Arthur 'Bugs' Baer

Known as a source of quips that were often repeated by others (and the reported inventor of the nickname "Sultan of Swat" for Babe Ruth), Milton Berle is known as one of the people to have "tapped his wit... admitting that when he needed fresh humor, he would invite Mr. Baer to spend an hour or two with him at Toots Shor's."

Biography

Baer was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the seventh of 14 children born to immigrants from Alsace-Lorraine. He left school at age 14 to work, attended art school, and designed lace on a wage of $12 a week. One article from 1918 lists Baer as a notable graduate of the Field Artillery Officers' Training School in Camp Zachary Taylor; Baer also contributed to the 1919 book F.A.C.O.T.S. - The Story of the Field Artillery Central Officers Training School.

A 1921 article shows that Baer played on the New York Newspaper Golf Club team in an intercity New York-Boston journalists' golf match.

Baer began his career in journalism as an artist with the Philadelphia Public Ledger and later worked for other papers before working as a sports journalist for the Washington Times, where he drew cartoons of a "baseball-bodied insect" named "Bugs." Baer was thereafter known as "Bugs," insisting upon being referred to by this nickname. One of his famous jokes involved Ping Bodie, a Yankees player who was caught attempting to steal second base. Baer quipped that "his head was full of larceny, but his feet were honest." –a joke that amused William Randolph Hearst so much that he hired Baer to work for the New York American.

Baer was active on Broadway in the 1920s. Among his many credits, he co-authored the third "George White's Scandals" revue in 1923, with George White as writer and George Gershwin as composer. For the new motion picture industry, he wrote the only movie for Babe Ruth in which Ruth played himself. As a ghost writer, he wrote the continuity for the Mutt and Jeff comic strip for two years in the 1920s. He also served as emcee for various appearances and shows by the syndicated newspaper cartoonists.

Baer married twice. His first wife, Marjorie Cassidy, died suddenly after the birth of his daughter. His second wife, Louise Andrews, mother of his son, was a Ziegfeld Follies girl who become one of the first fund-raisers for heart disease research. She was president-elect of the American Heart Association on her death from heart illness in 1950.

Baer died at age 83 at New York Hospital on May 17, 1969. He was survived by a son, Arthur Bugs Baer, Jr., and a daughter, Atra Cavataro, as well as seven grandchildren.