ball had mixed feelings about his signature comic. He was forced to drop all his other comics to fully concentrate on his hit. But contrary to those, 'Footrot Flats' was a straightforward gag comic with funny animals in a romanticized version of New Zealand farm life. There was no real room for satire, giving him the uncomfortable idea that he had "sold out".
The series ran for 28 years non-stop until April 1994, when Ball felt that his characters "had grown up" and society had evolved to such a degree that the simple agrarian lifestyle promoted by 'Footrot Flats' had now been "swamped by capitalism, corporatism and consumerism." In his eyes, his comic now looked increasingly old-fashioned. Other sources claim that Ball also felt disillusioned after his dog Finn died, but this rumor is unfounded, since Finn only passed away on 5 October 1998, a full four years after the series' conclusion.
'Footrot Flats'.
The World of Quentin Hankey
In 1981, Ball launched another comic, 'World of Quentin Hankey', serialized weekly in The New Zealand Times. The title character, Quentin Hankey, is a nationalist who tries to fight for a better world. The series ran for only a few months, but he later reused the character for his illustrated novel 'Quentin Hankey: Traitor' (1987). The book portrays New Zealand as an independent republic, ran by the Labour government, until the National Party overhrows it, with help from the U.S. Army. Eventually the Russian navy also gets involved. Hankey returned again in Ball's book 'The Sisterhood' (1993), where the character's "secret thoughts" regarding feminists are explored. While the actual struggles of feminists are acknowledged, the book caused tremendous controversy by portraying feminists as misogynistic, emasculating and opposing women's traditional nurturing roles and desire to look pretty. Ball couldn't even find a publisher and had to distribute it on its own. Ironically, he credited his wife, Pamela Maureen Bennett, with taking care of the business aspects behind 'Footrot Flats'. Interviewed by the New Zealand Herald (7 April 1994), he outright claimed: "I don't know how she managed. Without her, it just would not have happened." From this perspective, 'The Sisterhood' could perhaps be an expression of his frustrations in this field. Indeed, a year later, the series was suddenly discontinued.
Ball himself once said, as quoted in his son's biography: “If cartoonists have any distinguishing characteristics, I should imagine chronic insecurity is one and a mild eccentricity running to madness is perhaps another.”
Graphic contributions
Ball published two satirical books, 'Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest' (A.H. & A.W. Reed, Wellington, 1967), about rugby, and 'The People Makers' (1969), an equally witty look on education. He also wrote a erotic coming-of-age story about a young male teenager, 'The Flowering of Adam Budd' (1998) and a children's book, 'Fred the (Quite) Brave Mouse'. In 1986, Ball designed a fur seal, used by the United Nations as a mascot during its Year of Peace. Ball also livened up the pages of Barry Crump's children's book 'Mrs. Windyflax and the Punga People' (1995).
Recognition
Between 5 December 1990 and 22 January 1991, 'Footrot Flats' was subject of an exhibition, 'Footrot Flats in Focus - A 1990 Perspective' by the Robert McDougall Art Gallery. In 1991, a newly discovered type of crab was named the Flatsia Walcoochorum, after 'Footrot Flats' characters Wal and Cooch. In 2002, Murray Ball was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services as a cartoonist. In 2015, signs with the characters were posted on major stage highways to signal Ball's hometown Feilding. On 18 April 2018, a statue of Wal and Dog from 'Footrot Flats', sculpted by Jonathan Campbell (Created and Cast Bronze), was inaugurated in Gisborne, at the entrance of the HB Williams Memorial Library.
Final years, death and legacy
Ball retired from cartooning in 2010, as he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. In 2017, he died in his home in Gisborne, at the age of 78. In a direct reaction to his death, New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English praised him with taking "our unique sense of humour to the world." Murray Ball left a lasting mark on New-Zealand and Australian cartooning, especially on his longtime collaborator Tom Scott. But he has also received praise outside of his home country. Ball and 'Peanuts' creator Charles M. Schulz had a mutual admiration of each other's work. Schulz even wrote the foreword to the U.S. edition of 'Footrot Flats. Volume 1' (Orin Books, 1992). He claimed: "The dog [in 'Footrot Flats'] is definitely one of my favorite cartoon characters of all time (...) I love the way Murray draws these animals. I love the relationship among all of the characters, and am especially fond of the absolutely original approach to the humor.” Murray Ball was also a strong influence on Martin Brown, Jim Davis and Dutch comic artist Herman Roozen, whose weekly farm-themed comic 'De Morinel' (1988-1994) was influenced by 'Footrot Flats'.
Reprints of 'Footrot Flats' can still be read in The Gisborne Herald, while, since January 2017, Ball's widow and children run the official 'Footrot Flats' website and Facebook page. In 2022, Ball's family deposited the original gags of 'Footrot Flats' to the Alexander Turnbull Library. The same year, on 27 April, they took legal action against a man who made a mural painting in Feilding, using the 'Footrot Flats' characters and claiming he'd asked for legal permission. Afterwards, the wall was painted over.
Books about Murray Ball
For those interested in Ball's life and career, the book, 'Murray Ball - What Is It Like To Be A Cartoonist' (Petone, New Zealand, Highgate/Price Milburn, 1988) and his semi-autobiography, 'Tarzan, Gene Kelly and Me' (Diogenes Designs, 2001) are highly recommended. In 2024, his son, Mason Ball, also released a biography about his father, 'Murray Ball: A Cartoonists Life' (Harper Collins, 2024).
Murray Ball in 1996.