Lettering: Show Cards, 1915–1918
Franklin Booth, A Selection of Illustrations from 1901 to 1919
Comics: Larry Mayer, Artist, Inker, Art Director and Letterer
Larry Mayer was an art director for coloring books, Golden Books, etc., but he also drew a lot of covers and quite a few stories for the Gold Key and later Whitman Comics, as well as designing their logos. He was an excellent letterer, too.
Street Scene: Jack Chow Insurance Neon Sign
Typography: 1936 Quad Yearbook
A Few Details About Mr. Peanut and His Creators
Planters Peanut Company was founded in 1906 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania by Amedeo Obici, and incorporated two years later as the Planters Nut and Chocolate Company. In 1916, a young schoolboy, Antonio Gentile, submitted drawings of an anthropomorphic peanut to a design contest. When his design was chosen, commercial artist Andrew S. Wallach added the monocle, top hat, and cane to create the iconic image. Gentile’s family originally received five dollars for winning the contest. Obici befriended them and paid Antonio’s, and four of his siblings’, way through college. After Obici paid Antonio’s way through medical school as well, Antonio became a doctor in Newport News, where he died of a heart attack in 1939.There is no dispute that Antonio Gentile, born August 8, 1903 in Philadelphia according to his death certificate, did drawings of a peanut with a face, arms and legs. The Suffolk News-Herald, October 18, 2013, published one such drawing and interviewed Gentile’s nephews. Gentile’s drawings were donated to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. (Gentile graduated from the University of Virginia’s Department of Medicine in 1927.)
There is a disputed claim that Frank P. Krize Sr., a Wilkes-Barre artist and head of the Suffolk plant, made the additions of the monocle, top hat, and cane. Wallach’s daughter, Virginia, maintains that Krize joined the project after Mr. Peanut was created. However, neither Planters’ history nor other sources still in circulation positively identify the artist.
Mr. Peanut was born in 1916. (Before his birth, Planters’ products were represented by a pennant.) Supposedly there was a contest to create a symbol or mascot for Planters Nut and Chocolate Company. There was no documentation of a nationwide contest which was won by Gentile. (Locally the Suffolk Herald ceased publication sometime in early 1916. The Suffolk Tri-Weekly Herald began publishing on February 9, 1916. One of these newspapers may have reported Gentile as the winner of the contest.) The credit for adding the high hat, monocle, cane and spats is unclear. In Peanuts: The Illustrious History of the Goober (2002) Andrew F. Smith said
… Planters hired a Chicago art firm, which commissioned a commercial artist named Andrew Wallach to draw several different caricatures. Obici selected the peanut person with a top hat, monocle, cane, and the look of a raffish gentleman. At least, this was the story that Planers circulated. …
“As the story goes,” explains Baker Parker, a long time resident of Hall Place, “Mr. Amadeo [sic] Obici, the founder of Planters Peanuts, moved to Suffolk, and wanted a logo for the company. Well, Frank Krize came up with the idea to have a neighborhood contest.Frank Paul Krize was born on April 2, 1882 in Aldesburg, Austria. He and his family immigrated to the United States in 1911 according to the 1920 census. The Virginian-Pilot, April 10, 1957, profiled Krize on his 75th birthday.
“There was this little fellow, about 15 years old, by the name of Gentile who sent in a rough sketch to Frank who worked in the art department. Frank took it, polished and sharpened it up into the internationally-recognized Mr. Peanut that you see today.” ...
Suffolk, April 9—An Austrian-born printer who worked alongside Amedeo Obici during his early struggles has observed the 45th anniversary of his employment by Planters Nut & Chocolate Co.Census records and draft cards said Krize was a printer or employed in the printing department. Obviously he had experience handling artwork for the various product packages, promotional posters, booklets, etc. His artistic skills are unknown. Maybe he was involved with the design of the packages, labels, etc. Nonetheless, he was with Obici and Planters almost from the start and witnessed the development of Mr. Peanut. Krize passed away on August 22, 1972.
He is Frank Paul Krize, superintendent of the printing department in Planters’ Suffolk plant. Krize was honored at a banquet Saturday night by fellow employees at Planters Club who tendered congratulations on his anniversary with the company and also his 75th birthday.
Still Active
Krize, still actively in charge of the printing plant, went to work for Obici, Planters’ founder, in Wilkes-Barre not long after his arrival in this country from Austria. A mutual friend recommended him to Obici and he has been with the company ever since, without a break.
At the time Planters’ printing department consisted only of four small hand-fed presses. In 1923 the plant was moved to Suffolk and with it went the superintendent. ...
Planters’ founder, Amedeo Obici, was profiled in the Literary Digest, March 6, 1937, which said
... Obici’s accent on youth during Planters’ early history bore prompt results. The children took their free peanuts home to parents and demand for nickel packages of Pennant peanuts grew. Children not only provided Planters with increasing sales, they even gave Obici the symbol for his business, Mr. Peanut. At Suffolk, Virginia, in 1916, Obici posted a five-dollar prize, asked schoolchildren to suggest a character symbolizing his peanut business. To the winning drawing of a peanut pod embellished with legs and head, Obici added the top hat, cane and spats. Thus the peanut took on swank. Even his peanut oil, Obici has dubbed “Hi-Hat Peanut Oil.” ...
... In 1916, Mr. Obici gave a five-dollar prize to the school child in Suffolk who drew the best picture to use in advertising peanuts. The prize was given to a child who sent a drawing of a peanut shell with arms, legs, and a head. To this drawing, Mr. Obici added a tall silk hat, a cane, and spats. Thus the lowly peanut became a well-dressed dandy, and his picture is seen today in advertisements. ...Another publication that mentioned the contest was the National Nut News, October 1928
… This design is the one which resulted from a public school prize contest at Suffolk and the winner happened to be, like Mr. Obici, an Italian. A commercial artist added a high hat and monocle to the original to give Mr. Peanut his present distingué appearance. …
... But when you think of Planters, you think, of course, of a symbol. The symbol is Mr. Peanut, the long-legged, peanut-bodied character with the stovepipe hat and monocle. He dates dates from 1916 when Mr. Obici, determined to “glorify the peanut,” launched a contest among the school children of Suffolk to find an appropriate trademark. The winning sketch was of Mr. Peanut, lacking however, the monocle and the negligently crooked leg, which was added by a commercial artist. The prize was $5. ...
... To publicize the lowly peanut, as well as to create a distinctive company trademark, in 1916 the two men sponsored a contest. The winning entry was a fourteen-year-old boy’s crayon drawing titled “Little Peanut Person.” It won the boy five dollars, and an in-house artist, adding a monocle, cane, and top hat, turned the cartoon into Mr. Peanut. ...The story of a local contest seems credible. Dressing up Mr. Peanut with a high hat, monocle, cane and spats was not a new idea. Smith referred to the December 1902 issue of Good Housekeeping which published the following drawing.
