Edith Stevens: Pioneering Woman Cartoonist with Robert S. Davidson

After taking a brief hiatus from history webinars, I watched “Edith Stevens: Pioneering Woman Cartoonist” with speaker Robert S. Davidson on March 6, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. Hosted by Historic New England, this informative, fast-paced, and at times hilarious talk focused on the life of a local artist who shaped women’s fashion and culture from the 1920s through the 1960s with her daily comic strip Us Girls in the Boston Post and Boston Globe. Edith Stevens was the aunt of Davidson, who currently teaches at Massachusetts College of Art and Design thanks to her encouragement to pursue his interest in art.

Stevens was born in Fitchburg, MA in 1899, but her family soon moved to Staten Island. Her father, Beaumont Stevens, died in the New York City harbor after a ferryboat accident, leaving his only daughter Edith, his son Roswell, and his wife Margaret. The Stevens family soon moved to Chicago to live with an aunt, and then to Boston when Margaret remarried. Stevens went to Girls High School on West Newton Street in Boston and became the art editor of the school newspaper as a freshman. She was an average student and was excited for school to be cancelled for two months due to a coal shortage during World War I. Stevens would have preferred to attend art school, but money was scarce after her alcoholic stepfather abandoned the family. She found a job as an inspections clerk at Factory Mutual Insurance, then learned lettering and mechanical drawing to become the only woman drafter in the plan division. During this time, she enrolled in Federal Schools Incorporated based in Minneapolis, MN to remotely attend art school.

Stevens’ luck changed in 1928 when she entered a cartoon contest “Remember When” run by the Boston Post. While she did not win the $50 prize, worth about $900 today, she was hired by the managing editor as the only woman in the art department. For the rest of her career, she published over 10,000 “Us Girls” cartoons, which focused on fashion, body image, and double standards for women. She was called the “Kate Smith of Cartoons”, being compared to a well-known singer who was also overweight. Despite this stigma, Stevens was considered a leading voice in fashion for Boston, New England, and even the United States. As a joke in her comic, she invented a two-layer skirt where a heavy winter skirt is worn over top a thinner, more fashionable skirt. Department stores created the concept based on her sketches, beginning with Filene’s and quickly picked up by Berger’s, Abraham & Strauss, and Bloomingdales.

Besides being a trendsetter, Stevens was a media personality. Fans of her comics created Us Girls Clubs, women-only events with holidays and dinner parties. Stevens was often invited as a guest of honor to Boston area events. She helped publicize the annual donations drive for the Boston Post Santa and held the first cats to travel across the country via airplane. Her friends and admirers included Oscar and Tony nominated actor Walter Pidgeon and Boston theater critic Elliot Norton. Despite her success, Stevens was never permitted to marry her longtime boyfriend, Morris Fineberg, as his Jewish family did not approve of her. In 1949, Fineberg died from being hit in the head with shrapnel while photographing a military recreation exercise with live ammunition.

Stevens was temporarily out of a job in 1956 when the Boston Post went bankrupt and closed with no notice. Fortunately, the Boston Daily Globe hired her the next year in 1957, giving her comics a special notice above the masthead to encourage her large fanbase to subscribe to the paper. Edith retired nine years later in 1966 and spent time on her wide range of interest. She enjoyed oil painting, jewelry making, sewing plush toys, embroidering, and designing hats. Stevens died in 1982 at age 83 when Davidson was in high school. In 2020, she was featured in the book Flapper Queens: Women Cartoonists of the Jazz Age written by Trina Robbins and published by Fantagraphics.

This webinar on Edith Stevens was among the best I have ever attended. Davidson kept a remarkable balance of photography and artwork on his slides along with providing fun facts and sobering details in Stevens’ life. He easily referenced modern events to make the historical material relatable and threw in a dose of his unique humor. I would gladly read whatever book Davidson creates about the life of his beloved aunt and watch his subsequent webinars.