Jimmy Swinnerton started his career in 1892 as a young
illustrator for the
San Francisco Examiner, one of
William Randolph Hearst's newspapers. His chief task was to provide drawings for news stories in the days before
photoengraving, however, he also drew
editorial cartoons and other illustrations for the paper. In 1893, the
Examiner used an illustration by Frank "Cozy" Noble of a bear as the paper's mascot for the San Francisco Mid-Winter Exposition of 1894. Following this, Swinnerton was asked to provide a bear illustration every day to accompany the paper's coverage of the fair. Swinnerton's first bear illustration appeared on October 14, 1893, and rapidly evolved into a cute little bear cub. When the fair closed, the Little Bear disappeared from the paper, but he returned on September 10, 1894, and started accompanying the weather report from October 2, 1894 until May 1895. Gradually a defined, philandering character emerged from the strip, and on October 4, 1903, the Sunday feature was retitled
Mr. Jack. After Swinnerton ended the regular
Little Bears strip, he continued to draw sporadic strips for the
Examiner. The Little Bear continued to appear in spot cartoons and with the weather forecast for several years, drawn by other artists including Grant Wallace, Ralph Yardley and Bob Edgren. ==References==