By Melissa Wagoner
When Homer Davenport expert, Gus Frederick, learned that the original of one of Davenport’s most famous cartoons was for sale by a private seller out of South Carolina he immediately made an offer. The deal took several months but eventually “Look Who’s Coming” made its way to Silverton.
“It showed a barren tree, filled up with a multitude of different African animals. A monkey with a ladder running towards the tree was the only critter left on the ground. The caption was ‘HIST! Look Who’s Coming,’ Frederick described. “It was published in The New York Mail on March 12, 1909, and was referencing [Theodore] Roosevelt’s much publicized post-presidential extended safari to Africa.”
The cartoon also included a handwritten dedication from Davenport to his eldest daughter which reads, “To my Best Girl, my darling Mildred, that she may ever fight against the wanton slaughter of animals is the hope of her father.”
“It blew me away, as it was one of Davenport’s more famous pieces,” Frederick said of his initial reaction to the work, which he had discovered some years before. “I first became aware of it years ago through a book from 1910 titled A Cartoon History of Roosevelt’s Career by Albert Shaw. This book contained hundreds of different Teddy Roosevelt cartoons, including 10 by Homer.”
But “Look Who’s Coming,” was one of Frederick’s favorites. And it turns out, it was one of Davenport’s favorite’s as well, as evidenced by an interview with the cartoonist conducted in 1909.
“There was a time when I thought ‘He’s Good Enough for Me’ [a 1904 cartoon with Roosevelt endorsed by Uncle Sam] was the best thing I ever drew, but while it may be the most widely circulated cartoon ever printed, owing to the poster work it served for the Republican national committee, yet it was not a great cartoon by any means… I may change my mind next week, but [‘Look Who’s Coming’] right now appeals more strongly to me than does any other one I ever have made.”
Joining a growing number of original Davenport cartoons held by the Silverton Country Historical Society, “Look Who’s Coming,” made its Silverton debut at the organization’s annual meeting on Jan. 21.
The society’s assortment of Davenport originals will be accessible to the public again when the Silverton Country Museum reopens in March, after its winter break.
