George Matthew Adams was an American newspaper columnist and founder of the George Matthew Adams Newspaper Service, which syndicated comic strips and columns to newspapers for five decades. His own writings were circulated widely to The Gettysburg Times and many other newspapers.
Biography
Early life and education
Born in Saline, Michigan, George Matthew Adams graduated from Ottawa University in Kansas. Employed by a Chicago advertising agency, he started operating the elevator and worked his way up to become a copywriter.
George Matthew Adams Newspaper Service
In 1907, Adams borrowed money to rent and equip an office and launched the Adams Newspaper Service. Adams' syndicate was located at 8 West 40th Street in Manhattan. When Adams and Emporia Gazette publisher William Allen White met in Chicago in 1908, Adams hired White to write about political issues. Adams had copies of Walt Mason's light verse which he had clipped from the Gazette, and said, "I like this stuff. I'd like to syndicate it to other papers. Suppose I could?" White responded, "Sure. Give Uncle Walt about $18 a week, and he'll be tickled pink to do it for you." Adams did, and as Mason's Rippling Rhythms column increased in popularity, he eventually increased Mason's salary to $15,000 a year. The name of the Adams Newspaper Service was changed in 1916 to the George Matthew Adams Service. Writers syndicated by Adams included Thornton Burgess, Edgar Guest and Robert Ripley. The syndicate also distributed single-panel cartoons, including some accompanied by jokes, backwoods homilies, light verse or Adams-style inspiration. Adams syndicated comic strips, including Billy DeBeck's Finn an' Haddie, Percy Crosby's The Clancy Kids, (Edwina Dumm's Cap Stubbs and Tippie, Ed Wheelan's Minute Movies, and Robert Baldwin's Freddy. In addition to sports cartoons by Lank Leonard, Adams syndicated Johnny Gruelle's illustrated Raggedy Ann panels from 1934 to 1938. The uplifting Raggedy Ann verses emphasized forthrightness, honesty, kindness and thrift. He also syndicated Rebecca McCann's philosophical The Cheerful Cherub. Lloyd Jacquet was the syndicate's art director from c. 1936 to 1937, shortly before leaving to found Funnies, Inc. The syndicate's long-time manager was Giordano Bruno Pascale. Adams's syndicate peaked in the 1920s and 1930s, eventually fading as its founder aged. In the company's latter years, the president and general manager was Harry E. Elmlark. Adams died in 1962; the remaining features were sold to The Washington Star Company in May 1965, thus forming the Washington Star Syndicate.
Writing
In the 1910s, Adams was selling Dr. Frank Crane's popular Four Minute Essays. When he lost Crane to a competitor, he decided to write short inspirational essays himself while he traveled from city to city selling to newspapers. By the 1950s, Crane was all but forgotten, but Adams' short inspirational columns, titled Today's Talk, were in about 100 newspapers and also collected in a series of books.
Books
You Can: A Collection of Brief Talks on the Most Important Topic in the World — Your Success
Take It: Suggestions as to Your Right to the World and the Great Things That are in It
Up: A Little Book of Talks on how to Wake Up, Get Up, Think Up, Climb Up, Smile Up, Cheer Up, Work Up, Look Up, Help Up, Grow Up!
