The Courier Company Picnic

In the second row second from the left in the nice 3 piece suit is W.O. Fuller Publisher of The Courier Gazette. In the back row on the far right is Captain Hall, a Schooner Captain who worked for the Courier in his Retirement. The Hall cottage is still in very good shape in Spruce Head. Submitted by Glenn Billington.

This picture was recently posted on the Rockland History Facebook page. It's dated July 29, 1916. How nicely dressed they all are…for a picnic! Company picnics are fast becoming a thing of the past, mostly for economic reasons. The Courier Gazette had a long tradition of company picnics. I attended several myself. They were also hosted by the publisher. Ours at that time was Sid Cullen. I believe we had our picnic at his cottage in the same area. He put on a great lobster feed for all of us.

What I remember most about those picnics was the cartoon show Everett Blethen always put on for us. Everett was a big man who commanded a presence wherever he went. His personality was perfect for the role he played as ad man and cartoonist at the paper.

I believe Everett used to work on Madison Avenue in New York City. He was a very talented cartoon artist and it was fun to see his work in the newspaper.

Everett was a great practical joker. He loved to tell jokes. One time, when they were building the new bank that stood near where the Copper Kettle was, the drive-in window was partially erected. Everett stepped up to the window and pulled out a penny and said, “I’d like to deposit this, please.”

His greatest practical jokes, however, took place at his drawing board. At our picnics we looked forward to the time that Everett would set up his easel loaded with big pieces of newsprint. He would then take out his charcoals and proceed to make caricatures of those present. The fun part was that you never knew who his subject was until he put in his last lines.

Those in the audience who shouted, “Do me, do me,” were eventually “done” by Everett, but not until he’d gone through a couple other people. Then it ended up being a bigger surprise when you saw your face appear on his board. They were always dead on too. My Dad was one of those people and we kept that sketch for years. All the while he was sketching; Everett was making jokes about his subjects. It was great fun.

When I was doing research for these two Courier stories, I looked through my scrapbook trying to find a masthead to use as part of my graphics and I came across this story about Everett on the back side of something else I ‘d saved.

This is the original story as it appeared in the paper. the left side of the type is missing some letters, but I think you can figure it out.