(The excerpt in Good Housekeeping was from the article, “The Peanut’s Many Aliases”, which appeared in the Richmond Dispatch (Virginia), July 13, 1902.)
There is another artist to consider. Elmer Cecil Stoner was born on October 20, 1897 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The black artist was best known as a cartoonist. Stoner’s entry at Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999 said he created Mr. Peanut at age fifteen which was in 1912, four years before the contest. It was Stoner’s wife, Henrietta, who supplied the information to Who’s Who. It’s not clear who calculated Stoner’s age for creating Mr. Peanut. Stoner and his father, George, were listed at 40 Tuttle Street in the 1915 Wilkes-Barre city directory. The following year Stoner’s occupation was student. In 1917 he was a laborer.
Mr. Peanut made his debut in June 1916 according to its trademark history. There is a timeline at USPTO.report which said the first use date was June 1916. The Classification Information at Justia Trademarks has that date. The same date was on the trademark application with a drawing of Mr. Peanut. It was filed on March 12, 1917. The drawing was registered on May 28, 1918.
John J. Barreto, formerly with the Curtis Publishing Company [publisher of The Saturday Evening Post], at Philadelphia, has become a partner in the Cecil Advertising Company, Richmond, Va. In the future the agency will be known as Cecil, Barreto & Cecil.
An
advertisement for Cecil, Barreto & Cecil Advertising and its
clients appeared in Printers’ Ink, June 21, 1923.
A brief history of the agency was described in a 1936 issue of Tide.
Cecil, Warwick & Cecil
Back in 1915, Jim Cecil, onetime reporter for Richmond Times Dispatch, started up the Cecil Advertising Co. to service local accounts.
Shortly afterwards things began to hum: 1) Brother John H. joined up; 2) they led Planters’ Peanuts into advertising; 3) Satevepost’s John J. Barreto came in, making the name Cecil, Barreto & Cecil; 4) Nashville’s Maxwell House Coffee became a client, was built from a local product to the first national coffee brand.
Obviously on their toes, Messrs. Cecil & Barreto headed North via Baltimore, hit New York in 1922. And five years later American Lithographic’s Sales Manager Paul Warwick became a partner to replace John Barreto, then deceased some four years. Currently they’re agents for a string of accounts—State of Virginia, Jaeckel Furs, Seagram’s, Trommer’s Beer, Sherwin-Williams Paints, to name a few. ...
(The principals of the agency were James McCosh Cecil who passed away on September 17, 1954; John Joseph Barreto on January 7, 1923; John Howe Cecil on June 3, 1939; and John Paul Warwick on December 6, 1971.)
The
Cecil agency was in Richmond, Virginia, the state capitol. Cecil saw
Planters as a successful and growing regional business in Suffolk which was a small
city. (The 1920 census said Suffolk’s population was 9,123.) As early as 1915 Cecil sought Planters as a client. Cecil probably made numerous suggestions to Obici on how promote its products. One of the ideas may have been to create an easily recognizable symbol or mascot for use in advertisements and packages. The contest may very well have been Obici’s idea. To find an artist, I believe the Cecil agency, not Planters, contacted the Barnes-Crosby Company whose business was preparing artwork for print reproduction. Andrew Wallach was the employee assigned to the Mr. Peanut project. During
the first five months of 1916 Gentile’s drawings were transformed into a
character with a high hat, monocle, cane and spats. In June Mr. Peanut made his debut on a printed item.
Mr. Peanut may have appeared in the booklet, Peanuts.
The title page read, “A Little Journey Through the Virginia Peanut
Plantations, and the Factories of the Planter’s Nut and Chocolate
Company, of Suffolk, Va.” The Virginian-Pilot and the Norfolk Landmark, January 23, 1917, said
The illustrations, some of them exceedingly clever pen and ink drawings, and photographs show the various buildings of the planters, the commercial types of peanuts, and the different kinds, peanut growing, in shocks, being picked by the old style, with negro “hands,” and the new style, with the modern peanut picker, being hauled to the great cleaners, and lastly the journey of the “goobers” through the factory, where it is carefully graded by hand.Later in 1917 Planters’ advertisements appeared in selected states. Editor & Publisher, April 28, 1917, said
“Mr. Peanut,” states the booklet, “entered American society about 1869, when the first lot was cleaned and shipped to New York. In high brow circles its latin name “Arachis Hypogea” wins favor, but its democratic name, peanut, is more popular, and makes it more conspicuous on busy corners, baseball parks, amusement resorts, circuses and picnics and then by sheer merit alone we find it associated with the captains of industry among the wholesalers, and the manufacturing barons of the confectionery and peanut butter business.” “It is stated that the South has given to the world five agricultural treasures: Cotton, corn, potatoes, tobacco and peanuts.”
Interesting descriptions of the old days, when shoe families would work all day in the peanut fields, picking by hand the peanuts from the vines, and getting paid by the measure, are given in this book. The book is the work of a Suffolk man, who is considered one of the best informed “peanut” men in the business today, L. P. Jordan.
The Cecil Advertising Co., Mutual Building, Richmond, Va., is placing orders with a few newspapers in selected sections for the Planters’ Nut & Chocolate Co., “Peanut Brand Salted Peanuts,” Wilkes-Barre, Pa.Mr. Peanut was introduced in the Atlanta Journal (Georgia), April 17; the Barre Daily Times (Vermont), September 6; the Florida Metropolis and Tampa Morning Tribune (Florida), October 9.
Below: Atlanta Journal, May 11, and Florida Times-Union, November 2.
Below: Evening Bulletin (Rhode Island), July 6, and Evening Gazette (Massachusetts), September 26.
Below: Norwich Bulletin (Connecticut), August 28.
Below: Barre Daily Times, September 14.
Below: Evening Gazette, October 16, and Florida Metropolis, November 20.
Planters advertising campaign was explained in Printers’ Ink, June 21, 1917.
Peanut Packer Starts to Advertise
His Campaign a Challenge to the “Too-many-other-just-like-mine” Excuse
Peanuts at five a bag might seem a difficult article for any one concern to advertise. In the first place, the humble goober is sold so generally, and advertised so vociferously and so extensively by the corner vendor and pushcart merchant, that at first thought the idea of trying to get the public to make any distinction in the peanuts for which it gives its nickels might appear preposterous. But this is just what is being done by a certain company to-day.
The Planters’ Nut & Chocolate Co., of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., has just started an advertising campaign in the New England states for its Pennant salted peanuts. This campaign grew out of an ineffectual attempt by a group of peanut cleaners and shellers to put on foot a movement to advertise peanuts as a food. In this effort the Planters company was a prime mover and, nothing daunted by the outcome, it finally brought its own proposition to a position where it could start a try-out campaign on its own hook to test the possibility of advertising so anonymous and so easily substituted an article as salted peanuts.
