(OUR HERO BEGINS A CAREER)
"It would seem that whenever Nature had a man of letters up her sleeve,
the first gift with which she has felt necessary to dower him has been a
preacher sire."
R.C.H. of N.B. Tarkington.
Mr. Holliday was born in Indianapolis on July 18, 1880. It is evident
that ink, piety and copious speech circulated in the veins of his clan,
for at least two of his grandfathers were parsons, and one of them, Dr.
Ferdinand Cortez Holliday, was the author of a volume called "Indiana
Methodism" in which he was the biographer of the Rev. Joseph Tarkington,
the grandfather of Newton B. Tarkington, sometimes heard of as Booth
Tarkington, a novelist. Thus the hand of Robert C. Holliday was linked
by the manacle of destiny to the hand of Newton B. Tarkington, and it is
a quaint satisfaction to note that Mr. Holliday's first book was that
volume "Booth Tarkington," one of the liveliest and soundest critical
memoirs it has been our fortune to enjoy.
Like all denizens of Indianapolis--"Tarkingtonapolis," Mr. Holliday
calls it--our subject will discourse at considerable volume of his youth
in that high-spirited city. His recollections, both sacred and profane,
are, however, not in our present channel. After a reputable schooling
young Robert proceeded to New York in 1899 to study art at the Art
Students' League, and later became a pupil of Twachtman. The present
commentator is not in a position to say how severely either art or Mr.
Holliday suffered in the mutual embrace. I have seen some of his black
and white posters which seemed to me robust and considerably lively. At
any rate, Mr. Holliday exhibited drawings on Fifth avenue and had
illustrative work published by _Scribner's Magazine_. He did commercial
designs and comic pictures for juvenile readers. At this time he lived
in a rural community of artists in Connecticut, and did his own cooking.
Also, he is proud of having lived in a garret on Broome street. This
phase of his career is not to be slurred over, for it is a clue to much
of his later work. His writing often displays the keen eye of the
painter, and his familiarity with the technique of pencil and brush has
much enriched his capacity to see and to make his reader see with him.
Such essays as "Going to Art Exhibitions," and the one-third dedication
of "Walking-Stick Papers" to Royal Cortissoz are due to his interest in
the world as pictures.
While we think of it, then, let us put down our first memorandum upon
the art of Mr. Holliday:
First Memo--Mr. Holliday's stuff is distilled from life!