Cassius Marcellus Coolidge

Born 9/18/1844 in Antwerp, NY to Quaker farmers Nathan & Martha Coolidge, little is known of the early years of Cassius Coolidge. Who the hell was Cassius Coolidge you say? I give you three words...ready? Dogs. Playing. Poker.

Now that we have that out of the way, let me commence! On a pastoral farmstead located on Hoyt Street between the rural villages of Antwerp NY & Philadelphia NY lived Cassius "Cash" Marcellus Coolidge. Though the facts of his childhood are quite minimal, a crystal-clear portrayal reveals itself in his surroundings. Coolidge's childhood, if one reviews the town's early plat-map (see below, where his lot is listed directly after #5) &/or visits the Historic District of Antwerp (550 acres of sublime, up-start Americana) was magickal. Here, set gem-like amidst nature & beauty, was the medium in which the seeds of Coolidge's gorgeous mind were sown. The affinity he obviously felt for the dreamy, architectural hamlet he was reared in immediately played out in his extravagant movements during early adulthood. In addition, his farming & husbandry continued throughout the course of his life.

By age 24, Coolidge-the very personification of entrepreneur- began a zig-zagged path which wove the following careers together into into an exceptionally tight window of time (1868-1872): druggist, cartoonist, school superintendent, art instructor, bookkeeper (at Eastman's College Bank), street sign painter, house number painter, farmhand, Antwerp Town Clerk, founder of Antwerp's first newspaper "Antwerp News", founder of Antwerp's first bank "The Bank of Antwerp" in 1872 (which he sold in 1889) now "Jefferson Bank" (see the self portrait that Jefferson Bank commissioned Coolidge to paint of himself in the slideshow below!). 

What I'm getting at in this seemingly wayward tangent, is that Cash Coolidge grew up in a pastoral idyll which nurtured his very soul.  He was thus, bound to love, adore & invest in developing his community. Further, his abundant time out-of-doors observing animals & nature guaranteed a degree of excellence to his own brilliance. He was an artist born & bred.

Was he restless? Or was the world just not enough for him? After traveling to Europe in 1873, he returned stateside & moved to Rochester, NY, writing travelogues for Watertown Times. It was in this period that he began his career as a portraitist, specialising in dogs. His ken for absurd anthropomorphism was quickly noted by Brown & Bigelow printing company, who commissioned him for a series of 16 images of dogs a'la Coolidge. Suited for adorning calendars, trade cards, flyers & other printed promo pieces, Coolidge knocked 'em dead with his dogs attending parties, dogs at tea, dogs in court...but, it was the cigar-smoking images of dogs playing poker (which covered more than half of his series) that immediately secured Cassius Marcellus Coolidge ETERNAL fame! Is there anyone on the planet who is not familiar with Dogs Playing Poker? How is it that Coolidge is such an unknown?

Coolidge also enjoys being known as the founding father of what he called  "Comic Foregrounds" you've seen them: life-sized caricatures painted onto boards where a patron can stick his/her face through the empty hole on the back-side where the head would be & VOILA! Transformation into surreality, silliness, fat man in a little suit, Americana kitsch at her best. His mail-order business selling the caricature boards was to provide him with the majority of his later-life income. 

If that's not enough, he also wrote an opera based upon the mosquito infestation hammering NY & NJ at the time! Scenery & costumerie were also deftly handled by the genius! See some of the characters in slideshow #2 below...

In 1909 at age 64, Coolidge, at the zenith of his fame, married his 29-year-old art student Gertrude Kimmel! The following year, a daughter Marcella was born & the family moved to Brooklyn where Coolidge finished with painting & settled back into the peace of writing which was not a particularly successful fiscal venture. Ultimately, they moved to Staten Island, with Gertrude (now a law clerk) as the breadwinner. On January 13th 1934, Coolidge, aged 89 gave up the ghost. What a life! Excellently lived! Gertrude passed on August 4th, 1977 & both are buried at Hillside Cemetery in Antwerp, NY. Marcella died on 11/27/2007 at 97 years of age in CA.

In researching this article, I've enjoyed delving into the village of Antwerp, NY. Charming, stunning & with INCREDIBLE architecture, the 2017 census gives a population of 663!  If you elect to investigate this Rockwellian dreamscape online, by all means, check out the approximately 550 acres encompassing the Village of Antwerp Historic District (designated as such in 2001). Within this embrace is stunning architecture in the Federal, Gothic, Italianate, Greek Revival, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Arts & Crafts etc...the use of brick is liberal & eclectic.
Thanks to dogsplayingpoker.org
And New York Genealogy