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Doug Wright's family

Broadcast Date: Oct. 25, 1968

The kids may have looked funny with their bald heads, but for a generation of Canadians growing up in the 1960s and 1970s the reliable weekly antics of Doug Wright's Family were a welcome staple. Quintessentially Canadian, the strip (which was originally known as Nipper) documented the fun and frustration involved in raising two small boys in a typical suburban neighbourhood. This CBC Television clip features a day-in-the-life of its creator, cartoonist Doug Wright, and interviews with his real life family.

Doug Wright's most famous work first appeared as an untitled strip in the Montreal Standard in 1949. The strip, which used no words, depicted the chaotic antics of a small boy and proved to be an instant hit with young parents across the country. It changed names in 1967 and continued to appear for 31 years, until ill health forced Wright to bring it to an end. An exceptionally skilled artist, Wright's eye for composition and attention to detail continue to earn him the respect of cartoonists today.

Doug Wright's family

• Douglas Austin Wright was born in Dover, England, in 1917. His father, Alan Wright, died in the First World War a few weeks after his son's first birthday and just two months before Armistice Day.
• Doug Wright taught himself to draw at a young age and, after graduating from high school, enrolled in an art school. He dropped out after six months complaining that they were "trying to change his style."

• With another war looming in Europe in the late 1930s, Wright's mother convinced him to move to Canada in an attempt to avoid being drafted into service. He settled in Montreal and got a job as an illustrator with SunLife Insurance.
• When war broke out in 1939, Wright enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force hoping to avoid front line combat. It was here that he got his first taste of the cartoonist's life, after he penned a strip for an RCAF magazine.

• He later said that the first time he saw an airman laughing aloud after reading his work he was hooked for life.
• After the war Wright returned to Montreal, were he landed a job as an editorial cartoonist at the Montreal Standard. Not long after, he took over the long-running Canadian strip Juniper Junction after its creator Jimmy Frise died.
• In 1949, he proposed his own idea for a strip that would detail the activities of a mischievous young boy and his parents.

• The untitled strip debuted weeks later, and featured humourous hi-jinks the boy wrought on his beleaguered parents. Drawn in his distinct style, Wright decided to make the strip wordless in order to appeal to both English and French readers.
• The strip caught on, especially with young parents who easily identified with the theme of domestic havoc. It took the name Nipper after an editor decided to run a contest with readers to name the boy.

• With his bald head and red-striped shirt, "Nipper" seems to bear a resemblance to Charles Schulz's Charlie Brown character. In fact, Wright's strip preceded Peanuts by more than a full year (Schulz's strip debuted in 1950.)
• In 1948, Wright met his future wife Phyllis. They married a couple of years later. They had three boys.
• The strip evolved considerably in the 1950s, adding colour and a second little boy to the cast.

• In 1967, Wright moved his family - and his now famous strip - to Ontario. He settled in Burlington, Ont., and the strip began appearing in the Toronto Star Weekly under a new name Doug Wright's Family.
• The weekly strip gained in popularity and spawned colouring books, sponsorships and two best-selling books. In addition to his namesake strip, Wright also penned several other lesser known strips including Max & Mini, Cynthia and The Wheels.

• In 1980, the Star announced that it was discontinuing Doug Wright's Family. On the day the last strip ran, in March 1980, Wright had a massive stroke.
• He continued some of his other work, but eventually retired after he decided that his work was no longer up to par. On Jan. 2, 1983, Wright had another stroke and died the next day in hospital. He was 65 years old.

• Though his strip ended more than 25 years ago, Doug Wright's work is now being rediscovered by a new generation. In May 2005, The Doug Wright Awards were launched in Toronto to honour achievements in Canadian cartooning.
• In 2007, Montreal-based publisher Drawn and Quarterly plans to release the first of a three-volume retrospective of Wright's life and career.

Doug Wright's family

Medium: Television

Program: Take 30

Broadcast Date: Oct. 25, 1968

Guest(s): Jim Wright, Doug Wright, Phyllis Wright, Ken Wright, Bill Wright

Host: Paul Soles

Duration: 12:06

Last updated:
Aug. 28, 2006