The obvious difficulty in the way of a national business on salted peanuts is the package. The product soon spoils if exposed to air, or if insufficiently protected. Until recently efforts to sell salted peanuts in packages resulted in an article retailing for ten cents, with little protection for the product. For general distribution and quick turn-over this price alone seemed impracticable, and on this problem the Planters company concentrated its attention until it devised the following plan, which laid the way for advertising.
The peanuts are now sold to the retail dealer in air-tight tin cans, weighing ten pounds. In the top of the can come packed ninety Pennant peanut bags, made of glassine paper. Each tin contains also a measure, and there are just enough peanuts in the tin to fill the ninety bags, at five cents apiece. The glassine bags have the brand name displayed on a pennant. While this plan did not prevent substitution entirely, at least it did insure the peanuts being always fresh, and made it possible to sell the package for a nickel.
The only weak link in the chain, as explained by J. M. Cecil, the agent handling the account, was the loop-hole left for substitution by the dealer because the public as a whole did not know that Pennant peanuts must necessarily be sold in Pennant peanut bags.
“You can see that the unscrupulous dealer was able to fill the request for Pennant peanuts with any peanut in any blank glassine bag he might choose,” said Mr. Cecil. “We first interested the Planters in advertising as a means to curb substitution, making the point that advertising would educate the public to expect Pennant peanuts in the Pennant bag, and would make the unscrupulous dealer fear to attempt substitution.
“At the time this campaign was first broached, the Planters had a splendid distribution, and a crackerjack sales force. The sales force took to the advertising idea warmly, and has been using the advertising to the utmost. The confectionery trade, as you probably know is done primarily through confectionery jobbers with the assistance of missionary men from the house working directly on the retail trade. The bulk of the business, however, comes through the jobber. So the Planters finally decided to try advertising for two reasons. First, as explained, to discourage substitution, and secondly, to awaken among the jobbers a real desire to sell Pennant peanuts rather than the ordinary run of peanuts.”
New England was picked as the try-out territory for the newspaper advertising, while a car-card campaign is running in the elevated and subway systems of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co., to catch the Coney Island and beach resorts crowds.
The copy plan was worked up into a portfolio for the salesmen, and to be sent to the jobbers. For counter display the company sells the dealer a glass jar with a tight fitting top, making the jar an arbitrary purchase.
The copy, which runs into large space, to be followed by smaller reminders, features a character—“Mr. Peanut”—being an animated goober in the shell, wearing a black stove-pipe hat and carrying a cane. Mr. Peanut is the mouthpiece for the text, which explains the origin of the whole shelled peanut, expatiates in timely accents on its nutritive value, as in the example reproduced on page 67, etc. For example, this dialogue:
“Mr. Peanut: ‘Doctor, are peanuts good for kids?’
“Dr. H. W. Wiley: ‘The peanut is a very valuable food. It is highly nutritious.’”
Then this character leads the reader through the Virginia plantations where the peanuts grow, and into the store, where he points out with his cane the glassine bags with the trade name, and the glass counter jar. Some of the copy features the picnic and baseball idea, while another ad aims to get the peanuts a place on the dinner menu.
The newspapers receiving the business were asked to give simple co-operation in mailing out proofs of the campaign to the trade in each city, and to assist by advice the Planters’ salesmen, who were instructed to call at the newspaper offices as soon as they reached such towns.
By this advertising campaign the company hopes to meet successfully the inevitable competition that has already made its appearance—if the tin for tin cans lasts! Everyone can imitate the appearance of its peanuts, and can adopt identically the same method of package distribution, but it is expected that the advertising will educate the public to ask for these peanuts by name, and, more important still, to expect these peanuts to be sold them in Pennant bags.
Estimates have been made up for the Middle West, and if the New England campaign works out as well as it has started, it is probable that the effort will be extended to national proportions.
Inexpensive Peanut Is Successfully Advertised by Southerners—A Daring ExperimentPrinters’ Ink, October 10, 1918, said
“We have grown to look upon certain articles as lacking the inherent requirements of advertising.
It was not so very long ago, for instance, that when a manufacturer conceived the idea of putting up package sugar and giving it the dignity of a trade-mark insignia, special publicity and localized newspaper campaigns, his associates scoffed.
“Can’t be put over!” they declared. “People will always buy sugar in bulk. There’s so little you can really say about sugar, after all. It isn’t like selling an automobile or a perfumed soap or a patent-process bean. No, they’ll look on it as only another scheme to give short measure in a fancy container.”
And thus discouraged at the outset, this manufacturer went right ahead, conceived a trade-mark, prettied up a package and advertised it for all it was worth. The copy men and the artists, set to work on this job, discovered to their amazement that there was just as much to say on the subject of sugar as on any other product.
Brilliant advertising sprang into existence and is still going strong.
The newspaper work has been notable for its educational value and vivid success it has achieved.
Now it has come to be that a very humble little article—one that advertisers have considered hopeless for generation gone—ascends to the rather exalted altitude of “the fat appropriation.”
“Peanuts have been trade-marked!”
No longer will the smiling Italian on the corner have things all his own way. His shrewd subterfuge of the pinched bag and the ever-decreasing number of goobers inside will be open to challenge.
The public need not submit to it. The “Fresh Hot Roasted” at about three for a penny will have to brush up its conduct and make good.
For a man with the strength of a big conviction went down into the Southern home of the peanut and talked matters over with the planters.
They, in turn had conceived a kindred scheme, but were not quite prepared to know how it could be brought to a fruitful head.
From the foundation of the idea up, here is the way the committee reckoned.
Peanuts are universally liked. It is unnecessary to educate or even greatly cultivate the “peanut appetite.” Everybody likes ’em, from youth to old age.
It may happen that we may get out of peanut range for a month a time, but when we buy a package and nibble for a few minutes we remember how tasty they always are.
And you can’t stop at a dozen!
The hunger for the humble goober approaches the ravenous. “I can’t stop eating them” is an old and favorite saying.
Here was a treat factor, a business asset, the committee banked on. The market was as wide as the world.
But there were many inferior grades of peanuts on the market.
The kind that are roasted on the street corners are not always palatable.
They are scorched and burned and maltreated.
They are either overdone or underdone.
True, some package goods were on the market, but they were not well known. They had never been advertised to any extent.
No one had gone about it professionally and with the earnest intention of dignifying the business.
Would there be a steady, ready, unfailing market for a selected peanut, grown right and roasted right and presented to the public in a clean, bright, appetizing manner?
The committee thought so. It was sure of the fact!
A Daring Experiment
But to devote thousands of dollars to actually advertising a five-cent bag of salted peanuts was a daring experiment.
