Stripper's Guide: Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: Robert McGeehan

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: Robert McGeehan

Robert Paul McGeehan was born on February 28, 1902, in Parkville, Missouri, according to a family tree at Ancestry.com.

In the 1910 U.S. Federal Census, McGeehan was the second of three children born to Paul, a railroad civil engineer, and Alice. The family resided in Kansas City, Missouri at 4323 Charlotte Street.

According to the 1920 census the McGeehan household had three males and three females at the same address. McGeehan”s father was an oil civil engineer.

McGeehan attended Westport High School where he graduated in 1920. Information about his art training has not been found.

McGeehan was an artist and Brooklyn resident in the 1925 New York state census. He was staying with his uncle’s family, the Pitbladdos, at 660 75th Street. The Kansas City Star, July 28, 1926, said McGeehan’s mother passed away that day. The paper said McGeehan was “formerly a member of The Star’s art staff”.

The 1930 census recorded McGeehan and his wife, Amelia, in Leonia, New Jersey at 176 Central Avenue. The newspaper artist married when he was 25 years old.

The Newspaper Feature Service produced a long-running series of romantic cartoons, by several artists, beginning in 1913. McGeehan contributed to the series in 1935.

MeGeehan and his wife had a son and daughter in the 1940 census. Sometime after 1935 they moved to Manhattan, New York City at 16 West 84th Street. MeGeehan was a photo retoucher at a newspaper and his highest level of education was a year of college.

McGeehan illustrated Genevieve Cross”s book, West with the Mounties, which was published in 1951. The Canadian Patent Office Record and Register of Copyrights and Trade Marks, Volume 79, 1951, said McGeehan lived in Englewood, New Jersey.

The family tree said McGeehan’s father passed away August 14, 1954.

The Rockland County Journal News (Nyack, New York), September 6, 1963, published a photograph of McGeehan posing with his award-winning painting at the Prentice-Hall exhibition of the American Artists Professional League. The caption said McGeehan “is president of the Bergen County Artists Guild and treasurer of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Artists Professional League. He has a studio at 550 Durie Ave., Closter.”

McGeehan was one of three judges at the first sidewalk art show in Eatontown. The Coast Advertiser (Belmer, New Jersey), October 5, 173, described McGeehan as a ‘political cartoonist and former treasurer of the New Jersey State Artist Guild”.

McGeehan passed away on May 9, 1986, in Manatee County, Florida, according to the Florida Death Index at Ancestry.com. The family tree said the city was Bradenton.

—Alex Jay

Labels: Ink-Slinger Profiles