THOMAS ALOYSIUS DORGAN
"TAD" [1877-1929]
“I started ‘Judge Rummy,’ ‘Bunk,’ and the other dogs during the trial of Harry Thaw; they sort of ‘kidded’ the case and became popular. I have been drawing these characters ever since. The 'Indoor Sports’ I thought of about seven years ago (1912), when I was confined to my home with rheumatism. I thought what a lovely indoor sport it was, this sitting around the house looking llke the wreck of the Hesperus. Other indoor sports suggested themselves and this series has been going on ever since… I might add that It was Judge Rummy who first called the Ford car a “flivver.” – TAD Dorgan, ‘Are Cartoonists Doleful?,’ The Sun, May 25, 1919
It was reported in the Boston Sunday Post in 1929 that Dorgan’s “Indoor Sports” was syndicated to 20,000,000 readers daily. His salary was well over six figures yearly…
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Rick Marschall comments:There should be a book on TAD and his several contributions to culture and comics history. S J Perelman wrote an article on him for the New York Times Magazine; Clark Kinnaird (John Paul Adams) of the Hearst Corporation and KEN Magazine fame proposed collaborating with me on a book, but he died before it could happen. I would love to pick up that ball...
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