Thomas M. Kelly: cartoonist-humorist

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Thomas M. Kelly
CARTOONIST-HUMORIST
offers
MARKS AND REMARKS ON CONSERVATION


Thomas M. Kelly

Figure


Native of Minnesota.  Attended Art Institute of Chicago and Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.

Traveling salesman before entering newspaper work on St. Louis Republic doing sport cartoons, later worked on The Minneapolis Journal as Art Director and sport cartoonist.

Drew a daily cartoon for a month before Dempsey-Gibbons fight at Shelby, Montana, dividing time between two camps, for New York World Syndicate.

Appointed to the Public Relations section, Minnesota Department of Conservation, 1934; Association Editor of Minnesota Conservationist.  In course of work gave occasional talks on Conservation of Natural Resources: Why Not Combine Conservation Education with Entertainment, Visual Education?

Kelly has gone up and down his native state the past five years, appearing before every kind of an audience: Luncheon Clubs, Women's Clubs, Sportsmen's Clubs, Schools, Colleges, and the University of Minnesota, making his Marks and Remarks on Conservation.

He is known as the Cartoonist Missionary of our Great Out Doors.

At a recent meeting before Macalester College student body the chairman introduced him as the man who has turned more people to thinking about conservation than any other man in the state.

Demands from neighboring states for his services have been frequent.  He is now on a leave of absence from the Minnesota Department of Conservation for a limited time.  Arrangements have been made for the interested people of our state to hear Mr. Kelly tell in his own inimitable way the dramatic story of the Conservation of Our Natural Resources—past, present, and future.



SUBJECT:
Marks and Remarks on Conservation


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Youth's Responsibility
Mr. Kelly has a very informal, intimate, humorous manner of speaking and a personality that places the average school audience in the palm of his hand the minute he starts speaking.  He stresses, at the beginning, the fact that the hope of the future of our nation is dependent upon the youth of today pursuing the opposite course than that of its ancestors.  Their motto was exploitation; its motto must be Conservation or Wise Use.



Pandora's Box
As he draws an appropriate cartoon, he compares the opening and ravages of our continent with the opening of Pandora's Box, when the forces of evil were let loose.  The Hope, that remained in Pandora's Box finds a counterpart in the boys and girls of today.  With a drawing of a youthful, modern two-faced god Janus, he announces that with one face they can look back at this land of plenty at the arrival of the white man and trace the course of wrack and ruin down the years; with the other they can look forward to the days when they will have made their contribution to the rebuilding of that land.



Lesson from the Beaver
As he makes a beautiful woodland water scene with a beaver in the foreground, repairing a leak in his dam, he points out that we have followed the actions of the grasshopper who eats himself out of house and home and then perishes, while the beaver provides for the future immediately repairing the first threat to his home and food supplies.



Land, Water, Forest, Wild Life
As his words portray a general description of the bounteous wealth that greeted the white man and of the waste and destruction that followed his occupancy of this continent, a black background clinches the story in the minds of his audience.  He invariably is referred to as the man who made the picture of the Indian.

A cartoon drawing and satiric comment point out how things might have been had the Indian been up and at 'em and progressive like the white man.

Mr. Kelly interprets conservation not only from the economic put from the spiritual side as well.  As he defines his conception of conservation, his crayon depicts a beautiful autumn scene. He letters across the sky, from horizon to horizon, the immortal words Great Out Doors.  He then eliminates all but the first letter of each word—to emphasize that our precious resources were planned by the Divine architect, not for us alone but for all generations.



Birds, Predators
He discusses birds from the economic viewpoint in an entertaining manner, accompanying his discussion, of course, with cartoons.  The part that predators play in nature's plan is forcibly and humorously brought home.



Forest Fires
Our forests come in for plenty of attention, through his beautiful, impressive picture called the Forest Primeval.  This he follows by the Forest's Prime Evil, and he tells of how we earned the empty title of the Greatest forest fire fighters in the world, the gaunt, black skeletons desecrate the hillsides, replacing the beautiful forest scene.



Cirls and Conservation
That the conservation is not the exclusive domain of the men is beautifully portrayed in word and in picture.  Mr. Kelly recounts some of the contributions that women have made to the cause.  An appealing waterfall scene evolves on his easel as he tells how the women of a small South Carolina town saved a beautiful valley woodland, including a falls, doomed to disappear before the woodsman's axe.



Sportsmanship
In his discussion of our wild life and its conservation, he calls attention to and makes a strong appeal for sportsmanship.  He pays his disrespects to the game hog, as he transforms a common barnyard hog into a red capped mustached hunter or fisherman.  He then makes a fishing scene of a wilderness lake as he eulogizes the pleasures to be derived from fishing just as an excuse to enjoy the Great Out Doors.  He challenges the younger generation to transfer their code of sportsmanship from the athletic field to our lakes and streams and fields.



