Fred Charles Harman II was an American cartoonist, best known for his popular Red Ryder comic strip, which he drew for 25 years, reaching 40 million readers through 750 newspapers.
20 Facts About Fred Harman
2.
Fred Harman's father had previously homesteaded in Pagosa in 1891.
3.
Fred Harman dropped out of school after seven years and never had any formal art training.
4.
Fred Harman was the finest brush and ink artist of the Western genre.
5.
Fred Harman was self taught and his eye for dramatic perspective, the authentic details he put into all of his work, is unmatched.
6.
Fred Harman's brother, Hugh Fred Harman, was an animator at Disney's Kansas City studio.
7.
Fred Harman took the first train he could get to St Joseph, home of the Pony Express.
8.
Artcrafts then was on the 5th floor of the Jenkins Music Building, and Fred Harman met and married musician Lola Andrews, who worked on the first floor of the same building.
9.
Fred Harman did not have the money to pay the hospital bill for his son's birth, so his boss at Artcrafts, William Henry Guenther Sr.
10.
The couple later moved to St Paul, Minnesota, where Fred Harman was a partner in an advertising agency for several years before it failed.
11.
Fred Harman was employed in Iowa for a short time before moving his wife and son to Pagosa Springs, where they built a log cabin.
12.
Fred Harman self-syndicated his Bronc Peeler strip from 1934 to 1938, finding few takers as he visited various West Coast newspaper offices.
13.
Stephen Slesinger was looking for an exceptional artist to draw Red Ryder and Fred Harman was a perfect match.
14.
Fred Harman was a genuine cowboy who had the talent and the knowledge of the authentic details Slesinger sought.
15.
Fred Harman worked with Slesinger for a year, with other artists in Slesinger's New York Studios, before Red Ryder was ready to debut.
16.
Red Ryder was launched, with a year's full of pre-written storylines, a multi-pronged licensing campaign and a parade of appearances with Fred Harman appearing as a real-life cowboy artist.
17.
In March 1953, Fred Harman embarked on a six-week USO tour, doing chalk talks at camps in England, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey and Africa.
18.
Fred Harman lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, while maintaining his Pagosa Springs ranch.
19.
Fred Harman was one of the original 1965 members of the Cowboy Artists of America, along with Joe Beeler, Charlie Dye, John Hampton, and George Phippen; and Fred Harman's paintings were included in the first annual exhibition of the Cowboy Artists of America on September 9,1966, at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City.
20.
Son Fred Harman was featured on PBS series Painting and Travel with Roger and Sarah Bansemer in season 2, episode 10, Red Ryder, in a tour of the museum.