Sterrett, Cliff, 1883-1964

Cliff Sterrett (1883-1964) was an American cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip Polly and Her Pals . Widely considered an important artistic innovator in the form, Sterrett is cited as a major influence by a wide range of comics artists.

Originally from Minnesota, Sterrett studied art for two years at the Chase School in New York City before starting his newspaper career as an artist with the New York Herald (1904-1908). Sterrett bumped around doing spot illustration work for various papers – the New York Times (1908) and the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (1909-1910) – before landing his first comic strip assignment with the New York Evening Telegram (1911). In short order, Sterrett found himself doing four daily strips simultaneously for the Telegram : Ventriloquial Vag, When a Man's Married, Before and After and For This We Have Daughters?

In 1912, Sterrett was signed to William Randolph Hearst's National News Syndicate where his work would receive a wide national distribution. Polly and Her Pals (originally titled Positive Polly ) started its run in late 1912 as a daily strip, but soon thereafter a color Sunday page was added. Sterrett did the art on both versions for many years, but in early 1935 he turned the daily strip over to various assistants, Paul Fung and Vernon Greene among others. Without him, the daily strip did not survive the 1940s, but Sterrett continued work on the Sunday version until his official retirement (and Polly's) in 1958.

Sterrett's combination of contemporary graphic styles and "modern girl" themes was highly influential and was the first among a series of related strips like Ella Cinders, Dixie Dugan, Blondie, Boots and Her Buddies and many others. In addition, Sterrett's adoption of abstract geometric patterning and cubist elements gave his work a look that was compelling and unique. Though never hugely popular with the general public, Cliff Sterrett's work is widely admired by other comics artists and has steadily grown in stature among critics and historians over the years.

From the guide to the Cliff Sterrett Cartoons, 1933, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)