Igoe concentrated primarily on his writing, but seldom let his drawing nibs migrate to the back reaches of his desk drawer. He contributed both serious and funny sports cartoons to the Hearst papers, and did quite a few spot illustrations, too. What he rarely did was draw a series of comic strips -- in fact he only did so once in his career that I know of (actually he has two series to his credit in the Guide listings, but the other was a panel cartoon).
Here is Mr. Dwindle, that one series. It ran in the New York American from December 16 1909 to January 10 1910. It ran as a replacement for the vacationing Bud Fisher's Mutt and Jeff.
Herbert Anthony Igoe was born in Santa Cruz, California on June 17, 1877; the birth date and middle name are from his World War I draft registration card. According to the 1880 U.S. Federal Census, Herbert was the oldest son of John and [Mary] Catherine; the census enumerator wrote his name as Albert. The family lived in Santa Cruz, California. The census listed a younger brother, John, who died at an early age as he is not listed in the 1900 census.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the web site, Artist Finder, "Igoe studied art under Maria Van Vleck while a student at Polytechnic High School in San Francisco and continued at the Mark Hopkins Art Institute."
"Igoe started his newspaper career at 15 [1892] as a copyboy on the San Francisco Examiner" according to The Troy Record (New York), February 12, 1945.
In the 1900 cenus the Igoe family lived in San Francisco at 337 Tenth Street. Herbert was an artist at a newspaper. On June 26, 1930, the Nevada State Journal published the column, "Old Timer Says—," which was about Herbert. According to the column, he married Florence Edmundson in June 1905 and they went to Lake Tahoe for their honeymoon. On February 12, 1945 the San Mateo Times (California) reported that "He came to New York in 1907 and joined the staff of the World, remaining there for 19 years until he joined the New York American, now the Journal-American, in 1926."
In 1910 Herbert lived with his wife, son and servant at 4241 Broadway in Manhattan; he was an artist at a newspaper. He signed his World War I draft card on September 12, 1918. On the card he said he was a newspaper writer at "The World" and resided in Brooklyn. His description was medium height and build with brown eyes and black hair.
In 1930 Herbert had remarried, around 1920, and resided in Queens, New York at 3552 222nd Street. With him was his second wife, Katherine, daughters Juanita and Gloria, his mother and a servant. He was a writer at a newspaper.
Herbert passed away on February 11, 1945. The San Mateo Times reported that he "had been suffering from a heart ailment and last July obtained a leave of absence from the Journal-American. He had been in a hospital since January 22."
I have found what I think to be an original sketch of Joe DiMaggio from Herb Igoe. I would love to get your opinion on it but it doesn't look as if I can post a picture of it..
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