Mildred Houghton Comfort Author of Winter on the Johnny Smoker

Mildred Houghton Comfort
Winona Daily News, 1962

Mildred Houghton Comfort 

Author of Winter on the Johnny Smoker

Blog post article by Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks.com.

At the time of the article's writing, August 4, 2017, all links were current. I cannot guarantee that over time they will remain.

Mildred Houghton [Bergemann] Comfort was the author of articles, short stories and books including for children the Peter and Nancy Travel series, Children of Early America series and Post-War Series.

Comfort’s books are available through used book sites and stores and reprint editions.  Some books may be read online through archive.org.

Series

Peter and Nancy Travel

Neighbors Around the World Today

Men of Achievement

Children of Early America

Childhood of Famous Americans

Post-War [Children]

Rand McNally Elf Books

Illustrators (Incomplete List)

Ewing Galloway (photographs)

Dirk Gringhuis

James MacDonald

Henry C. Pitz

William K. Plummer

James Sauders (photographs)

Short Stories

Mrs. Comfort wrote short stories for several magazines including the following:

Street and Smith's Love Story

Street and Smith's Detective Story

Romantic Love

Street and Smith's Romantic Range

The American Family

Complete Stories

Outdoor Stories

All-Story Love Stories

Thrilling Love

Argosy All-Story Weekly

Ranch Romances

The Independent.

Short Story List Source: The Fiction Mags Index LINK

1925 Water Gypsy

1926 One Offer MacCord

1927 Lonesome's Christmas Gifts

1928 The Lost Marker

1934 First of May

1934 Something Old, Something New

1935 Never Tag a Lover

1936 Waiting for You

1940 The Nicest Man in Town

1941 All Heart, No Head

1941 An Old Feud

1941 You'll Get Over It

1942 Galloping V

1942 Keep 'em Floating!

1942 No More Orchids

1942 Sailor Bill of Coral Sea

1943 Under the Water Lilies

1947 Buttons Come High

1948 Little Elk's Snow Blanket

1953 A Ranch Needs a Woman

Known Book Publishers of Comfort's Works

Wm. Morrow and Company

Frederick Muller

Editrice

Rand McNally

Beckley-Cardy Co.

T.S. Denison & Co., Inc.

Scholastic

Bobbs-Merrill

Biographical Information

Born December 11, 1886, died February 20, 1976 in Orange, Florida.

The 1920 U.S. Census shows Mildred, her husband Hollis Murdock (1885-1937), a lawyer, and infant son James were residents of Stillwater, Minnesota.

Mildred was born in Winona, Minnesota. She married Hollis on September 30, 1914. There were two children, James and Nancy. Hollis Murdock Comfort was most likely named by his parents Elise T. [Hebenstreit] and Francis Vivian Comfort for Judge Hollis R. Murdock, the man with whom Francis read and practiced law.

Winter on the Johnny Smoker
T.S. Denison & Co., Inc. edition, 1962, 7th Printing

Winter on the Johnny Smoker

Mildred Houghton Comfort, author

Henry C. Pitz, illustrator

Minneapolis MN: T.S. Denison & Co., Inc., 1962

Seventh printing, January 1963

Winter on the Johnny  Smoker Publishing History

First published in 1943 by W. Morrow and Company, New York, it was also published in Canada and England by Frederick Muller of London and chosen by Parents’ Institute as a Keepworthy Book. The Italian language edition was published by Editrice of Milan.

In 1947 Comfort's sequel to this book, Treasure on the Johnny Smoker was published by William Morrow and Company, illustrated by James MacDonald.

Henry Clarence Pitz

Henry Clarence Pitz (1895-1976) spent the majority of his life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He showed early interests in history and drawing, at one time thinking he would become a teacher. After attending the Philadelphia Museum School of Art on a scholarship award, he pursued a career as an illustrator, art teacher, and also served as the director of the department of illustration and decoration of his alma mater. Pitz was recognized for his achievements through a multitude of awards. (source: Wikipedia)

What Is a Johnny Smoker?

A good question with several answers of which perhaps none are related to the naming of the riverboat in Mildred's novel.

Geum Triflorum
Source: Wikipedia
LINK

1 Johnny Smoker or Prairie Smoke or Old Man’s Whiskers or Grandfather’s Beard (Geum Triflorum) is a plant native to North America in the rose family with purple flowers and plumed fruit. (LINK to Source: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center)

LINK to Minnesota Wildflowers page on Johnny Smoker.

2 The Northern Catalpa Tree is also known as a Johnny Smoker or Indian Cigar Tree. The Catalpa, or Catawba was named for the Catawba Tribe in the early 1700s by Mark Catesby while in South Carolina. The tree, including its long, bean-like seed pods, was used for medicinal purposes. It is said that the pods would be dried and smoked like a cigarette. LINK to Florida Ethnobotany by Daniel F. Austin (available in e-book format). LINK to Catawba Indian Nation website.

3 Johnny Schmoker: The Pennsylvania Dutch folksong, Johnny Schmoker (Smoker) or Johnny Schmoker’s Band, represents a lively old fellow, a German musician, who is telling his friend Johnny Schmoker about the instruments upon which he can play, describing them by motions when he sings. First in the German language. In the Pennsylvania Dutch language a schmoker is a smoke pipe. 

Johnny Schmoker is performed by many choirs with dramatic, humorous presentations. The song (German language) was used in a 1930 cartoon called The Fowl Ball featuring Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

LINK to Music Score on Google Books: Favorite Songs for School and Home edited by J.P. McCaskey. New York and London: Harper and Brothers, 1899, page 222.