Grace Drayton

Grace Drayton
Birth Name:	Viola Grace Gebbie
Born:	October 14, 1877
Died:	January 31, 1936
Country:	United States
Area(s):	Artist, cartoonist
Notable Work:	Campbell Soup Kids
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Lambiek Comiclopedia

Viola Grace Gebbie Wiederseim Drayton (October 14, 1877 – January 31, 1936) was an illustrator of children's books, fashion pages, and magazine covers. She created the Campbell Soup Kids. She is considered to be one of the first and most successful American female cartoonists.

Life & Career

Drayton was born Viola Grace Gebbie in 1877 in Philadelphia. Her father, George Gebbie, was an art publisher.

Drayton attended Drexel Institute (now Drexel University) and the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (PSDW). While at PSDW, she was a student of the American artist and teacher Robert Henri from 1893-94. Drayton began her career as a freelance artist in 1895. In 1900 she married Theodore Wiederseim.

From 1905–1909, she was a member of The Plastic Club, an arts organization in Philadelphia. She created the Campbell Soup Kids which was used in advertisements for Campbell's Soup beginning in 1904. The Campbell Soup Kids and Drayton's other children characters were drawn in a cute cherubic style often with round faces, plump bodies, and rosy cheeks.

With her sister Margaret G. Hays as writer, Drayton produced The Adventures of Dolly Drake and Bobby Blake in Storyland and The Turr’ble Tales of Kaptin Kiddo in the period 1905–1909. Drayton designed the popular Dolly Dingle Paper Dolls which appeared in the women's magazine Pictorial Review. In 1911, she divorced Wiederseim and married William Heyward Drayton and started signing her work as Grace Drayton. She either divorced Drayton or he died in 1923.

She also created syndicated newspaper comic strips for Hearst/King Features such as Naughty Toodles, Dottie Dimple, Dimples, Dolly Dimples and Bobby Bounce, and The Pussycat Princess. Drayton was the first woman to be a cartoonist for Hearst. The Pussycat Princess was started in 1935. After Drayton's death, the strip was continued by Ruth Carroll and Ed Anthony. Drayton died in 1936.

Legacy

The Campbell Soup Kids were an iconic staple of Campbell's Soup advertising strategy for decades. The Campbell Soup Kids drawings and memorabila remain popular with antique collectors. It is possible that Drayton's work had some influence on Japanese shōjo manga in the late 1930s. Drayton's Dolly Dingle dolls are part of the Joseph Downs Collection at the Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library. Some of her work is also part of the collection at The Cartoon Museum. Her work was featured in the Drawn to Purpose exhibit at the Library of Congress (2017-2018).

Comic Strips

as Grace G. Wiederseim

• Toodles / Naughty Toodles / The Strange Adventures of Pussy Pumpkin And Her Chum Toodles! (Hearst, March 22, 1903–January 10, 1904)
• The Adventures of Dolly Drake and Bobby Blake in Storyland (The Philadelphia Press, 1905–1906) — written by Margaret G. Hays
• The Turr’ble Tales of Kaptain Kiddo (Philadelphia North American Company, 1909) — written by Margaret G. Hays
• Dottie Dimple (Hearst, 1908–1911)

as Grace Drayton

• Dimples (Hearst, January 1914–1918)
• Dolly Dimples and Bobby Bounce (King Features, 1928–Spring 1933) — with topper strip Kittens
• The Pussycat Princess (King Features, 1935–1947) — written by Ed Anthony

External Links

• McGrath, W.E. (2006). Grace Drayton, a Children's Illustrator Who also Painted Young Women -- A Biographical Sketch
• "Grace Gebbie Drayton (Wiederseim)," with many images, at D.B. Dowd Studio Notes
• Drayton profile, with many images, at Vintage Valentine Museum
• Grace Drayton UFDC Museum Exhibit
• WorldCat search Grace Drayton; Wiederseim (evidently not redundant as of September 2016, when her works seem to be the only hits for 'Wiederseim')

View Grace Drayton's memorial at Find-A-Grave.