Wednesday, September 13, 2023
Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: Jon L. Blummer
Jon L. Blummer was born Jacob Lupu Blumer on May 14, 1904, in Hartford, Connecticut. His Blumer surname was recorded in the 1910, 1920 and 1930 United States Censuses. He changed his name in the early 1930s.
The 1910 census said Blummer was the oldest of three children born to Louis and Regina, both Romanian natives. The family resided in Hartford, Connecticut.
In the 1920 census the family added two more members and continued to live in Hartford on Ann Street.
On October 14, 1927, Blummer married Dorothy Tonge in the Bronx.
According to the 1930 census, Blummer was a newspaper artist. He and his wife made their home in Queens, New York at 2178 35th Street.
Blummer studied at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He was in the class of 1933 but apparently did not graduate. He was pictured with his junior classmates in the 1932 Prattonia yearbook.
American Newspaper Comics (2012) said Air Conquests was drawn by Blummer and written by Frank Hawks. The Hearst strip ran from September 8, 1935 to April 5, 1936. For King Features Syndicate, Blummer drew the Lone Ranger Sundays from February 5 to March 5, 1939, and The Sea Hound, with writer Fran Striker, from October 2, 1944 to June 29, 1946. Blummer’s Hop Harrigan ran from May 11 to December 31, 1942, and was distributed by the George Matthew Adams Service.
Blummer’s comic book debut may have been the cowboy character, Bill Quirt the Rambling Ranny, in the pulp magazine, Western Action Novels. A two-page story segment appeared in the January 1937 issue.
Blummer contributed to Air Progress: Air Trails Annual for 1938 and many issues of Flying Aces: August 1938, March 1939, April 1939, May 1939, June 1939, July 1939, August 1939, October 1939, November 1939, December 1939, January 1940, February 1940, March 1940, April 1940, May 1940, and June 1940.
The 1940 census counted freelance artist Blummer, his wife and son, Jon, in Queens at 4526 49 Street.
Blummer supplemented his income with comic book work during the 1940s and early 1950s.
On February 15, 1942, Jon Lester Blummer signed his World War II draft card. His address was 110-01 201st, St. Albans, New York. He was described as five feet nine inches, 165 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair.
The Blummer family had grown to five with the addition of two daughters, Clara and Hannah, in the 1950 census. They lived at 425 North Gulf View in Clearwater, Florida. Blummer was a commercial artist.
Blummer passed away in October 1955, in Teaneck, Bergen, New Jersey, according to the New Jersey Death Index at Ancestry.com. He was laid to rest at George Washington Memorial Park.
Further Reading
Labels: Ink-Slinger Profiles
