Saturday, June 15, 2013

 

Herriman Saturday

Wednesday, April 15 1908 -- Herriman uses up a month's supply of India ink on this cartoon which is intended to fete the sailors of the Great White Fleet, who have just arrived in San Diego.

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Friday, June 14, 2013

 

Sci-Friday starring Adam Chase

Adam Chase (c) renewed 2013 by Russ Morgan. All rights reserved.

Adam Chase strip #25, originally published November 20 1966. For background on the strip and creator, refer to this post.

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Thursday, June 13, 2013

 

Ink-Slinger Profiles: Bert Whitman


Bertram “Bert” Whitman was born in Brooklyn, New York on July 27, 1908. His birthplace was determined by examining the census records, and his birth date was at the Social Security Death Index.

In the 1910 U.S. Federal Census, he was the youngest of two children born to Joseph and Sadie. They resided in Brooklyn at 554 Seventh Street. His father was the manager of a jewelry company.

Ten years later they were recorded in Chicago, Illinois at 4521 Michigan Avenue. His father was an auctioneer. In his book, The Comics, Coulton Waugh said: “…Bert Whitman was an office boy for the Chicago Herald-Examiner and the Los Angeles Times; then, like so many other strippers, he became a sports cartoonist in Detroit….” The Los Angeles Times (California), December 15, 1990, said Whitman “taught himself to draw, and in 1924, at age 16, began working for the Los Angeles Times.”

The 1930 census said he and his parents lived in Detroit, Michigan in the Warwick Apartments, 730 Whitmore Road. Syracuse University Library said: “…He drew for the Detroit Mirror from 1929 until 1932 and was on the staff of the Cincinnati Enquirer during 1937. Whitman then began working on comic books….” Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999, said he did cartoons for Ken Magazine.

Whitman lived in New York City when the 1940 census was enumerated. His address was 150 Riverside Drive, and occupation, artist. Ron Goulart, in The Comics Journal #249, December 2002, wrote about comic art shops and said:

…Bert Whitman, later an award-winning political cartoonist, launched his small operation in 1940. Calling it Bert Whitman Associates, he rented office space in the New York Times building. Artists working for him included Jack Kirby, Frank Robbins and Irwin Hasen along with newspaper veteran George Storm. Whitman packaged comic books for smaller publishers such as Frank Temerson. His Tem Publishing Co. brought out the Whitman-produced Crash Comics, which contained work by Kirby, Hasen and Storm plus some covers by Whitman. Strongman the Perfect Human was not a compelling hero and his star position was taken over by Cat-Man in the fourth issue. Hasen drew the feature. Crash, living up to its name, went out of business after the fifth issue….In a meteorological mood, Whitman next put together Whirlwind Comics starring Cyclone. That lasted three issues.

Whitman always felt that his biggest coup during his shop-owner period was licensing the popular radio masked man, the Green Hornet, for comics. He’d arranged a long term deal with Detroit radio producer George W. Trendle. The first issue consisting entirely of Green Hornet stories, appeared at the end of 1940 and was published by Helnit. After six issues over the next eight months, the book went on hiatus. It was revived in the spring of 1941 under the Harvey Publications colophon. Whitman had sold his licensing agreement to Harvey. He once told me that he was certain he’d made more money selling the comic-book rights to the character than any publisher ever made from the comics. Shutting down his shop in 1941, Whitman drew for Fawcett for a time, then did a comic strip called Debbie Dean before moving on to editorial cartoons.



New York Post 1/10/1944

For the Chicago Tribune Comic Book, he produced Mr. Ex which ran from January 19 to July 4, 1941. (Ken Quattro suggests that Bernard Bailey did some ghost work on Mr. Ex.) Later that year, renamed The Whizzer, it appeared on September 5 and 26. American Newspaper Comics (2012) said his Debbie Dean, Career Girl ran from January 10, 1944 to July 23, 1949. One of his assistants, in 1947, was Mort Drucker. Whitman found time to ghost Hap Hopper, Washington Correspondent in 1944, and write Cynthia from October 1946 to 1951. A photo of Whitman and unpublished Green Hornet strips are here.

Whitman left comics and drew cartoons for a succession of newspapers: the New York Post from 1944 to 1948; the Miami Herald (Florida) from 1948 to 1952; the Stockton Record (California) from 1952 to 1969; and the Phoenix Gazette (Arizona) from 1969 to 1982. He wrote and illustrated a book about newspaper editorial cartooning.

 Left to right: Jim Ivey, Tack Knight, Rube Goldberg and Whitman in 1961.