Could it make its weight felt soon enough to justify the expenditure?
How was the advertising to be done?
Where would the advertising appear? In what mediums and under what conditions?
An advertising agency was called into conference.
It was an agency accustomed to food products—and the Southern territory. For, oddly enough, these adventurers in advertising resolved to take the bull by the horns.
They would try out the scheme right down in the country where the peanuts were grown.
If it succeeded there it would be universally successful.
It must be explained at this juncture that the Planters Association was composed of good business men.
They represented the higher order of things.
Plantations under their jurisdiction were skillfully managed. Only the best goobers were raised. They had the finest peanut stock on the market.
There was none better.
Perhaps it was this very fact that made the proposition so promising. It is seldom possible to snow under a superior article.
People will find quality. The “just nachally” nose it out.
These broad acres seldom felt the blight of “bad crops” or uncertain weather conditions. Such peanuts as came in from outside sources were passed upon by experts, men who “lived” peanuts and knew them from the ground up.
And they formed a combine—joined together to see if the raising and marketing of peanuts could not be put on a profitable, professional plane. They pooled an appropriation and “went to it.”
An unassuming insignia was already in existence, the relic of a previous, unimportant advertising experiment.
It was a simple flag upon which “Pennant Brand” was emblazoned.
This had grown to be more or less important as a symbol of the Planters Association.
But the agency saw further possibilities in the way of a trade-mark.
Thus “Mr. Peanut” came to life, an animated peanut in the hull, fat, smiling, wearing a monocle and a high silk hat and carrying a cane most jauntily.
Next came the system of distribution.
Dealers were supplied with a large and most attractive glass container, with an outlet for filling small transparent oiled-paper bags.
They were generous-sized bags too, and with a flowing measure of peanuts. The dealer could keep them practically air-tight in the container and fill the bags as trade demanded
But he was cautioned in every case not to short measure.
The bag must contain so many peanuts, no less.
The margin of profit permitted of this inflexible rule.
The public confidence was to be won, not only because of the quality of the peanuts, but the amount given for the price. The bags were appropriately decorated.
News-stands everywhere were interested in the experiment. Subway station stands collaborated.
Railroad depots fell into line. Confectioners saw the advantage of the plan.
The distribution was skillfully and thoroughly conducted.
Nothing tends to discourage the public as much as difficulty in securing an advertised article. It is disastrous to any campaign. It nullifies and deadens the fattest appropriation.
Yet so many manufacturers are weak in this respect!
And now a word concerning the product.
Pennant Brand Peanuts are selected peanuts. They are the pick and the choice of many. Only peanuts of a certain size and quality are permitted to pass the goober censor. They are roasted by men who know, and salted according to a secret process. They really represent the last word in peanuts.
And they are always the same!
The Campaign.
Then came the advertising campaign.
Twelve pieces of newspaper copy were conceived after many conferences. The space used was three columns by twelve inches in depth—and larger.
Rather generous for a newcomer, eh?
Here was where Mr. Peanut came in.
He was pictured in every ad, in different humorous poses.
The glass container and the bags and tempting displays of peanuts were drawn by artists under careful agency guidance.
The copy went straight to the point.
It told how the public could now secure a dependable peanut. How there would be no more “guess work.” Where the goobers were grown, by whom, and how went into the text.
What was practically a guarantee went in every one of those little oiled-paper envelopes.
No more stale, tough, poorly-roasted peanuts! That trial and tribulation was over.
And Mr. Hoover’s aid and advice was gained.
The Food Administrator and Conserver very willingly stated that the food value of peanuts could not be overestimated.
They were fine as a steady diet.
They were bully for children as well as grown-ups.
Their use was, in a way, a war measure.
Peanuts were as nutritious as meat. People would do well to eat them.
The public, in this great newspaper campaign, was asked to call for Pennant Brand peanuts, not just peanuts. They would discover the advantage of this, it was promised. This initial campaign went into Southern papers.
In a town as remote and as small as St. Augustine, Florida, the series appeared first.
The results exceeded all expectations everywhere.
The public responded.
It did ask for Pennant Brand peanuts, and liked them, and kept returning for more.
And now Mr. Peanut will bow to audiences all over the country.
Newspapers will carry his message in a smashing campaign that will be second to no food product now on the market.
In fact, the experiment has been so entirely satisfactory that the association is going into the Saturday Evening Post, just to clinch matters.
The first effort will comprise eight wonderful pages—think of it!
For peanuts at five cents the bag.
But it was newspaper advertising that proved the worth of the idea!
Newspaper advertising convinced the association that the public will support a worthy project.
Contact was obtained instantly.
An advertisement appeared one day, and results could be actually traced and run to cover the next.
That is one of the fine things about newspaper publicity.
You are not left in doubt.
Your verdict is a speedy one!
A
trademark application for the two words, Mr. Peanut, was published in
the Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, September 22,
1925.
Officers and representatives of Planters Nut and Chocolate Company were pictured in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 1, 1929.
The Peanut 1924 yearbook, Suffolk High School, Planters Nut & Chocolate Co. advertisement
The Peanut 1925 yearbook, Suffolk High School, Planters Nut & Chocolate Co. advertisement
Comics: Jean Callahan, Unknown Letterer
… Jean had a long career working for Ventura County public libraries, which was perfect because she had a life-long love of books. Reading was her favorite pastime, as well as watching Jeopardy! She enjoyed football, making her coveted baby quilts, playing cards with her friends, and going to and hosting bible study.For many decades Jean attended St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church and was a dedicated parishioner. She taught CCD and volunteered her time at the annual carnival and hand-washed and ironed the holy purificators for years. She was also a eucharistic minister. In 2004, Jean was called to take vows in the Order of the Discalced Carmelites (OCD). …
Creator: Laura E. Foster, Illustrator and Cartoonist
Laura Elizabeth Foster was born on April 12, 1871 in San Francisco, California according to Edan Hughes’ Artists in California, 1786–1940 and Find a Grave. However, one-year-old Foster was counted in the 1870 United States Census on line 39. Her birth year was 1869. Foster’s parents were architect Charles Henry Foster and Mary O’Brien. Jacob was the middle of George, her older brother.
The 1880 census counted Foster (line 3), her parents and three siblings, George, Kate and Charles, on Fine Street in Alameda, California. (Her father was on line 50 of the previous sheet.)
The start of Foster’s art training is not known. She studied with Hugo Wilhelm Arthur Nahl who lived in Alameda. Foster was sixteen years old when her talent was recognized at the 1885 Industrial Exhibition of the Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco. She was represented by two pieces of art.
