Bertie Brown (1887-1974)

"Red Skelton" from Film Fun, 1952

Albert Thacker "Bertie" Brown was born on 20 December 1887 in Epsom, Surrey. His first published work was for James Henderson & Sons' Scraps, and he became a staff artist for the Amalgamated Press in 1908. His first original set was "Homeless Hector" for Illustrated Chips, and he also worked for Merry and Bright, Comic Cuts and Butterfly. From 1915 he drew a Charlie Chaplin strip for Funny Wonder, which ran on the front page until 1944, mostly drawn by Brown, occasionally by Freddie Adkins. Other strips he drew include "Pa Perkins and Percy" (Illustrated Chips, 1922-1958), "Dad Walker and his Son Wally" (Larks, 1927-1940), "Constable Cuddlecook" (Jester, 1920s-1940), "Smiler and Smudge" (Butterfly, 1926-1940) and "Will Hay" (Jolly Comic). In the 40s he drew numerous strips based radio personalities for Radio Fun, and in the 50s he added work for Film Fun and TV Fun as well. His work was initially influenced by Tom Browne and G. M. Payne, but later became looser and sketchier. He retired in 1959, and died in Croydon, Surrey, in 1974.

References

• Alan Clark, Dictionary of British Comic Artists, Writers and Editors, The British Library, 1998, pp. 28-29

Online reference

• Bertie Brown on Lambiek