Ed Wynn and Richard B. Harrison

Ed Wynn 1886-1966
Born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Richard B. Harrison 1864-1935
Born New Orleans, Louisiana

Ralph Barton's drawing, published in the March 21, 1930, issue of the humor magazine Life, paired the renowned comic Ed Wynn with Richard B. Harrison, an African American actor who "spoke with a voice like a cello's." Wynn was appearing in Simple Simon, while Harrison was playing a famous role in The Green Pastures. Captioned "The Perfect Fool and A Perfect Actor," the image contrasted an almost dignified Harrison with the ridiculous Wynn, replete with pinpoint eyes, outsized glasses, multiple chins, and absurd flapping protrusions of hat, hair, collar, and tie. While such drawings exaggerated human anatomy and dress to preposterous extremes, Barton's characterizations were rarely malicious. "It is not the caricaturist's business to be penetrating," he wrote in 1925. "It is his job to put down the figure a man cuts before his fellows in his attempt to conceal the writhings of his soul."