8/24/1970; Whitman mentioned by

Bil Keane, an Arizona resident

Whitman passed away December 10, 1990, in Phoenix. His death was reported two days later in the Orlando Sentinel. An overview of his career is here, and his comic book credits are here. Many of his cartoons were donated to the Arizona Historical Society.

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I never knew Kirby and Robbins worked fir Whitman. What would Robbins do there, if he had a newspaper strip. It gives more credence to Kitby's tatement tst he did some work for Robbins. Everyone always assumed that was either on Johnny Hazard (as yet unfound) or Kirby misremembering the name of frank Giacoia, for whom he did do work. But if you can tell me what Robbins dd for Whitman, I can have a look at that for signs of Kirby' involvement. Also, Whitman did a lot if cartoons for the satirical Ken magazine, great stuff actually, which I nevr scanned and I have donated the maazines to Craig Yoe...
 
I quoted Ron Goulart so he would know.
 
Maybe I'll ask him some day.
 
Hey, no typos!

Only short posts from nwo!

Damn, foiled again!

I blame those identity words you have to type. They scramble your sense of language.
 
My Aunt was married to Burt at the time of his death. Her house is full of his work. She is now moving to an assisted living facility. I am wondering what we should do with all this stuff?? We were told he didn't have any other relatives.


 
Bonjour Anonymous,
I'm writing an article about Bert Whitman (for a Scorchy Smith dossier) in the french comics fanzine HOP !
Can you give me the date and place of his marriage with your aunt ? And, if it doesn't bother, her first name.
Thank you very much.
http://dumonteil.marc-andre.perso.sfr.fr/numeros-6.htm

 
I am going to guess that the folks who posted in 2015 about what to do with Bert's work donated it to a place like Syracuse University, https://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/w/whitman_b.htm, which has a lot of his work. Otherwise, ugh.

my best
-Ray Bottorff Jr
 
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Wednesday, June 12, 2013

 

The Chicago Tribune Comic Book: Mr. Ex


Mister Ex was some sort of a secret agent, forever embroiled in international intrigue of all sorts. The stories, breathlessly told with no time wasted discussing background, tell us just about nothing about our hero. His gimmick, I'm told, is that he was a master of disguise, but that seldom figured into the plotlines in any significant way.

At the beginning of the series,which debuted January 19 1941, our hero was bearded, a rarity in those days. Bert Whitman, the creator of the strip, probably thought it would be a great way to identify his main character. However, I guess the American public just wasn't ready for a hirsute hero, and the soup strainer disappeared in less than six months.

The strip started off slow, with Ex in a small-time drama regarding a mistreated kid. It wasn't long, though, before the hero was getting involved in a banana republic revolution, then pretending to be a Nazi to infiltrate a spy ring, then going for a nautical adventure hunting German subs. It was all very exciting, and once Whitman got into the groove he wrote a pretty good little adventure strip. Once the Comic Book section ended, though, Mr. Ex only made it a few months in the regular comic section, ending July 4 1943.

But that's not quite the end of the story. In the final panel of that July 4 Sunday it was announced that the strip would continue, renamed The Whizzer. However, the next Sunday no whizzing was to be found in the Trib's comic section. It wasn't until September 5 that a strip bearing that name appeared. The renamed strip only ran once more, on September 26, before it disappeared for good. Question is, did The Whizzer appear on a regular basis elsewhere? All I can say is that I haven't found it anywhere. Anyone? [I originally posed this question way back in 2006, and I haven't heard anyone yet volunteer any additional information]

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The quality of the artwork sure took a dive between the second and third strips you reproduce. Whitman was feeling deadline pressure, perhaps? Interesting, though; I'd like to see more of this strip.
 
Hi Alan,
I have come across two more dates for The Whizzer comic page - September 19th and October 3rd, 1943. These are both from the Boston Sunday Post (I also have the Sept. 26th example you mention above). Cliff
 
Hi Cliff --
Great catch there. Any chance that you could send a scan of one of these, preferably the final one? Would love to share with thje blog readers.

Thanks, Allan
 
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Tuesday, June 11, 2013

 

Ink-Slinger Profiles: Ed Moore


Edward McDowell Moore Jr. was born in Maryland on June 7, 1918. His birthplace was identified in the census, and his birth date was recorded at the Social Security Death Index.

In the 1920 U.S. Federal Census, he was the youngest of two children born to Edward and Virginia. His father was a farmer, and they lived in Dublin, Maryland. Information about his education and early art training has not been found.

