Martin Branner
| Martin Branner | |
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Martin Branner in 1939
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| Born | Martin Michael Branner December 28, 1888 Manhattan, New York City, U.S. |
| Died | May 19, 1970 (aged 81) New London, Connecticut |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Cartoonist, Writer |
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Notable works
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Winnie Winkle |
| Awards | National Cartoonists Society Humor Comic Strip Award, 1958 |
| Spouse(s) | Edith Fabbrini (m. 1905; her death 1966) |
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Martin Michael Branner (December 28, 1888 – May 19, 1970), known to his friends as Mike Branner, was a cartoonist who created the popular comic strip Winnie Winkle.
Branner was born in Manhattan, New York City on December 28, 1888. He was a twin and one of nine children of Bernard Brenner, a Jewish immigrant lacemaker.
In 1905, Martin Branner was an assistant to two men who booked vaudeville acts. He was a dancer who met Edith Fabbrini (1892–1966) when he was 18 and she was 15. They married a few days after they met, and the couple then entered vaudeville as a dance team. Billed as Martin and Fabbrini, they spent 15 years performing in stock, musical comedy and vaudeville on the Keith Orpheum and Pantages circuits. In Manhattan, Martin and Fabbrini played the Palace Theater the second week it opened, and they often made return engagements.
Some of Branner's earliest artwork was published during this period when he did advertising illustrations for Variety. Two shows a day sometimes increased to three and more shows daily, but bookings for the dance team became fewer during and following World War I.
Branner served his World War I military duty with the Chemical Warfare Service of the U.S. Army.
On his return after World War I, he left vaudeville and launched a new career as a cartoonist in 1919, beginning with a short-lived strip, Looie the Lawyer, for the Bell Syndicate. He followed with a Sunday page, Pete and Pinto, which ran for 20 weeks in the New York Herald and The Sun.
Branner launched Winnie Winkle the Breadwinner as a daily strip in September 1920, followed by a Sunday page in 1923. Edith Branner served as the model for the character of Winnie Winkle.
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