Fox, Fontaine

Fontaine Fox (1884-1964) was the creator of the long-running comic strip, Toonerville Folks. The daily panel and Sunday page cartoon ran for 42 years, from 1913 to 1955. Fox's cartoon featured a quirky line style; one that appeared to have a childlike expressiveness to it, but in actuality was quite sophisticated. The deceivingly simply line added great weight to the forms, with relatively few means. Fox also featured a wonderful cast of characters, including the Skipper, Mickey (Himself) McGuire, the Terrible Tempered Mr. Bang, the Powerful Katrina, Suitcase Simpson, and many more.

In the early 1920s, 17 two-reel live-action "Toonerville Folks" short films were shot. They featured a young actor named Joe Yule Jr., the son of the Vaudeville comedian Joe Yule. When Yule got the part of Mickey McGuire, he promptly gave himself that name as a stage name. When the boy actor and the film company parted ways, Fontaine Fox would not allow him to take the name of his character with him, so the boy renamed himself once again, this time taking the name of Mickey Rooney.