M. G. Armstrong, of the Alameda Market, has a life-size crayon picture of his terrier Fido, better known on Park street as “Hoodlum,” drawn by Miss Laura Foster. It is so life-like that when the original saw it he did his best to strike up an acquaintance, and finally became so demonstrative that it had to be put out of his reach.The Alameda Encinal, September 27, 1889, said Foster’s drawing, “Marguerite in Church”, was exhibited at the Mechanics’ Fair. Also noted was her late art instructor, Arthur Nahl.
Husted’s Oakland, Alameda and Berkeley Directory 1892–93 listed Foster, an artist, at 2319 Santa Clara Avenue in Alameda.
Foster was a capable calligrapher as reported in the Alameda Encinal, March 10, 1894.
At the last meeting of Thompson Hose Company ex-Foreman Tom Hanson was presented with a beautifully engrossed copy of a set of resolutions setting forth in terms of praise the recipient’s services in behalf of the company while in office. The engrossing was done by Miss Laura Foster of this city.The Alameda Encinal, September 6, 1894, said Foster was swindled.
Foster’s association with the publication, The Wasp, began in 1895. She signed her work one of four ways: LEF, L. E. Foster, Laura E. Foster, and Foster.
For four months Foster did not appear in The Wasp. She was probably busy producing illustrations for the Chambliss Diary or, Society as It Really Is which was published in August. Advertisements for Chambliss Diary appeared in the San Francisco Call, August 18, 1895, August 25, 1895, and September 1, 1895.

March 21, 1896
March 28, 1896
April 4, 1896
April 11, 1896
April 18, 1896
April 25, 1896
May 2, 1896
May 9, 1896
June 6, 1896
June 13, 1896
June 20, 1896
July 4, 1896
After a two months rest, Foster resumed work for The Wasp.
March 20, 1897
April 3, 1897
April 10, 1897
May 8, 1897
May 29, 1897
August 14, 1897
September 25, 1897
Foster had the same address in 1900 census (line 67). She was the head of the household which included her mother, sister and a lodger. Foster’s occupation was newspaper artist. The census said her birth was April 1871 which was inaccurate. Foster’s parents had divorced. Her father and older brother resided in Alameda.
Foster’s illustration was published in Camera Craft, December 1901
The San Francisco Blue Book listed newspapers. Foster was at the San Francisco Bulletin in 1902 and 1904.
In September 1902 Foster and TAD spoke at the Alameda Press Club. Foster socialized with many artists. The San Francisco Call, December 21, 1902, said
Several local artists were the guests of Haig Patigian at an informal jinks held at his studio, 131 Post street, on Tuesday evening. All made merry until a late hour. Those present were Misses Florence Rice, Laura Foster, Donna Fulton, Kate Foster, Juanita Shepherd and Marie Feiling; Messrs. Harris Lowell, Otis Reese, T. A. Dorgan, R. O. Yardley, H. G. Peter [first Wonder Woman artist] and Haig Patgian.
The Oakland Tribune, February 16, 1903, said
Miss Laura Foster, the artist, a former resident of this city, has been ill with the grip [aka flu] at her home in San Francisco.The San Francisco Call, July 2, 1903 and The Argonaut, July 13, 1903, reported the newspaper and magazine artists exhibition at the Palace Hotel. The show was also mentioned in California Ladies’ Magazine, August 1903.
The Los Angeles Times, October 21, 1903, said
Laura Foster, a San Francisco newspaper artist, exhibited a pen-and-ink sketch in the collection of portraits by newspaper artists which was lately on display in San Francisco, that attracted very general attention. It was entitled “On the Crest of the Sunset Sea,” and was a sketch of a woman’s nude body buffeted by the waves.
Town Talk, October 17, 1903, reviewed the Newspaper Artists exhibition and said
Laura Foster shows the touch of genius in her pen-and-ink sketch, “On the Crest of the Sunset Sea,” a woman’s nude body buffeted by the waves.
Camera Craft, November 1903, said
Laura E. Foster, of the Bulletin, showed thirty pictures. The best of these were the dainty pen and ink drawings. “At the Governor’s Inaugural Ball” was a splendid piece of drawing. “A Belle from the Coast” showed a strong grasp of character.
Foster was in the 1904 exhibition.
The Alameda Encinal, August 26, 1905, reported Foster’s upcoming trip to the East Coast.
Miss Laura Foster, sister of Geo. J. Foster, of this city, and well known as an artist on the Bulletin, is to depart soon for an extended trip to the eastern states. She will go to New York, Boston and other cities, and later visit her father’s relatives in Deleware [sic].
Foster’s home was damaged in the April 1906 earthquake and fire. Her dealing with the insurance company was reported in the San Francisco Call, July 24, 1906.
Forces Sixty-Cent Payment.
Miss Laura Foster, the artist, who carried a policy on household property in the German Freeport Company, says that she was forced to accept sixty cents on the dollar, and in order to obtain this settlement was required to sign a statement to the effect that she had been paid in full and was satisfied with what she received. While the German Freeport has been paying its policy-holders but sixty cents and less on the dollar in this city the corporation has been advertising throughout the South and East that it is settling its San Francisco liabilities in full and paying dollar for dollar.
Foster’s plan to go east was reported in Town Talk, February 23, 1907.
... The other two artists who are to abandon the local field are Miss Laura Foster and Miss Donna Fulton. These two clever women left the Bulletin when the Sunday Supp was dropped recently and immediately began laying plans for an advance on the artistic center of America. They will leave on the first of April with a sheaf of letters calculated to open the mystic sancta of the big magazine editors. ...The Oakland Tribune, April 26, 1907, said
Miss Laura Foster, a prominent newspaper artist, is to leave the first of next month for New York.The Oakland Tribune, June 20, 1907, said
Miss Laura Foster, the well-known newspaper artist, is now in New York. She writes of her arrival and states that she has found congenial employment on one of the papers.Western Woman, July 20, 1907, said
Laura Foster, who used to do some clever work on the Bulletin, is now working for Munsey’s, drawing down a fine salary, and mightily pleased with herself and the whole happy world.The Wasp, October 12, 1907, reported the San Francisco artists and writers in New York.
... The most recent arrivals are Miss Laura Foster and Miss Fulton, both formerly of the Bulletin staff. They have taken a joint studio in the Brynn Mawr apartments and are swamped with orders for drawings. Miss Foster has accepted a staff position with Munsey and is a contributor to several publications. She has just completed a set of illustrations for the October number of the Scrap Book. Miss Fulton is doing fashions for both The Delineator and The Ladies’ Home Journal.The San Francisco Chronicle, November 16, 1907, said
Californians Gather at Table in New YorkThe San Francisco Call, March 6, 1908, said
New York, November 11.—At the dinner at the Everett House last Friday night, which was arranged by the California Promotion Committee’s New York bureau, more than fifty Californians were present….
… Miss Laura E. Foster of San Francisco is one of the numerous magazine and newspaper illustrators from California now domiciled in New York.
