Like all good rags to riches tales, Robert L. Ripley\u2019s story begins with a loner with no obvious\u00a0future prospects.<\/p>\n
LeRoy Ripley was born in 1890 in northern California. The Ripley family struggled to make ends\u00a0meet and when Ripley\u2019s mother had leftover fabric from sewing jobs, she used it to make clothing for her son. This didn\u2019t make LeRoy popular at school and his stammer and mangled\u00a0collection of teeth didn\u2019t help. Because of his crooked smile, the young boy kept to himself, instead pouring hours into his favorite hobby\u2014drawing.<\/p>\n
Ripley\u2019s hometown of Santa Rosa includes a Chinese neighbourhood. On one of his many solo\u00a0wandering adventures, Ripley wound up there and quickly fell in love with Chinese culture\u2014an admiration that would stay with him for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n
When he sold his first drawing to Life magazine when he was 18 for $8 (about $220 in today\u2019s\u00a0money), it gave him a glimpse of a possible career. The following year, he packed up and moved to the big city.<\/p>\n
Champs and Chumps<\/span><\/h4>\nRipley got a job as a sports cartoonist in San Francisco at The Bulletin , the first of many\u00a0newspapers he would call home over the course of his newsman career. Since newspaper photography was in its infancy, publishers depended on artists like Ripley to draw athletes in\u00a0action.<\/p>\n
Happy to send money back home to help support his family, Ripley eventually made the move across the country to New York. When Ripley wasn\u2019t sketching up a still from a big sporting event or writing a story to go along with it, he could be found at the New York Athletic Club,\u00a0playing handball, or knocking back drinks at one of the city\u2019s many prohibition-defying watering holes.<\/p>\n
On a slow news day in December 1918 when there wasn\u2019t much to report on in sports news,\u00a0Ripley (now going by \u201cRobert\u201d or simply \u201cRipley” instead of \u201cLeRoy\u201d) was struggling to file a cartoon for the next day\u2019s paper. Always fascinated by trivia and factoids, he pulled out his\u00a0scrapbook of clippings and drew a collection of doodles on the page, each one depicting one of the handful of sports facts. The drawing ran under the heading “Champs and Chumps\u201d and he\u00a0did a similar cartoon a year later, retitling it “Believe It or Not.”<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.maritimefun.com\/cavendishbeachadventurezone\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/02\/ChampsChumps.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
By the time Ripley landed at The Globe , his cartoons were syndicated in newspapers across the\u00a0\u00a0country. He\u2019d developed a love of traveling, had covered the Antwerp Olympics in 1920, and had fallen in and out of love with a Ziegfeld Follies girl.<\/p>\n
Ripley was soon given an opportunity that would not only get him away from the drama of his\u00a0messy divorce, but would also have an incredible impact on the trajectory of his life.<\/p>\n
Ripley\u2019s Ramble<\/span><\/h4>\nThe Globe booked Ripley on a four-month around-the-world cruise on the RMS Laconia in\u00a01922\u2014a major writing and cartooning assignment. Ripley would write and draw correspondence for the paper, reporting on the interesting sights, smells, tastes and sounds of Japan, China, the\u00a0Philippines, Java, Singapore, India, Egypt, Israel, Monaco, France, and Italy. The column, called Ripley\u2019s Ramble \u2019Round the World , was syndicated in many major American newspapers, their\u00a0readers fascinated by mysterious parts of the world.<\/p>\n
His columns revealed Ripley to be \u201can everyman,” especially when compared to some of the\u00a0stuffier travel writers of the day\u2014relatable and entertaining while also learning as he learned. Ripley was an enthusiastic traveler but not without his quirks: he was unwilling to learn any of\u00a0the language of the countries he was visiting, advising his readers that if visitors speak English
\nloud enough, the people around them will just figure it out.<\/p>\n
He returned to New York a changed man. He was humbled and inspired, his eyes open to the wonders of the world beyond the United States. His affection for Chinese culture deepened while his fascination with Indian religious traditions blossomed.<\/p>\n
Ripley and Pearlroth<\/span><\/h4>\nThe late 1920s saw great things coming Ripley\u2019s way. His first book, Ripley\u2019s Believe It or Not! ,\u00a0was released in 1929 by Simon & Schuster. His travels continued, backed by the deep pockets of newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst. Endorsement deals flooded in and speaking\u00a0engagements kept Ripley busy.<\/p>\n
