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Marjorie Henderson Buell, Creator of 'Little Lulu' It's Lulu's 70th Anniversary!

© Susanna McLeod

Marjorie Henderson Buell signed her cartoons with the unpretentious "Marge", but behind the familiar name was an astute businesswoman and groundbreaker in female cartooning. The creator of Little Lulu, Marjorie took her captivating comic girl from a one-panel cartoon in 1935 into an international marketing sensation, all the while keeping the rare option of creative control for herself. February 2005 signals Little Lulu's 70th anniversary of cartoon success.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1904, Marjorie Lyman Henderson must have been a natural cartoonist. By age 10, she was drawing and selling paper dolls to her friends and created a Christmas card line that sold rather well. Her first cartoon was published at the tender age of 16 in the Philadelphia Ledger, a single panel of a flower girl tossing banana peels down the aisle rather than flower petals, with the result of the bride and bridesmaids slipping high in the air. *(1) The cartoon was strictly a sight gag with no wording necessary. After completing high school, Marjorie became a professional cartoonist, finding publication for her prolific work in the high-level magazines of Life, Judge, The Saturday Evening Post and Collier's.

It was this adeptness at humour that brought The Saturday Evening Post to call on Marjorie a few years later. They asked her to join the prestigious Post to develop a comics panel to replace the outgoing "Henry" comic, drawn by Carl Anderson. Marjorie drew a long-legged little girl, much like the ones in her earlier freelance work, with black corkscrew curls, elongated dots for eyes and an impish personality. (Marjorie thought she looked much like the character when she was a child.) The magazine editors named her distinctive comic character Little Lulu.

The mischievous, fun-loving Little Lulu debuted on the last page of the prestigious Saturday Evening Post on February 23, 1935. Marjorie's signature became the single name of "Marge". By that time, Marjorie was 31 years old, married to C. Addison Buell and had two sons, Fred and Larry. She had already been in the cartoon business for years.

The early cartooning achievements, Marjorie told The Saturday Evening Post in the February 13, 1937 issue, "convinced me that an artistic career was just the thing for a young girl. Easy money and something you could do in your spare time. Have since found out I was wrong on both counts." *(2)

For 10 years, Little Lulu enjoyed its position in the Post pages, the caption-less comic a hit with readers. Since Marjorie had kept rights to her cartoon, she was able to promote and license Little Lulu herself. During the 1940s, the cartoon favourite was abundantly available in merchandise such as greeting cards, games, toys, colouring books, scarves and much more.