George Joseph Herriman was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1880.
At age ten, George moved west to Los Angeles with his family. His father, a tailor, was likely relocating to avoid having his family classified as slaves - George's Creole background made him subject to tight segregation laws in the 1890's. Herriman worked at numerous odd jobs, among them: housepainter, barber, baker, grape seller, mandarin player, dairy farmer, and, once, a barker for a sideshow snake act. Three or four years after the comic strip was introduced, he started selling sketches to the Herald. For the first few years of the 20th century, he drew sports and political cartoons. By mid-decade, he was drawing comic strips.
Herriman married Mabel Lillian Bridge on July 7th, 1902. They had two daughters - Mabel (aka "Toots") was born in May of 1903 and Barbara (Bobbie) in 1909. At some point, Herriman visited the American southwest, and was remarkably drawn to Monument Valley and the painted desert in Coconino County, Northeastern Arizona, home of the Grand Canyon.
He fell in love with the buttes, mesas, plants, and rock formations, and visited regularly - almost every year. Having spent his life in New Orleans, Los Angeles and New York City, it must have been a profound occassion to go out and visit the Navajo Indian land, which no more than a handful of European descendants had set foot on. The combination of canyons, mesas and expressive rock formations were clearly an inspiration. The backdrop for the wacky melodrama of Krazy Kat was a brilliant rendition of this landscape. Krazy Kat's zaniness and naivete were directly inspired by Herriman's love for the lush, chaotic, Coconino landscape coupled with the peaceful, agrarian Navajo culture, that must have contrasted immensely with his own culture.
The mid-thirties were rough for Herriman. In 1934, his wife, Mabel, died in a car accident. Five years later, his daughter Bobbie died at age thirty. He didn't remarry, choosing to work at home in Los Angeles with nine or ten cats and five or so dogs. Herriman's biographers describe him as a solitary man who loved his family, gave generously to charities, and enjoyed a good poker game. By 1944, Krazy Kat was appearing in only a handful of newspapers. Herriman's art had suffered a bit, due to arthritis. On April 25th of that year, George died in his sleep. Per his request, his ashes were scattered over the desert in Monument Valley, Coconino County, Arizona.
Krazy Kat pages created and maintained by Peter Campbell
Krazy Kat and related characters © 2003 King Features Syndicate, Inc. World rights reserved.