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Merrill Blosser (May 28, 1892 – 1983) was the creator of the comic strip ''Freckles and His Friends'', which had a long run (1915–71).〔("Freckles and His Friends' is 30 Years Old" ''Evening Independent'', September 20, 1945. )〕 Although his strip was set in the small town of Shadyside, it was obviously based on Blosser's hometown of Nappanee, Indiana, since Blosser often referenced real Nappanee locations, such as Johnson's Drug Store.〔(Lucie's Genealogy: Blosser Information )〕 Six successful cartoonists lived in Nappanee as children, including Fred Neher (''Life’s Like That'') and Bill Holman (''Smokey Stover'').〔(Cavinder, Fred D. ''More Amazing Tales from Indiana''. Indiana University Press, 2003. )〕 Growing up in Nappanee, where he was born, Blosser was encouraged by his parents to take drawing lessons, and he signed up for Charles N. Landon's correspondence course. When Blosser was 12 years old, ''National Magazine'' held a writing competition, and he was a winner with his essay, "The Best Way to Spend $300." The prize was a trip to Washington, D.C. Touring the city, the prizewinners were taken to the White House to meet President Theodore Roosevelt. Lagging behind, Blosser drew a sketch of Roosevelt which prompted the President to exclaim, "Bully!" He then kept Blosser with him for half a day, advising him to continue in the field of art.〔 Expelled from high school after he displayed caricatures of the high school faculty, including a drawing of the school principal as Satan, Blosser described the suspension as "the best break I ever had." While attending Blue Ridge College in Union Bridge, Maryland, in 1911, Blosser sold drawings to the ''Frederick News'' in Frederick, Maryland. When he was 20, he quit school after selling a cartoon to the ''Baltimore American'' in 1912. Blosser studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He did cartoons for Chicago's ''Motor-Cycling'' magazine and magazines at the Denton Publishing Company in Cleveland, and he also drew political cartoons for the ''Wheeling Register'' and ''The Plain Dealer''. ==''Freckles and His Friends''== Landon was also an editor at Newspaper Enterprise Association, and in May 1915, he hired Blosser to work at NEA. Blosser was 23 when he began in the NEA art department, initially doing cartoons based on news events and then drawing five daily panels. One of these, titled ''Freckles'', began as a one-column daily gag panel on August 16, expanding into a full comic strip on September 20 when it was retitled ''Freckles and His Friends''. One by one, each of the other panels were dropped. In July 1916, Blosser started another strip, ''Miniature Movies'', which evolved into ''Chestnut Charlie'', continuing until early in 1918 when Blosser concentrated exclusively on ''Freckles and His Friends''.〔(''The Albertan'', October 3, 1945. )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Merrill Blosser」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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