Poker & Pop Culture: Cassius M. Coolidge’s Dogs Playing Poker

When asked to name examples of poker turning up in popular culture, a famous painting of a group of dogs playing poker likely springs to mind as a first choice for many — even before W.C. Fields peering out from under the brim of his stovepipe hat over a poker hand or the chorus of “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers.

Everyone knows it, that absurd gathering of different breeds smoking cigars, drinking whiskey and beer, and playing cards as though they were human. You don’t even have to play poker to be familiar with the poker-playing dogs, regarded by some as the epitome of kitsch or lowbrow culture, by others as an effective, insightful commentary on the middle and upper classes.

Even so, many don’t know about the origins of “Dogs Playing Poker” — nor that there wasn’t just a single painting, but several of them. Let’s delve a bit into these images of poker that may well rank among the most familiar depictions of the game ever produced by mainstream popular culture.

Calendars, Card-Playing Canines, and “Cash”

Cassius Marcellus Coolidge is the artist responsible for the iconic paintings. Born in 1844 in upstate New York, Coolidge had already pursued multiple careers before creating the paintings for which he’d achieve his greatest fame, including turns as a school superintendent, a town clerk, and a small business owner. He’d even helped open and run a bank, a fitting occupation for someone who during childhood picked up the nickname “Cash.”

The moniker fit well with Coolidge’s entrepreneurial streak, too, as he was involved throughout his life in various money-making schemes and ideas. Probably his best-known achievement not having to do with painting dogs was coming up with the idea for “comic foregrounds” — that is, those life-sized portraits with the faces cut out for people to stick their heads through to create funny photos.

Cassius M. Coolidge

Meanwhile Coolidge additionally worked as a journalist, writing a column for which he drew his own illustrations. He even penned a comic opera about a mosquito infestation in New Jersey titled King Gallinipper, once performed in the 1880s.

Along the way Coolidge always painted and drew, successfully selling a number of his illustrations to various outlets. As early as the 1870s he had begun painting dogs, with a cigar company purchasing some to include on their boxes. A few of these early depictions of dogs featured them adopting human poses, including one in particular from 1894 showing four St. Bernards playing poker. That one — simply titled “Poker Game” — would prove a precursor of more such paintings to come.

It was in 1903 — when Coolidge was nearly 60 — that he was hired by the Brown & Bigelow advertising firm to create a series of oil paintings to be used in calendars advertising cigars. Though only a fledgling company at the time, Brown & Bigelow would go on to publish many of America’s most popular calendars in the 20th century, ranging from Norman Rockwell’s famous Boy Scout calendars to those featuring Gil Elvgren’s popular “pin-up” girls.

Coolidge ultimately produced 16 different paintings for Brown & Bigelow, all of which featured dogs engaged in various human activities. The calendars were a big hit, and in fact Coolidge was able eventually to sell the original paintings for prices ranging from $2,000 to $10,000.

Barking and Bluffing

Of the 16 paintings for the calendars, seven of them featured the dogs doing other non-poker things such as attending a baseball game, conducting a trial, playing pool, …

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