Girl Artists Do Well in New YorkThe San Francisco Call, August 16, 1908, said
Miss Laura Foster, who was well known here as an illustrator, writes to a friend that she is doing extremely well in New York, where she shares a studio with Miss Donna Fulton, who also was a San Francisco newspaper artist, and who is now on a New York fashion magazine. Miss Foster writes that she is getting plenty of work on the illustrated papers and magazines, and was offered a permanent position recently with one of the latter. The salary was tempting, but the independent life of the free lance was more tempting, especially where just as much money can be made. She tells of a visit she made to a well known New York weekly.
“The editor,” she says, “looked over my drawings and expressed appreciation. ‘Then,’ I said, ‘I suppose you will be able to let me have a story to illustrate.’ ‘Why, my dear Miss Foster,’ he said, ‘we couldn’t think of giving out work to anybody that hadn’t a reputation.’ So I see that I’ll have to get a ‘rep’ before I will be able to get my signature into that particular weekly. It may be a good plan for the weekly, but it’s tough on poor unknown artists.”
On September 24, 1908 Foster and Donald Cameron Monroe obtained marriage license number 20936 in Manhattan. They were married five days later. It was his second marriage. At the time Foster resided at 420 West 121st Street.
Artist Returns for Brief Visit
Justifies Friends by Work in East
Miss Laura E. Foster Finds Great Demands for Her Sketches in New York
Miss Laura E. Foster has returned here for a brief visit with her relatives before going back to New York for permanent residence. Miss Foster is one of the San Francisco newspaper artists who were “earthquaked” into the big metropolis. Before that eventful 18th of April, 1906, Miss Foster worried her friends with her comfortable, unambitious view of life. At a dinner given by Charles Victor Miller, the picturesque materialist and friend of Calve, at his Bush street home one night, in honor of the Chinese consul and his suite, Miss Foster was one of the guests. Reference was made to a splendid sketch of hers shown at the newspaper artists’ exhibition at the Palace hotel.
“Why don’t you go to New York and become famous instead of hiding your light out here in the west?” she was asked.
“But why? To what good?” queried Miss Foster. “I’m perfectly contented here. New York has no attractions for me. You see, I have a lovely home, good things to eat and payday every week.”
The upheaval having lessened San Francisco’s fascinations, however, Miss Foster followed the eastern trend, gained recognition by her illustrations for James L. Ford’s article, “The Girl Who Comes to New York,” in Success, and after that found an ever increasing quantity of work waiting for her.
But she still loves San Francisco and is glad to spend her vacation here.
Editor & Publisher, October 3, 1908, said
Miss Laura E. Foster, well-known magazine illustrator from California, formerly of the staff of the San Francisco Bulletin, who joined the New York artist colony some time ago, was married last Tuesday evening at St. Andrew’s church, New York, to Donald C. Monroe, well-known mining broker of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Monroe will live at 547 West 123rd street, New York.The Daily Leader (Bluefield, West Virginia), October 6, 1908 and News-Democrat (Providence, Rhode Island), October 28, 1908, published the photograph below.
The Wasp, October 10, 1908, said
Laura Foster Married.The San Francisco Call, October 14, 1908, said
Miss Laura E. Foster, a former San Francisco artist, and Donald C. Monroe, a New York mining stock broker, were married in the Little Church Around the Corner recently. Miss Foster is one of the San Francisco artists that were earthquaked into New York after the disaster of April, 18, 1906. It was soon after coming to New York that Miss Foster met Mr. Monroe, who at once became a suitor. However, it was not until a few weeks ago, after her vacation spent in San Francisco, that she consented to be married. Miss Foster’s success as an artist in New York has been little short of phenomenal. She had not much more than unpacked her belongings in the metropolis until she found work to do. Her first assignment was to illustrate James L. Lord’s article, “The Girl Who Comes to New York,” in Success. This brought more orders. Miss Foster has been busy ever since. In San Francisco she was a member of the art staff of the Bulletin. Mr. Monroe is a wealthy bachelor, who has long since been considered proof against matrimony. The couple have dispensed with a wedding trip, and have taken a lovely apartment on One Hundred and Twenty-third street.
California Artist Is Married in New YorkThe Oakland Tribune, October 15, 1908, said
Miss Laura Foster, Well Known Illustrator, Weds Mining Broker
Alameda, Oct. 13.—Cards have been received here from New York by relatives and friends announcing the marriage of Miss Laura Foster, an artist, and Donald Cameron Monroe, a mining broker of the eastern metropolis.
The wedding took place September 28 and was solemnized by Rev. Dr. Houghton in the “Little Church Around the Corner.”
Mr. and Mrs. Munroe [sic] will live in New York and the bride will continue her art work and illustrating under the name by which she is so widely known.
Mrs. Munroe visited her relatives here this summer. Mrs. Munroe was employed as an illustrator on San Francisco papers for 10 years.
Talented Alameda Girl Is the Bride of New York BrokerTown Talk, October 17, 1908, said
Alameda, Oct. 15.—Cards have been received by Alameda friends and relatives announcing the marriage of Miss Laura Elizabeth Foster of this city and Donald Cameron Monroe, a wealthy broker, in New York Tuesday, September 29. The wedding was performed. by the Rev. Dr. Houghton in Church Around the Corner.
Mrs. Monroe, who is the daughter of Charles H. Foster of 1429 Oak street, is the well-known artist and magazine illustrator who went to New York after the fire in San Francisco and has made a name for herself in the art circles of the great metropolis.
Mrs. Monroe was in California during the summer, spending part of the time of her visit with her father and brother in this city. When she left for her eastern home no definite plans had been made concerning her coming marriage, though the engagement was known by her more intimate friends.
Artist and Broker WedHere are links to some of Foster’s illustrations from 1907 to 1909.
Mrs. Donald Monroe, who was Miss Laura Foster up to two weeks ago, has written her friends in this city that she is now settled in a charming apartment and is going on with her illustrating work for the Gotham papers as before her marriage with the New York stock broker. They did not go upon a honeymoon trip. Quite a few of their friends saw them married at the Little Church Around the Corner. The bride wore a brown cloth traveling suit, with hat to match, which was exceedingly becoming. Mr. Monroe is about fifty years of age and is comfortably well off, so that his bride does not need to bother about pot-boiling work for the future, but can work for art’s sake alone.
Smith’s Magazine, December 1907
Smith’s Magazine, February 1908
Smith’s Magazine, April 1908
Success Magazine, April 1908
Smith’s Magazine, June 1908
Smith’s Magazine, July 1908
Success, July 1908
Judge’s Library, September 1908, and here
Success Magazine, October 1908
Success, February 1909
Hampton’s Magazine, June 1909
Farm and Fireside, September 10, 1909
Success, October 1909
Foster’s visit to San Francisco was reported in the San Francisco Call, September 3, 1909.