Ripley was one of the few people making a fortune during the Great Depression. Although\u00a0traveling during this era was out of the question for most Americans, Ripley\u2019s columns and books provided a glimpse at an unfamiliar world many could not afford to visit.<\/p>\n
However, most of Ripley\u2019s \u201cdiscoveries\u201d while abroad were actually found first by Norbert\u00a0Pearlroth back in New York. Pearlroth, a brilliant researcher who spoke several languages, had been a paid assistant of Ripley\u2019s since 1923. He spent all day at the New York Public Library,\u00a0scouring shelves for interesting tidbits, these factoids directing Ripley\u2019s travels. Pearlroth continued researching for Ripley\u2019s Believe It or Not until 1975.<\/p>\n
Ripley the Entertainer<\/span><\/h4>\nWarner Brothers Studio produced a series of film shorts in 1930, starring Ripley looking\u00a0awkward on camera. While calming his nerves by having a drink at hand at all times, Ripley tells the audience of his greatest oddities. His lack of star-style charisma and looks were, ironically,\u00a0part of his appeal. If this guy could travel the world and become rich and famous, maybe anyone could.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nThe Globe booked Ripley on a four-month around-the-world cruise on the RMS Laconia in\u00a01922\u2014a major writing and cartooning assignment. Ripley would write and draw correspondence for the paper, reporting on the interesting sights, smells, tastes and sounds of Japan, China, the\u00a0Philippines, Java, Singapore, India, Egypt, Israel, Monaco, France, and Italy. The column, called Ripley\u2019s Ramble \u2019Round the World , was syndicated in many major American newspapers, their\u00a0readers fascinated by mysterious parts of the world.<\/p>\n
His columns revealed Ripley to be \u201can everyman,” especially when compared to some of the\u00a0stuffier travel writers of the day\u2014relatable and entertaining while also learning as he learned. Ripley was an enthusiastic traveler but not without his quirks: he was unwilling to learn any of\u00a0the language of the countries he was visiting, advising his readers that if visitors speak English
\nloud enough, the people around them will just figure it out.<\/p>\n
He returned to New York a changed man. He was humbled and inspired, his eyes open to the wonders of the world beyond the United States. His affection for Chinese culture deepened while his fascination with Indian religious traditions blossomed.<\/p>\n
Ripley and Pearlroth<\/span><\/h4>\nThe late 1920s saw great things coming Ripley\u2019s way. His first book, Ripley\u2019s Believe It or Not! ,\u00a0was released in 1929 by Simon & Schuster. His travels continued, backed by the deep pockets of newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst. Endorsement deals flooded in and speaking\u00a0engagements kept Ripley busy.<\/p>\n
Ripley was one of the few people making a fortune during the Great Depression. Although\u00a0traveling during this era was out of the question for most Americans, Ripley\u2019s columns and books provided a glimpse at an unfamiliar world many could not afford to visit.<\/p>\n
However, most of Ripley\u2019s \u201cdiscoveries\u201d while abroad were actually found first by Norbert\u00a0Pearlroth back in New York. Pearlroth, a brilliant researcher who spoke several languages, had been a paid assistant of Ripley\u2019s since 1923. He spent all day at the New York Public Library,\u00a0scouring shelves for interesting tidbits, these factoids directing Ripley\u2019s travels. Pearlroth continued researching for Ripley\u2019s Believe It or Not until 1975.<\/p>\n
Ripley the Entertainer<\/span><\/h4>\nWarner Brothers Studio produced a series of film shorts in 1930, starring Ripley looking\u00a0awkward on camera. While calming his nerves by having a drink at hand at all times, Ripley tells the audience of his greatest oddities. His lack of star-style charisma and looks were, ironically,\u00a0part of his appeal. If this guy could travel the world and become rich and famous, maybe anyone could.<\/p>\n
Warner Brothers Studio produced a series of film shorts in 1930, starring Ripley looking\u00a0awkward on camera. While calming his nerves by having a drink at hand at all times, Ripley tells the audience of his greatest oddities. His lack of star-style charisma and looks were, ironically,\u00a0part of his appeal. If this guy could travel the world and become rich and famous, maybe anyone could.<\/p>\n