Abian A. "Wally" Wallgren (1891-1948) was to WWI cartooning what Bill Mauldin was to WWII cartooning. During WWI, Bruce Bairnsfather was the most beloved British cartoonist, while Wallgren was the voice for American foot soldiers. Wallgren was far from a perfect soldier, and early on in his AEF [American Expeditionary Forces] career ran into all sorts of trouble. He spent the first nine months of the war working as a sign painter, painting signs for everything from latrines to mess tents. Wally’s great opportunity came when the
Stars and Stripes was started as the official newspaper of the AEF and Wally was placed on the staff as cartoonist. In February 1918, he was transferred to Paris and drew cartoons for this doughboy newspaper throughout the War, until the final issue in June 1919. While in Paris, Wally continued his less-than-stellar behavior, and had to be watched closely by MPs until his
Stars and Stripes assignments were completed.
Wally Wallgren’s work has never been considered rare, but that has only been in regard to his post-WWI work. Up until this year, I had never seen a single WWI Stars and Stripes original by Wallgren, but I was lucky enough to turn up a few WWI originals, and it is a pleasure to offer one of them for sale. This rare cartoon appeared in the May 17, 1918 issue of Stars and Stripes, just two months after the very first issue appeared. It’s Wallgren’s 15th full-format cartoon that he did for the newspaper. As is usual, Wallgren riffs on a theme throughout the cartoon, which is titled, “Imagine Pulling This Civilian Bunk in the Army”. There are soldiers offering up all kinds of excuses that one might expect from civilians. The cartoon also has Wallgren’s “Helpful Hints” panel, this being the 14th installment. The cartoon measures 9½”x 25”, and is in solid Fine condition, remarkable for a 100 year old cartoon that has literally been through a war. As I mentioned earlier, I ran across a very small batch of these, and this is the only one of these strip format pieces that I intend on selling. If you are a WWI cartoon buff, this is a must-have for your collection. Rare, rare, rare. $600.00 + 16.00 Priority shipping.
