Ef I Wuz a Millionaire

Click on poem for larger view

Millionaire was the second print I remastered, the sixth Mose episode to appear in the Herald, and is from the Cottonville series. I picked it because the layout was simpler than a lot of the later Mose episodes and I still had a lot to learn about Outcault’s techniques. I was still trying to figure out color conversions from my screen colors to printer colors and how dense I could take colors. The print I was working from was of okay quality but one area in particular gave me my first serious problem. In the frame My Daddy, the face of the main character in the coat, had become a blackish red blob of color. It was the first time I began to try the technique of looking for related pixels to rescue an image. It took me about a half a dozen tries and several hours, but I eventually began to be able to pick out a pixel here and a pixel there until I was able to reassemble the face to what I think is an accurate recreation.

In later comics, Outcault used individual frames and text balloons to tell the story much like today’s comics. In fact, he is the man who created the concept of using frames but in the first dozen or so Mose episodes he let the action described in the letter or poem flow around the page. Then used small cameo frames to set main characters and/or action apart from the rest of the page.

With Millionaire I intentionally stayed conservative with colors and color density. I was still trying to figure out how much color was enough without overpowering the image. I was also still in the process of creating a more complete palette of colors that would be representative of the original colors from 1900.

The story line is basically Mose telling what things he would do and buy if he was a millionaire.

The two major parts of the image that stand out for me are the circle with Mose in it and the family crest. The crest is about as outrageous as it gets, and I think if you were going to pick a poster child for stereotyping and politically incorrectness by today’s standards this would have to be a strong contender. The Mose image I like just because it captures his Ef I Wuz a Millionaire attitude perfectly.

A friend of mine told me the automobile is a 1901 Oldsmobile, but my research indicates that the curved dash curves the opposite direction of the Oldsmobile so I don’t think it is. I haven’t been able to find out what it really is, so if you know what it is drop us a line and let us know.

This is one of the first episodes to contain the numbers 4-11-44 in the image. We are still researching what the numbers are all about we think it has something to do with the Odd Fellows, Masons or some similar organization. Also note the name of the dog is Tige the same name as Buster Brown’s dog.