View source for Murray Ball

{{short description|New Zealand cartoonist}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Infobox person
|name             = Murray Ball
|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZM|size=100%}}
|image            =
|image_size       =
|caption          =
|birth_name       = Murray Hone Ball
|birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=y|1939|1|26}}
|birth_place      = [[Feilding]], New Zealand
|death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=y|2017|3|12|1939|1|26}}
|death_place      = [[Gisborne, New Zealand|Gisborne]], New Zealand
|nationality      = New Zealander
|father           = [[Nelson Ball (rugby union)|Nelson Ball]]
|occupation       = Cartoonist
|notable_works    = ''[[Footrot Flats]]''
}}
'''Murray Hone Ball''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZM}} (26 January 1939 – 12 March 2017)<ref>{{cite news|last=Peters |first=Mark |url=http://gisborneherald.co.nz/localnews/2701213-135/murray-ball-cartoonist-and-shining-star |title=Murray Ball, cartoonist and shining star, dies at |newspaper=[[The Gisborne Herald]] |accessdate=14 March 2017}}</ref> was a New Zealand [[cartoonist]] who became known for his ''Stanley the Palaeolithic Hero'' (the longest running cartoon in ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'' magazine), ''Bruce the Barbarian'', ''All the King's Comrades'' (also in ''Punch'') and the long-running ''[[Footrot Flats]]'' [[comics|comic]] series. In the [[2002 Birthday Honours (New Zealand)|2002 Queen's Birthday and Golden Jubilee Honours]], Ball was appointed an [[Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit]], for services as a cartoonist.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/queens-birthday-and-golden-jubilee-honours-list-2002 |title=Queen's Birthday and Golden Jubilee honours list 2002 |date=3 June 2002 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |accessdate=25 June 2020}}</ref>
==Life and work==
Ball was born in [[Feilding]] in 1939; his father was [[All Black]] rugby player [[Nelson Ball (rugby union)|Nelson Ball]]. He grew up in New Zealand before spending some years in Australia and South Africa, where he attended [[Parktown Boys' High School]] and finished his education. He played for the Junior All Blacks in 1959 as a "first five-eighth" (number 10). As a young man he worked for the [[The Dominion Post (Wellington)|''Dominion'']] newspaper in [[Wellington]] and the ''Manawatu Times'' before becoming a freelance cartoonist and moving to Scotland, where he found work with publishers DC Thomson, of [[Dundee]].
He developed his character ''Stanley'' and had it published in the influential English humour-magazine ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]''. ''Stanley the Palaeolithic Hero'' featured a caveman who wore glasses and struggled with the [[Neolithic]] environment. It became the longest-running strip in ''Punch'''s history, and other English and non-English speaking countries syndicated it. Ball continued to contribute to ''Punch'' after returning with his family to New Zealand.
In 2002 Ball was awarded the [[New Zealand Order of Merit]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cartoons.org.nz/cartoonists/murray-ball|title=Murray Ball {{!}} New Zealand Cartoon Archive|website=www.cartoons.org.nz|access-date=2019-01-25}}</ref>
Tributes paid to him included these:<ref name="Herald Obit">{{cite web | url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11816852 | title=Footrot Flats creator Murray Ball dies | work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] | date=13 March 2017 | accessdate=13 March 2017 | author=Nightingale, Melissa}}</ref>
{{quote|text=Murray was a great influence to many Australian cartoonists and will be long remembered by his friends across the sea here in Australia.
|sign=President of the [[Australian Cartoonists Association]] [[Jules Faber]]}}
{{quote|text=Ball was funny and goofy and generous, and incredibly serious about inequality|sign=[[Tom Scott (cartoonist)|Tom Scott]]}}
{{quote|text=Sheer brilliance|sign=[[Charles M. Schulz]], talking of Dog}}
==''Footrot Flats''==
{{main|Footrot Flats}}
After 1975 Ball wrote several comics in New Zealand (for instance 'Nature Calls'), but it was in 1976 that he first published the strip ''[[Footrot Flats]]'' in Wellington's afternoon newspaper, ''[[The Evening Post (New Zealand)|The Evening Post]]''.  It rapidly led to the demise of his other strips including ''Stanley'', which he was still writing for [[Punch (magazine)|Punch]].
The strip follows the adventures of a working sheep-dog called (if anything) "Dog" or "The Dog" or "@*&#!", his owner Wal Footrot and the other characters, human and animal, that they encounter or associate with. Ball expresses Dog's thoughts in [[Speech bubble|thought-bubble]]s, though he clearly remains "just a dog" (rather than the heavily anthropomorphised creatures sometimes found in other comics or animation). Dog also has alter-egos including "The Grey Ghost" and "The Iron Paw".