1910 census counted Foster (line 26) and her husband in Manhattan at 547 West 123 Street.
A Famous Woman Artist in TownFoster’s mother passed away on May 7, 1913.
Laura Foster, the artist, who is now Mrs. Monroe of New York, is visiting her relatives and friends on both sides of the bay. She is one of the many clever Californians, who have made our city famous in New York, as a cradle of talent. Mrs. Foster Monroe’s drawings appear frequently in Life, Colliers and the leading magazines. In her peculiar line—humorous and satirical skits on the sex, and suffragettes in particular,—Laura Foster Monroe is unequalled.
Like many celebrities, Mrs. Monroe made her start on The Wasp. She drew political cartoons for this journal for two years and is the first woman in America, if not, in the world, who did political work of that class. Her cartoons were good ones, too—so clever that some of them were used in the McKinley campaign by the Republican National Committee. A quarter of a million copies of one of her cartoons in The Wasp were circulated throughout the United States by the campaign committee and helped to discredit the Free Silver craze.
When the catastrophe of 1906 left most of the artists in San Francisco without an occupation, Miss Foster left her Alameda home and cast her lot in New York. She thanks her lucky star that the fire drove her East, for she might have remained here all her days and not found the rich field she is now exploring. Other clever artists and writers, who were forced out of San Francisco in 1906, have had similar experiences. They have done remarkably well in New York and established a colony of writers and illustrators. By their success, it has come to be regarded as a recommendation that one hails from San Francisco.
Miss Foster obtained recognition very quickly in New York, though at first, she suffered by the fact that she had been employed so long on the daily newspapers and had acquired the sloppy style into which daily newspaper artists fall inevitably. Being ambitious and painstaking. Miss Foster overcame her technical disadvantage and was soon able to sell her drawings to the high-class weeklies like Life and Colliers; also to the leading magazines. Her work has greatly improved since she became a metropolitan celebrity, and she is now classed, properly, as in the front rank of American Illustrators.
Miss Foster’s marriage to Mr. Monroe took place several years ago and has been a very happy one. She and her husband occupy a pretty flat on upper Broadway, overlooking Central Park. She will return to New York in a few weeks.
Here are links to some of Foster’s illustrations from 1910 to 1914.
Smith’s Magazine, February 1910
Pearson’s Magazine, March 1910
Smith’s Magazine, May 1910
Collier’s, June 25, 1910
Smith’s Magazine, September 1910
Hampton’s Magazine, November 1910
Land of Let’s Pretend (1911)
Smith’s Magazine, February 1911
Success Magazine, February 1911
Judge, April 15, 1911
Smith’s Magazine, May 1911
Judge, May 6, 1911
Smith’s Magazine, June 1911
Smith’s Magazine, August 1911
Smith’s Magazine, September 1911
Collier’s, September 30, 1911
Collier’s, January 6, 1912
Smith’s Magazine, April 1912
Smith’s Magazine, June 1912
Smith’s Magazine, July 1912
Smith’s Magazine, August 1912
Smith’s Magazine, October 1912
Life, October 10, 1912, “Make Way!”
Sunset, December 1912 and here
New York Tribune, December 15, 1912
Smith’s Magazine, March 1913
Smith’s Magazine, April 1913
Smith’s Magazine, May 1913
Smith’s Magazine, June 1913
Smith’s Magazine, July 1913
Smith’s Magazine, August 1913
Smith’s Magazine, September 1913
Everybody’s Magazine, October 1913
Smith’s Magazine, November 1913
Smith’s Magazine, December 1913
Judge, January 10, 1914
Judge, January 17, 1914
Smith’s Magazine, February 1914
Smith’s Magazine, March 1914
Smith’s Magazine, May 1914
Smith’s Magazine, June 1914
Smith’s Magazine, August 1914
The Woman’s Magazine, July 1914
Judge, October 31, 1914
Smith’s Magazine, November 1914
Smith’s Magazine, December 1914
Judge, December 5, 1914
The 1915 New York state census listed Foster (line 18) and her husband at 549 West 123rd Street.
Foster’s father passed away on January 22, 1915.
... Homer Davenport was another art celebrity whose work saw light in The Wasp. So also that justly distinguished draughtsman, Harrison Fisher of New York. Joe Raphael, the great impressionist painter, began as a cartoonist for The Wasp. Laura Foster, whose work in Life is often seen and always admired, began with The Wasp, and was the only woman cartoonist in the world, I think. Donald McKee, of Life, was another Wasp artist. Theodore Langguth, of the Chronicle staff, was for several years with me after he came from his studies in Munich. Charlie Dickman, the painter, did some splendid work for The Wasp. So did Gordon Ross, now in New York, and Gordon Grant, another very clever artist.Foster was on a list of contributing artists in Life, January 4, 1917. Her photograph was published inJudge, June 9, 1917.
Mrs. Grant Carpenter has returned east from San Francisco where she remained three months upon account of the illness of her father, former tax collector Bloch. The brilliant Grant is working away on more new plays. At the call of Bessie Beatty, formerly of the “Bulletin” and now editor of McCall’s Magazine, about forty Californians met and had dinner informally at the Old English Tea Room on West 40th street. Among those present were: Edwin Markham, the poet; Frank Bacon, who has made a sensation on Broadway in “Lightnin’”; Robert Mackay, editor of “New Success’; Laura Foster Monroe, the artist; Rose Wilder Lane, Lucille Wallenberg, Genevieve Yoell Parkhurst, Herbert Roth, the cartoonist; Sophie Treadwell, who is writing plays; Helen Barry, Eva Chapelle, Sam Lash, and Mr. and Mrs. Grant Carpenter. The most interesting announcement was the recent marriage of Elmer Hader and Berta Hoerner, the two California artists who have recently achieved success in New York. Mrs. Georgia Bordwell, club editor of the Oakland Tribune, has been in New York for about three weeks, waiting to meet her husband, Capt. Fred Bordwell, on his return from France and incidentally gathering material for letters to her paper. Capt. Bordwell cabled his wife that he would expect to meet her at the Brevoort. Mrs. Bordwell cabled her husband that she would await him at the Brevoort. Neither cable was delivered, but they met at the Brevoort by merest chance. The captain, who saw engineer service in the Philippines and was for years in charge of construction work for the Southern Pacific, distinguished himself abroad and received several citations. Ralph Renaud, formerly dramatic critic of the Chronicle and during the war serving with the Creel committee in Washington, is night city editor of the New York Tribune. Jack Waldorf, who was for a long time engrossing clerk of the U. S. senate, has resigned to accept a position upon the same paper.
