Marjorie Henderson Buell (Marge)
Marjorie Henderson Buell, an American cartoonist who worked under the pen name Marge, was the first woman cartoonist to achieve international fame as well as commercial success. She was born Marjorie Lyman Henderson on 11 December 1904 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was the eldest of three daughters, all of whom enjoyed drawing comics. Her parents were attorney Horace Lyman Henderson, and Bertha Brown Henderson.
Marge was 16 when her first cartoon was published. In 1925, she created her first syndicated comic strip, The Boy Friend, which ran through 1926. Marge was friends with Oz author Ruth Plumly Thompson and illustrated her novel King Kojo in 1933.
Hired by The Saturday Evening Post in 1934, Marge's first Little Lulu drawing appeared on the back page of that weekly in 1935. The Little Lulu success continued for years but Marge stopped drawing Little Lulu in 1947, and the work was continued by others, while she kept creative control. She sold her Little Lulu rights to Western Publishing when she retired in 1971. Besides Little Lulu, Marge also did illustrations for Country Gentleman, Ladies' Home Journal and Collier's.
Marge married Clarence Addison Buell in 1935. The couple had two sons, Fred and Larry, and lived in Malvern, Pennsylvania. Marge died of lymphoma in Elyria, Ohio, on 30 May 1993.
In July 2006, Marge's family donated the “Marge Papers” to the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University. The papers included a collection of fan mail, comic books, scrapbooks of high points in Lulu's history and a complete set of the newspaper cartoons.
Marge was 16 when her first cartoon was published. In 1925, she created her first syndicated comic strip, The Boy Friend, which ran through 1926. Marge was friends with Oz author Ruth Plumly Thompson and illustrated her novel King Kojo in 1933.
Hired by The Saturday Evening Post in 1934, Marge's first Little Lulu drawing appeared on the back page of that weekly in 1935. The Little Lulu success continued for years but Marge stopped drawing Little Lulu in 1947, and the work was continued by others, while she kept creative control. She sold her Little Lulu rights to Western Publishing when she retired in 1971. Besides Little Lulu, Marge also did illustrations for Country Gentleman, Ladies' Home Journal and Collier's.
Marge married Clarence Addison Buell in 1935. The couple had two sons, Fred and Larry, and lived in Malvern, Pennsylvania. Marge died of lymphoma in Elyria, Ohio, on 30 May 1993.
In July 2006, Marge's family donated the “Marge Papers” to the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University. The papers included a collection of fan mail, comic books, scrapbooks of high points in Lulu's history and a complete set of the newspaper cartoons.