Drayton, Grace Gebbie (1877–1936)
Drayton, Grace Gebbie (1877–1936)
American artist and illustrator. Name variations: Grace Gebbie; Grace Gebbie Wiedersheim. Born Grace Gebbie in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 14, 1877; died on January 31, 1936; daughter of George (Philadelphia's first art publisher) and Mary (Fitzgerald) Gebbie; married Theodore E. Wiedersheim, Jr. (divorced 1911); married W. Heyward Drayton III (divorced 1923).
One of this country's earliest illustrators, Grace Drayton developed her first cartoon, Naughty Toodles, for the Hearst syndicate in 1903. It was followed by her ubiquitous drawings of The Campbell Kids, which first appeared in 1905. Her characters were also seen in Bobby Blake and Dolly Drake, which was created for the Philadelphia Press, and the series The Terrible Tales of Kaptain Kiddo, which she created with her sister, Margaret G. Hays , for the Philadelphia Sunday North American. Its theme of children's sea voyages was similar to The Cruise of the Katzenjammer Kids (1907). Drayton also illustrated Mother Goose nursery rhymes and a series of verses by her sister. Her last work, Pussycat Princess (written by Ed Anthony), was for King Features.