Friday, March 01, 2024
Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: Emidio Angelo
(An earlier profile was posted in 2019.)
Emidio “Mike” Angelo was born on December 4, 1903, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, according to his World War II draft card and several volumes of Who’s Who in American Art.
In the 1910 United States Census, the family name was recorded as Angelone. Angelo was the oldest of three children born to Stanley and Laurens, both Italian immigrants. The family were residents of Mahanoy, Pennsylvania at 216 East Centre Street. His father was a baker.
The 1920 census recorded Angelo as the oldest of six children. The family resided in Philadelphia at 1325 Garnet Street. Angelo was an assistant at a newspaper office.
Angelo took the correspondence course of the Federal School which was based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He appeared in a Federal Schools advertisement published in Wayside Tales and Cartoons Magazine, November 1921.
Detail
Angelo was mentioned in The Federal Illustrator, Winter 1926–1927.
Who’s Who (1989) said Angelo studied at the Philadelphia Museum and School of Industrial Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA). The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 15, 1953, said he started at PAFA in 1924. The 1936–1937 Who’s Who said he was a pupil of George Harding and Henry McCarter. Angelo was awarded PAFA’s European Traveling Scholarship in 1927 and 1928.
A passenger list, at Ancestry.com, said Angelo arrived in New York city on September 20, 1927. He had departed Cherbourg, France on September 14. His address at the time was 1255 South 21st Street, Philadelphia.
Angelo shared his European experience in The Federal Illustrator, Summer 1928.
According to the 1930 census, Angelo’s mother was a widow who had seven children. The family lived at 1628 South 22nd Street in Philadelphia. Angelo’s occupation was commercial artist.
The same address was in the 1936–1937 Who’s Who that said Angelo was a member of the Da Vinci Alliance and Fellowship of PAFA. His pen portraits from life included Mussolini, ex-Presidents Coolidge and Taft, William Jennings Bryan, Premier Dino Grandi, Rudolph Valentino and others. His cartoons were published in Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s, Life, Judge, Ballyhoo, College Humor, Sales Management, Bell Telephone News and the Public Ledger. He lectured on “Cartoons and Caricatures.”
Who’s Who (1989) said Angelo was the editorial cartoonist for the Main Line Times (Ardmore, Pennsylvania) from 1937 to 1954 and 1981.
The Inquirer, December 12, 1943, said Angelo joined the Inquirer staff and married Yolanda Marinelli in 1938. At the time they had a four-year-old daughter named Joya. Anthony A. Chiurco wrote about his uncle in Up from South Philly (2014) and said Angelo joined the Inquirer staff in 1937. The book has a photograph of Angelo.
According to the 1940 census, Angelo, his wife and daughter lived in Philadelphia at 845 North 65th Street. The artist had two years of college and earned $4,500 in 1939. A 1940 photograph of Angelo, his wife and brother- and sister-in-laws is at the Archives of American Art.
On February 16, 1942, Angelo signed his World War II draft card. His 845 North 65th Street in Philadelphia was crossed out at a later date and updated to 1510 Crest Road in Penfield Downs, Pennsylvania.
American Newspaper Comics (2012) said Angelo produced Funny Angles from January 1, 1945 to 1958. The panel was known later as Emily and Mabel. Vincent Schiller contributed to the writing.
The Inquirer, February 23, 1952, reported Angelo’s Freedom Foundation “third-place award for an editorial cartoon published last July 11 and entitled, ‘No Let-Up On Vigilance.’ He pictured Uncle Sam scanning storm clouds over Korea.”
The Inquirer, November 15, 1953, reported the annual PAFA exhibition and said
This is the first year that humor, in the form of a gallery of original cartoons, has been included in these annual exhibitions. Angelo will speak particularly about this phase of the show.
In 1957 a collection of Angelo’s cartoons, The Time of Your Life, was published by the John C. Winston Company.
Who’s Who (1976) said Angelo received the Da Vinci Award silver medals in 1958, 1960 and 1968, and a bronze medal in 1961. He was awarded a gold medal from the Philadelphia Sketch Club in 1969. His memberships included the National Cartoonists Society and the American Editorial Cartoonists. He was the producer of the 1967 short color film, Alighier’s, The Inferno.
Editor and Publisher, January 19, 1980, said
Emidio Angelo, previously a political cartoonist, Philadelphia Inquirer, now draws for the Chestnut Hill Local, a weekly paper.
The 1989 Who’s Who said Angelo was an advance art class instructor at Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia. He received the Freedom Foundation Award in 1983. His mailing address was 419 Redleaf Road, Wynnewood Pennsylvania 19096.
Angelo passed away September 2, 1990. An obituary appeared in the Inquirer, September 5, 1990.
Further Reading and Viewing
The Image of America in Caricature & Cartoon, caricature of Herbert Hoover
Editor & Publisher, February 18, 1950, Emily and Mabel to Hunt a Man Six Days a Week
Editor & Publisher, May 31, 1952, Two Humor Features From Inquirer Staffers
Labels: Ink-Slinger Profiles
