Joseph
Keppler was
born in Vienna, Austria, on 1st February,
1838. Keppler studied art in Vienna and had his satirical cartoons
published in the magazine Kiberiki.
After emigrating to the United States in 1867 Keppler worked as an
actor in St. Louis before launching a humorous weekly newspaper in
the city. This was not a success and a German-language weekly he started
in 1870 also ended in failure.
He moved to New York and became a staff cartoonist for the magazine,
Frank Leslie's Illustrated. Frank
Leslie believed that Keppler would provide ideal competition for
Thomas Nast at Harper's
Weekly.
Joseph Keppler published a drawing of himself asleep while the
politicians repainted his images of them (Puck,
10th August, 1884)
In
1876 he started his own illustrated magazine, Puck.
The name of the magazine was taken from the elfin character in Shakespeare's
Midsummer Night's Dream. Up until
this time, American humorous journals had been modeled on Punch
Magazine. However, Keppler refused to do this and created
a different type of magazine. Each week the front-cover of the magazine
featured a different cartoon. The centerfold and front and back covers
were also in colour.
Puck started as a German-language weekly but an English version
appeared the following year. The 16 page magazine sold for ten cents.
For several years the English language magazine operated at a loss
and was subsidized by the German version. However, circulation gradually
increased and by the early 1880s Keppler was selling over 80,000 copies
a week.
The drawing on the front page of Puck
and the double-spread in the middle were political in character, while
the one on the back cover usually dealt with social issues. Keppler
had traditional views on the role of women and never tired of poking
fun at those involved in the campaign for women's
suffrage. Nor did he show much sympathy for the emerging trade
union movement.
At first Keppler drew all the cartoons for Puck.
Later Keppler recruited several talented artists including
Frederick Opper, James
Wales, Eugene Zimmerman and Bernard
Gillam. It has been argued that Keppler had a great influence
on the artistic development of these cartoonists.
Keppler gave certain politicians a hard time in his magazine. Ulysses
Grant was attacked for his drinking whereas Rutherford
Hayes was criticised for his decision to ban drink from the table
in the White House. It has been argued that Puck
played a significant role in ensuring that Grover
Cleveland defeated James Blaine in
the 1884 presidential election. Bernard Gillam
portrayed Blaine as the tattooed man. On Blaine's body was engraved
details of charges of corruption made by his political past. Blaine
threatened to sue but was persuaded by his political friends to back
down.
Keppler also disapproved of religious hypocrisy. Puck included several
cartoons that suggested that the accusations against the preacher,
Henry War Beecher, were true. The magazine
was also hostile to the Catholic Church
and Leo XIII was portrayed unsympathetically after becoming the new
pope in 1878. Joseph Pulitzer was another
target and responded by trying to buy the magazine.
Joseph Keppler died on 19th February, 1894. Puck
was taken over by his son, Joseph Keppler Jr., who was also an cartoonist.
Joseph Keppler, Leo XIII
Puck, (24th April, 1878)
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