Remember The Buffalo
Mr. Kelly sums up his story against a picture of a buffalo skull on the prairie, reviewing the needless slaughter of the buffalo, the passenger pigeon, and the heath hen.  His story concludes with an appeal to the young people not to treat our remaining resources like our ancestors mistreated the buffalo.




SOME TYPICAL COMMENTS

General Comment

Mr. Kelly's talk on Conservation was one of the most logical and inspirational ever given in our city.—
Pope County Tribune.


Sioux City has heard many a eulogist of the great outdoors—many a defender of the sacred rights of wild life and natural resources, but in Mr. Kelly they discovered one entirely different from the standard type—original in his methods of presentation, and as effective as he is original.—
Sioux City (Iowa) Journal.


Mr. Kelly is the unusual combination of excellent speaker and artist.  His talk runs the gamut of humor, pathos and drama, and he weaves a word picture around his crayon illustrations that forcefully brings home his point.
From an entertainment standpoint Mr. Kelly's presentation ranks with the finest Lyceum numbers; from the standpoint of conservation education, it represents the answer to a dire need for a gospel that will acquaint our people with the inroads that have been and are being made in our fast vanishing wild life and timber supply.—

Atwater American.


It was the concensus of opinion the gospel he is preaching and the way he does it, must create a profound impression on the minds of the younger people, and will do more to make the coming generation Conservation minded than anything we have so far been able to do.—
Rochester (Minnesota) Izaac Walton League.

Mr. Kelly is certainly easy to listen to and his artistic creations are delightful to watch, as they grow into most pleasing pictures, with very worthwhile climaxes.  He not only favorably impresses his audience as he speaks and paints but his points stay with us.—Duluth Kiwanis Club.


Making 'Marks and Remarks' about Conservation and being equally clever in both fields of expression, Tom Kelly did the cause of Conservation much good in these parts the past week.—
Montevideo American.


The missionary of our great out doors.—
Winona Herald.



Educators' Comment
It was a splendid educational challenge Mr. Kelly presented to our student body and I assure you his spoken words which were emphasized through his drawings will live in our minds forever.—S. R. Knutson, Supt. Schools, Le Sueur, Minn.

…made a very fine impression.  You have in Mr. Kelly, an exceptionally capable representative.  He understands young people of the teen age and gets across his ideas very effectively.  He left his audience smiling and happy, but thoughtful.—A. M. Mevig, Supt. Schools, Park Papids.

We recommend most heartily the work of Mr. Thomas M. Kelly—his facts were presented in a most interesting manner and held the close attention of the student body.  It should be given in every high school assembly in the state.—H. W. Godfrey, Supt. Schools, Waseca, Minn.

Mr. Kelly has a unique way of presenting Conservation—it is very effective and I feel that our student body carried away more lasting impressions and attitudes toward Conservation than a teacher could give in Conservation course …—F. J. Parapot, Supt. Schools, Montgomery, Minn.

I really believe Mr. Kelly put over his subject better than anyone we have ever had.  He has a humorous touch and this combined with his ability to both speak and draw held the attention of the boys and girls throughout his entire discourse.—C. A. Pederson, Supt. Schools, Montevideo, Minn.

I found his talk both entertaining and profitable … was impressed with his ability to hold both the younger and older pupils … was witty and cleverly illustrated … there was not a dull moment … best of all was the fact he used entertainment as a vehicle to put across a sound philosophy of Conservation that everyone caught.—H. E. Flynn, Director of High Schools, Minnesota Department of Education.

It was a rare treat to teachers and pupils to hear Mr. Kelly's illustrated lecture, and was recognized as an educational number of unusual value.  One thing that impressed me was the fact that some of our duller and less efficient pupils paid marked attention and later made complimentary comments on Mr. Kelly's discourse.  He is doing excellent and worthwhile work through his 'Marks and Remarks'.—J. E. Pearson, Supt. Schools, Wheaton, Minn.



C. C. C. Comment
From official reports of Educational Advisors to R. E. Williams (District Educational Advisor, Ft. Snelling, Minn.)

The boys liked him very much.

He mixes entertainment, humor, facts and appeal all based on good psychology that puts his offering over in a big way.

We have had nothing better from the angle of enlightenment or entertainment.

The boys would gladly have listened through another hour and one old forester said it was the best lecture and lesson on Conservation he had ever heard.

It is to be regretted we cannot have speakers in other fields, who have the ability to put across their subjects in the manner Mr. Kelly did.

Heard nothing but the most favorable comments—his method of presentation is unique—he possesses the rare ability to intersperse his talk with witty remarks without distracting attention from the theme of his talk.

The men of the technical personnel expressed themselves as being very much surprised with the way he presented an otherwise dry and uninteresting subject.



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