A “Printer’s Devil” Whose Perseverance Wins Him Well-Earned Reputation
as a Fun-Maker.
THE felicity of F. Opper’s caricatures is marvelous. His drawings for
the Dinkelspiel stories, by George V. Hobart, in the New York “Morning
Journal” have drawn to him the pleased attention of those whom he has
caused to laugh at the happy expressions of his characters,—at the
ridiculous expressions of the characters,—during Mr. Dinkelspiel’s
“gonversationings,” particularly at Mr. Dinkelspiel’s earnest look.
He is a caricaturist of the “first water,” and in this connection I may
say that a caricature too carefully drawn often loses its humor. Still
Mr. Opper has proved his ability to finish a drawing smoothly. Those
familiar with the back numbers of “Puck” will concede this and much
more.
His life is an example of determination. I called, by appointment, at
his house in Bensonhurst (near Bath Beach), a pretty suburb within the
precincts of Greater New York. We stepped into his library.
He drew my attention to the pictures on the four walls of the room.
“Those are all ‘originals,’ by contemporaries,” he said, “and there is
one by poor Mike Woolf. We were intimate friends, and I attended his
funeral.”