Stan Cross

Cross was the third son born to English-born parents, Theophilus Edwin Cross, builder and architect, and his wife Florence, née Stanbrough, who met in Brisbane, married in Sydney then sought their fortune in the United States. His father hoped to make money there but only found work as a carpenter (he became secretary of the American Carpenters' Union). Cross was born on 3 December 1888 in Los Angeles, California. The family returned to Australia in 1892 when Stan was four years old and settled in Perth, Western Australia. Cross was a gifted student who attended Perth High School on a scholarship. The University of Adelaide offered him a scholarship but Cross turned it down due to his father's ill-health. ==Early career and London==

He left school at sixteen and joined the State Government Railways Department as a clerical cadet. During that time, some of his cartoons were accepted by Punch. Before sailing for England, he twice exhibited his paintings and pen-and-ink works, the first time in the West Australian Society of Arts 1913 Annual Exhibition, and the second in March 1914, with another Perth artist, Michael McKinlay. ==Return to Australia, Smith's Weekly==

On returning to Perth, Cross contributed freelance drawings to the Western Mail and The Sunday Times, The strip was a straight adaptation of the radio serial, which commenced in 1936, and ran for 2,276 episodes before finishing in 1951. During his time at ''Smith's Weekly, Cross established a reputation as a skilled draftsman, particularly in the area of single-panel cartoons. In the 29 July 1933 issue of Smith's Weekly'', a Cross cartoon featured two men who had been working on top of a building construction. There has been a mishap, and now one is hanging by his fingers from a girder at a frightening height over a street. His mate, to save himself, has grabbed the trousers of the other, yanking them down over his ankles and, looking directly upwards, is convulsed with laughter, while the other implores: "For gorsake, stop laughing: this is serious!". Editor Frank Marien immediately dubbed it "The Funniest Drawing in the World". Such was the popularity of the cartoon that it was reprinted on a quality paper and distributed throughout Australia, with many also being sent overseas. All through the Depression years, and after, the prints, costing two shillings and sixpence, were framed and hung on walls in work-places, hotel bars, barbers' shops, and even in some shop windows. Cross became ''Smith's Weekly's highest-paid artist and second art editor. Short-run series he devised included: Things That Make Stan Cross (political and economic criticism), Places We Have Never Visited'' (law courts, Parliament, the players' room at a test cricket match, etc.), Museum of the Future and Firsts in Australian History (the first barmaid, the first strike, the first football match). ==The Herald==

Towards the end of 1939, ''Smith's Weekly was in financial trouble and Cross was induced by Keith Murdoch to join the Melbourne Herald. Capitalising on his reputation as a comic strip artist, Cross was asked to create a newly daily strip, and he started his most popular strip, The Winks'' on 20 April 1940. and Lyon eventually took over all the drawing, with Cross writing the stories, and took over completely when Cross retired later that year. ==Organisational affiliations==

Cross was a foundation member of the Black and White Artists Society (later Club), Sydney, and served as president from 1931 to 1954. ==Other activities and personal life==

Cross also wrote books on accountancy, economics and English grammar, and treatises on soil conservation. He painted watercolours and there is some speculation that Cross and George Finey held the first exhibition at David Jones Art Gallery. On 17 November 1924, Cross married a 25-year-old clerk Jessie May Hamilton (died 1972) at the Waverley Methodist Church in Bondi Junction. In 1970, he retired from the Melbourne Herald and joined his family at Armidale, New South Wales, where he died on 16 June 1977 at the age of eighty-eight. The epitaph on his tombstone reads, "Stop laughing, this is serious". ==References==