Moore has not been found in the 1930 census. In Dick Tracy and American Culture (2003), Garyn G. Roberts wrote: “In the early 1930s, Jack Ryan, along with Ed Moore, assisted Norman Marsh on Dan Dunn, a comic strip which debuted on September 25, 1933…” American Newspaper Comics (2012) noted that he was an assistant from 1937 to 1938. At the time, Marsh lived in Evanston, Illinois. 
In a 1948 letter to Ron Goulart, Moore said he assisted on Don Wilson in 1938. 

Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999 said he attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago. According to AOPA Pilot, a section within Flying Magazine, January 1958, Moore started flying in Chicago in 1940.

The 1940 census recorded Moore in Jacksonville, Florida, at 3225 Herschel Street. The cartoonist, who had four years of high school, was staying with his sister and her family. In 1935 he had resided in Lanesville, Ohio. During the war, AOPA Pilot said: “…Moore was a U.S. Army bomber pilot during World War II. He flew more than 50 missions in B-17’s and B-29’s in the European Theater, participating in the costly air raids over the Rumanian oil fields. He was a captain when he left the service.”

He was a prize winner in an AOPA contest which was reported by AOPA Pilot.

Edward M. Moore (AOPA 154448), 39year-old Westport, Conn., cartoonist and a new AOPA member, won the Champion Tri-Traveler aircraft for submitting the best letter giving his reasons for joining AOPA….

Moore and Clark received their awards at a special ceremony Nov. 8, held at the Butler Aviation Hangar No. 9 at Washington National Airport, Washington.

The Champion Tri-Traveler was presented to Moore by J.B. Hartranft, Jr., AOPA president. Representing Champion Aircraft Corp., Osceola, Wis., was Woodfin Coche (AOPA 76823), of Detroit, Mich., Champion's regional sales manager….

Following the presentation, the two contest winners and a small group of guests attended an informal reception and dinner in the “Cloud Room” at Washington National Airport as AOPA’s guests. Hartranft acted as master of ceremonies….

...The AOPA’er expects to take up flying again—this time for pleasure, now that he has an airplane of his own. The little flying he has done since the war has been in a Culver B, Beech Bonanza and Luscombe. The cartoonist started flying in Chicago in 1940. He is married and the father of a four-year-old daughter, Katherine. Mrs. Moore attended the Washington National ceremonies with her husband.


Moore’s 1955 letter to Ron Goulart said he assisted Dick Brooks on the Jackson Twins, and married in 1950. He also produced work for several comic book publishers; those credits are here.

Moore passed away November 5, 2004, in Florida, according to the Social Security Death Index.

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Monday, June 10, 2013

 

The Chicago Tribune Comic Book: Captain Storm



Among the better features of the Chicago Tribune Comic Book was Captain Storm. In a line-up designed to appeal to comic-book crazy kids, and to compete with The Spirit pull-out section available from the Chicago Sun, there was a lot of second-rate stuff  in the 'comic book', but Captain Storm was a cut above. The strip barely got off the ground, though, running just five months from November 13 1940 to March 2 1941

The strip was nominally about the skipper of a freighter ship, but the heroic Captain Storm seemed to spend more time everywhere else, because the first story arc has him losing his ship to thieves.The writing, the art and the plot are all top-notch work and I don't doubt that they were reader favorites.

The strip is by Ed Moore, whose work resembles another Chicago-trained cartoonist, Dick Moores, enough that I get the two confused. Ed Moore did some assisting work on Dan Dunn and Don Winslow prior to creating Captain Storm, the only newspaper strip on which he got credit. However, Moore was also working at the same time in comic books. Perhaps he found that to be more lucrative or less demanding than Captain Storm, and that explains its short run. Moore worked in comic books and assisted on newspaper strips into the 1960s, then switched to advertising work, according to Ron Goulart in The Great Comic Book Artists, Volume 2.

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I met Ed Moore by chance before his passing and left me 19 of his cartoons from the Sunday paper.
 
My name is Richard Pallares and live in Florida at 5401 Tessin Trail 34771
 
I also have more of his other drawings.
 
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Sunday, June 09, 2013

 

Jim Ivey's Sunday Comics


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Hello, Jim----I remember about 30 years ago, they were cleaning up the "Puck" building in N.Y., and they found a big barrel of 1890's office trash! Hundreds of cartoons, as well as letters, envelopes, snuff can labels, etc. --
 
Jim sez ... The rumor was that the King Features art was 'guarded' by a chap who could be bribed with a bottle of booze!

Good old Al Paskow knew where to find comic art. He first put ads in pulp mags, which brought in a lot of originals.
 
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