Ball's ''Footrot Flats'' has appeared in syndication in international newspapers, and in over 40 published books. ''Footrot Flats'' inspired a stage musical,<ref name="musical">{{cite web | url=
http://www.playmarket.org.nz/bookscript_home.php?item=Norman%20%2F%20Hall%20%2F%20Grant%20%2F%20Ball_Footrot%20Flats | title=Buy: Footrot Flats | website=Playmarket.org | accessdate=10 February 2007 | archive-url=
https://web.archive.org/web/20061004080409/http://www.playmarket.org.nz/bookscript_home.php?item=Norman%20%2F%20Hall%20%2F%20Grant%20%2F%20Ball_Footrot%20Flats | archive-date=4 October 2006 | url-status=
dead }}</ref>
a [[theme park|theme-park]]<ref name="theme park">
{{cite web| url= http://www.waitakere.govt.nz/AbtCnl/ct/pdf/council2003/260203mr.pdf
| title=Report to the Mayor, 26 February 2003, page 17 |publisher=[[Waitakere City Council]]| accessdate=10 February 2007}}
</ref>
and New Zealand's first [[feature length|feature-length]] animated film, ''[[Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale]]'' (1986).  ''Footrot Flats'' characters include Wal, Dog, Cooch, Cheeky Hobson, Aunt Dolly, Horse, Pongo, Rangi, Charlie, Major, Jess and the Murphy family of Irish and Hunk and Spit.
''Footrot Flats'' features several remarkable traits: its expansive created-universe, complete with ancillary characters, things and places; the fact that the characters slowly but perceptibly age and mature throughout the twenty-year run of the comic; and the gradual encroachment of political themes over the years (particularly environmentalism and gentle parodies of [[feminism]]).
Ball said he wanted his cartoons to have an impact. "The heart of a cartoon is the idea, an artist can create a painting, hang it on the wall and be satisfied with what he has achieved even if no-one else sees it. In cartooning, you must get a human reaction to the idea. The task of the cartoonist is to translate his idea into a drawing that will have impact".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.inet.net.nz/~waipara.sleepers/murray_ball.htm |title=Murray Ball |website=Inet.net.nz |accessdate=14 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170412233436/http://www.inet.net.nz/%7ewaipara.sleepers/murray_ball.htm |archive-date=12 April 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Death==
Ball lived with his wife Pam on a rural property in [[Gisborne, New Zealand]]. In an interview on [[Radio New Zealand National]] on 27 January 2016, Pam said that Murray's health had been poor for the last six years and that he was suffering from dementia. Longtime friend and collaborator [[Tom Scott (cartoonist)|Tom Scott]] said that on Sunday, 12 March 2017, he had been advised that Ball had died. He is survived by his wife and children.<ref name="death">{{cite news|title=Footrot Flats creator Murray Ball has died|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/90340548/footrot-flats-creator-murray-ball-has-died|accessdate=12 March 2017|website=Stuff.co.nz|date=12 March 2017}}</ref>
==Bibliography==
In addition to his cartoon collections, Ball wrote and illustrated eight books:
* ''Fifteen Men on a Dead Man's Chest'', a satirical look at [[Rugby union in New Zealand|New Zealand rugby]].
* ''Migod! It's Bruce the Barbarian,'' which pitted Bruce, a socialist warrior from Footrot Flats, New Zealand, against the wealthy and malevolent upper classes of the ancient Roman Empire.
* ''The People Makers'' (1970), a humorous account of Ball's time as a teacher.
* ''Quentin Hankey: Traitor'' (1986), political satire revolving around a Clinton Hankey, nationalist and born antihero "crusading for a brave new world"
* ''The Sisterhood'' (1993), a controversial political work highly critical of contemporary feminism.
* ''The Flowering of Adam Budd'' (1998), a coming-of-age story.
* ''Tarzan, Gene Kelly And Me'' (2001), approximately, an autobiography.
* ''Fred the (Quite) Brave Mouse,'' a children's book about a mouse in love.
Ball also wrote a large-format [[Illustrated fiction|illustrated novel]] whose verse parodied the Australian [[bush-ballad]] as popularised by [[Banjo Paterson]] and [[Henry Lawson]]. Titled ''The Ballad of Footrot Flats'', it was published in 1996. Originally intended as a second film script, this work was the first new ''Footrot'' material which Ball had published since 1994. It was the last of the ''Footrot'' series.
==Interests==
Murray Ball and [[Charles M. Schulz]] each admired the other's work. One ''Footrot Flats'' strip shows Dog laughing at a [[Snoopy]] cartoon. Schulz wrote the introduction to the only ''Footrot Flats'' published in the United States (it appeared as ''Footrot Flats'' there, but as ''Footrot Flats 4'' in Australasia.)
==See also==
* [[New Zealand literature]]
* ''[[Footrot Flats]]'', comic strip written by Murray Ball
* ''[[Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale]]'', 1986, animated film
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20040925122904/http://www.inet.net.nz/%7Ewaipara.sleepers/murray_ball.htm Murray Ball: The man behind Footrot Flats]'' biography
*[https://www.facebook.com/pages/Footrot-Flats-by-Murray-Ball#!/pages/Footrot-Flats-by-Murray-Ball/221451304574741 Footrot Flats by Murray Ball], a Facebook fan-site with a huge photographic catalogue of many Footrot Flats or Murray Ball items/merchandise
*{{imdb name}}
*Tim Shoebridge. [https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/6b14/ball-murray-hone 'Ball, Murray Hone'], Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 2022. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand,
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ball, Murray}}
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:2017 deaths]]
[[Category:New Zealand comic strip cartoonists]]
[[Category:New Zealand editorial cartoonists]]
[[Category:People from Gisborne, New Zealand]]
[[Category:Punch (magazine) cartoonists]]
[[Category:Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit]]
[[Category:People from Feilding]]
[[Category:Alumni of Parktown Boys' High School]]
[[Category:New Zealand socialists]]