Number 1766: Dr Mephisto and the Milquetoast model

Caspar “Casper” Emerson, born 1878, was an artist who began work in newspapers before the turn of the twentieth century. He ran into a situation which caused a public scandal and personal ignominy, when his wife left him for a gypsy violinist known as Prince Rigo. A divorce was granted in 1910, and Emerson is thought to be the model for the henpecked Timid Soul, Caspar Milquetoast, made famous by cartoonist H.T. Webster.

In the thirties illustration work dried up for Emerson, and he began drawing for pulp magazines. In the forties he worked doing comic stories for Fairy Tale Parade, and later did the Dr. Mephisto strip in Power Comics. This particular episode is from issue #4 (1945). A comment with an accompanying illustration in the excellent article on Emerson by David Saunders demonstrates that Dr. Mephisto looks a lot like Prince Rigo, the man who took his wife.

The Dr. Mephisto script was written by William Woolfolk.

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