FERRIER, Arthur

Arthur John Ferrier was born in Glasgow on 15 November 1890, the son of John Ferrier, an organist. He went to Glasgow Technical College to study analytical chemistry, but drew cartoons in his spare time. With the encouragement of George Whitelaw, cartoonist on the Glasgow Evening News, Ferrier supplied cartoons to the Glasgow Evening News. Ferrier began contributing to Punch in 1918, and in 1919 he moved to London, where he married Evelyn Brown, another artist and illustrator. Still working as a chemist, Ferrier drew cartoons for the Sunday Pictorial, now being edited by his former editor at the Glasgow Evening News. From 1923 he also provided theatre cartoons and caricatures for the News of the World. Ferrier drew for a wide range of publications, including London Opinion, The Humorist, Razzle, Passing Show, Strand, and Blighty. In the 1930s, following the example of Norman Pett's "Jane" in the Daily Mirror, he began creating a series of glamour strip cartoons which made him famous. These included “Film Fannie” for Everybody’s, “Our Dumb Blonde” for the Sunday Pictorial (1939-46), “Spotlight on Sally” for the News of the World (from 1945), and “Eve” for the Daily Sketch (1953-56). Ferrier stopped working for the News of the World in 1959, but continued to do commercial and advertising work. Ferrier died in London on 27 May 1973. Story line: Eve is a would-be model / actress /dancer in London looking for her "big break". Unlike Jane (Daily Mirror: Norman PETT) she is quite sedate and although she is seen in a number of "costume changes" this is primarily an adventure series with a theatre backdrop.Her escapades range through the mystery genre with Eve usually getting involved in discovering who "the murderer" could be. Romantic interests there are aplenty, but nothing to stop her determination of making it in the West End. Good strong artwork by Ferrier whose first daily strip - meaning continous story line - this was. No collected editions or compilations of this strip can be traced.