'Lonesome Lew'.
Joe Doyle was an early 20th-century American cartoonist. He was the creator of the gag comic 'Lonesome Lew' (1915) featuring a tramp obviously modelled after Charlie Chaplin. Most of his earlier career, Doyle continued comics by other cartoonists, most notably Harold H. Knerr and Myer Marcus.
Early life and career
Joseph Dennis Doyle, nicknamed 'Joe', was born in 1888 in Ireland, but the same year he and his mother immigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1908, he was naturalized as a U.S. citizen. By 1910, he worked as a salesman in a cigar store, creating comics for the children's section ('Boys and Girls' Magazine') of the newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer by 9 March 1913.
Continuing Harold Knerr's comics
Around the early 1910s, Doyle became the assistant of Harold Knerr. On 25 October 1914, Doyle continued the gag comic 'Scary William', originally created by Charles M. Payne in 1905 for The Philadelphia Inquirer, but drawn by Knerr from 1906 on. Contrary what the title seems to imply, the comic isn't about someone who is scary, but a little boy, William, who is disproportionally scared of everything. The tiniest sound, image, light, person, animal or object makes him dash away for safety. After the pencil was passed to him, Doyle continued 'Scary William' for an additional four years, until 2 June 1918.
In 1914, Doyle also continued 'The Irresistible Rag', a gag comic originally launched by Knerr in 1913. Based on the popularity of ragtime music and similar in set-up to James Swinnerton's 'Laughin' Sam', it features an African-American musician, whose flute has the ability to make everybody dance, even if they don’t want to. His magic flute leads to many wild dance scenes and characters causing mayhem and unintentional collateral damage. Also in 1914, Doyle and Jack Gallagher continued Knerr's other gag comic 'The Fineheimer Twins'. 'The Fineheimer Twins', launched by Knerr in 1903, was basically a rip-off of Rudolph Dirks' 'The Katzenjammer Kids', again starring two boys of German descent playing pranks on adults. Gallagher and Doyle continued it until 4 October 1914.
Excuse Me
From December 1914 on, Doyle also continued Myer Marcus' gag comic 'Excuse Me', launched by Marcus in The Jersey Journal in 1911. The jokes had a gimmicky set-up, where a character would typically do or say something outrageous ending on the punchline: "Excuse Me?!". Comics historian Alex Jay of Stripper's Guide observed that many episodes of 'Excuse Me' between mid-December 1914 and 6 February 1915 are unsigned, but the ghost artist's style appears to be Doyle most of the time, who started signing the comic from 8 February until 27 March 1915 on.
Lonesome Lew
In the final week that 'Excuse Me!' ran in The Jersey Journal (24-27 March 1915), Doyle already introduced readers to a character of his own creation who would go on to have a spin-off comic series: Lonesome Lew. Lew is a happy-go-lucky tramp, clearly inspired by the popularity of Charlie Chaplin's Tramp character, who achieved his global breakthrough around the same time. He basically has the exact same outfit, from the toothbrush mustache, bowler hat and cane down to the baggy pants and large shoes. On 30 March 1915, the first episode of 'Lonesome Lew' was launched, running until 19 May 1915. Doyle was subsequently affiliated with the Keystone Feature Syndicate.
Final years and death
In 1917, the United States got involved with the First World War. On 5 June of that year, Doyle was drafted too. Doyle lived a long life, passing away in 1973, still living in Philadelphia.
'When The Worm Turned'.