'Our Radium Ray Apparatus', from the Omaha Daily News (11 August 1906).
Oscar C. Chopin was an American cartoonist working for newspapers in St. Louis and California during the first half of the 20th century. Between 1903 and 1910, he was the second artist to draw the daily 'Weatherbird' cartoon for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Afterwards he was a notable political cartoonist for the San Francisco Examiner.
Early life
Oscar Charles Chopin was born in 1873 in St. Louis City, Missouri, as the son of Oscar and Kate Chopin, a novelist. A feminist writer of Creole stories, his mother (1850-1904) had gained notoriety with her 1899 novel 'The Awakening'. The novel had caused controversy as its main character, Edna Pontellier, was a married women who had affairs and behaved scandalously.
The Weather Bird visits the World's Fair (The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 30 April 1904).
Weatherbird
Between 1903 and 1910, Oscar Chopin worked in the art department of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper, owned by Joseph Pulitzer. He notably succeeded Harry B. Martin on the 'Weatherbird' cartoon, that illustrated the paper's daily news reports. Chopin was the second in line to draw what would become the longest-running cartoon feature in the United States. After Chopin came S. Carlisle Martin (1910-1932), Amadee Wohlschlaeger (1932-1981), Albert Schweitzer (1981-1986) and the current cartoonist, Dan Martin (1986- ). Chopin's most famous drawings with the character were the 1904 six-panel strips inside the paper showing the Weatherbird attending the World's Fair. In late 1904, Oscar Chopin joined the art staff of the St. Louis Chronicle.
Newspaper Enterprise Association
In 1906 and 1907, while still drawing the Weatherbirds for the Post-Dispatch, Chopin developed several short-lived comic features for the Newspaper Enterprise Association syndicate. Successively, these were 'How To Keep Cool' (5-10 July 1906), 'Our Radium Ray Apparatus' (6-11 August 1906), 'Very Awkward', AKA 'What Would You Do In This Situation?' (24-29 September 1906), 'Why Is It?' (6 September 1906 - 5 February 1907) and 'I See By The Papers' (May 1907).
Caricatures by Oscar Chopin for the San Francisco Examiner of 9 January 1917.
Final years and death
Somewhere between 1906 and 1910, Oscar Chopin left Missouri and moved to California. There, he was a cartoonist for the San Francisco Examiner, owned by William Randolph Hearst. At the Examiner, he drew sports and current event satirical cartoons, and was known for his humorous drawings of lawmakers and other dignitaries. Early in 1932, he moved to the Los Angeles Examiner, but poor health caused him to stop working shortly afterwards. After undergoing treatment in Bad Nauheim, Germany, he returned to California in September 1932, where he died of heart disease in late December. He was 59 years old.
Oscar Chopin in the San Francisco Examiner of 31 December 1916.