George Clark

Who is George Clark?

George Rife Clark was an American cartoonist best known for his syndicated cartoon panels The Neighbors and Side Glances. For both, Clark employed a loose, naturalistic drawing style to illustrate minor human foibles and familiar family situations. In the mid-1930s, George Jean Nathan's The American Spectator commented, "Clark, creator of Side Glances, deserves unqualified recognition for a penetrating picture of our middle class."

Born in the Oklahoma territory when it was not yet a state, Clark went to grammar school in Bridgeport, Oklahoma and spent a few years in Bentonville, Arkansas before attending high school in Oklahoma City, followed by study at the Chicago Art Institute.

He began his professional cartoon career with work in The Daily Oklahoman and the Oklahoma News, moving on to the Cleveland Press. Competing against 72 artists, he won the $500 first prize for Community Fund drive with a poster selected for use in 42 American cities. Soon he was doing animation drawings for The Gumps and illustrating for Collier's, Judge, McCall's and Country Gentleman.

He joined the art staff at Newspaper Enterprise Association, where he drew human interest sketches.