Smith’s Magazine, January 1915
Smith’s Magazine, February 1915
Smith’s Magazine, March 1915
Smith’s Magazine, April 1915
Smith’s Magazine, June 1915
Smith’s Magazine, July 1915
Smith’s Magazine, February 1916
Smith’s Magazine, March 1916
Smith’s Magazine, April 1916
Smith’s Magazine, May 1916
Smith’s Magazine, June 1916
Smith’s Magazine, July 1916
Smith’s Magazine, September 1916
Smith’s Magazine, October 1916
Smith’s Magazine, November 1916
Smith’s Magazine, December 1916
Smith’s Magazine, January 1917
Smith’s Magazine, March 1917 and here
Judge, March 3, 1917
Judge, March 24, 1917
Smith’s Magazine, April 1917
Judge, April 28, 1917
Smith’s Magazine, May 1917
Judge, June 16, 1917
Smith’s Magazine, July 1917
Smith’s Magazine, August 1917
Smith’s Magazine, December 1917
Smith’s Magazine, January 1918
Smith’s Magazine, March 1918
Smith’s Magazine, April 1918
Smith’s Magazine, May 1918
Smith’s Magazine, June 1918
Smith’s Magazine, July 1918
Smith’s Magazine, August 1918
Smith’s Magazine, September 1918
Smith’s Magazine, October 1918
Smith’s Magazine, November 1918
Smith’s Magazine, January 1919
Smith’s Magazine, February 1919
Smith’s Magazine, March 1919
Smith’s Magazine, April 1919
Smith’s Magazine, May 1919
Smith’s Magazine, June 1919
Smith’s Magazine, September 1919
Smith’s Magazine, October 1919
Smith’s Magazine, November 1919
Smith’s Magazine, December 1919
Here are links to some of Foster’s illustrations in 1920.
The New Success, February 1920 and here
The New Success, March 1920
Smith’s Magazine, March 1920
Smith’s Magazine, April 1920
Smith’s Magazine, May 1920
Smith’s Magazine, June-July 1920
The New Success, August 1920 and here
The New Success, September 1920 and here
Smith’s Magazine, September 1920
Smith’s Magazine, November 1920
While visiting her sister Foster passed away on September 21, 1920 in San Francisco. The San Francisco Call, September 22, 1920, said
Famous Artist Dies Visiting S.F.The San Diego Union, September 23, 1920, said
Mrs. Laura E. Monroe, better known as Laura E. Foster, the famous magazine artist, is dead. She was visiting her sister, Mrs. Catherine Marani, whose home is in Fifteenth avenue. Mrs. Monroe was suffering from stomach trouble and was operated on Monday night. Yesterday she suffered an attack of heart failure and died at 4:20 yesterday afternoon.
Mrs. Monroe was at one time an illustrator and cartoonist on a local newspaper. Upon going to New York she became nationally famous. Her drawings have appeared regularly in Life and other high grade journals. She was a close friend of T. A. Dorgan, the cartoonist, known as “Tad” to millions of readers.
While in New York, Laura Foster became the wife of Donald C. Monroe, a broker. She was to have returned to New York on Friday.
Illustrator DiesThe New York Times, September 25, 1920, said
San Francisco, Sept. 22.—Mrs. Donald C. Monroe of New York city, known as Laura E. Foster, an illustrator whose work appeared in many national publications, died here last night at the home of her sister. She failed to rally from an operation. Mrs. Monroe began her career on newspapers here and went to New York 14 years ago.
Mrs. Donald C. Monroe, a newspaper and magazine illustrator under her maiden name of Laura E. Foster, died Tuesday suddenly in San Francisco.Editor & Publisher, October 2, 1920, said
Mrs. Donald C. Monroe, a well known newspaper illustrator who signed her drawings under her maiden name of Laura E. Foster, died suddenly September 28th [sic] at San Francisco. Mrs. Monroe started her career in San Francisco with the Wasp and San Francisco Bulletin.The Overland Monthly, November 1920, said
Laura Foster Monroe, who passed away in San Francisco in September, was the first woman cartoonist on the Pacific Coast. She began her career on the San Francisco Wasp, when T. E. Flynn was its editor. Later she went over to the Bulletin, and later still went to New York where she did splendid work as an illustrator. She married in New York, and with her husband was on a visit to her sister in San Francisco when she died.
Further Reading and Viewing
American Political Cartoons: From 1754 to 2010 (2017)
Why Women Won the Vote
Wikimedia Commons
Comics: A Few Details About Ada Levy, Unknown Editorial Assistant and Writer at Timely Comics
Ada G. Levy Engaged to StudentMr. and Mrs. Philip Francis Levy of 2515 Glenwood Road announce the engagement of their daughter, Miss Ada G. Levy, to Marvin Ira Glauberman, son of Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Glauberman of 861 E. 24th St.Miss Levy is a sophomore at New York University. She is a member of Phi Sigma Sigma sorority. Mr. Glauberman is a senior at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va. He is a member of Pi Lambdi Phi fraternity.
Mrs. Ada Glauberman of 188-02 64th avenue moved here from Brooklyn eight months ago. She took her Bachelor of Arts degree in English at New York University and taught at Madison High School, Manhattan. She was an editorial assistant for the magazine Management and for Timely Comics. She has traveled in the United States and has written short stories and comic books, as well as other fiction. She has been married one year.
Comics: A Few Details About Phyllis Muchow, Writer and Artist
Phyllis Lillian Muchow was born on September 22, 1918 in Evanston, Illinois according to a family tree at Ancestry.com.
The 1920 United States Census counted Muchow, her parents, William and Lillian, and older brother, William, in Evanston at 1011 Grove Street. Her father was a dentist.
In the 1930 census the Muchows resided in Evanston at 1316 Davis Street. Muchow had two younger brothers, Gordon and John. Her father was a president in the mining industry. Muchow was mentioned in Uncle Mame: The Life of Patrick Dennis (2000). Patrick Dennis, a friend of Gordon, nicknamed her Cindy for Cinderella.
On June 17, 1932 Muchow graduated Nichols Intermediate School (reported in the Evanston Review, June 2, 1932). Four years later she was an Evanston Township High School graduate (below).
Phyllis Muchow, Freshman, LA—“I think Northwestern needs a campus eating-place. Three blocks is too far to go for a coke or a sandwich between classes, and it is usually then that we feel the need for new energy.”At some point Muchow transferred to the National College of Education where she graduated in 1940. The class prophecy said “Muchow will be a veterinary.”
According to the 1940 census Muchow lived with her parents and siblings at the same address in Evanston.
In the early 1940s Muchow moved to New York City. Trina Robbins’ Pretty in Ink (2013) published a photograph of her, holding the September 1942Esquire, at Coney Island.
Muchow was an editorial associate at Coronet magazine. Her name appeared in the staff box from December 1943 to August 1945. One of the editors was Bernard Geis. The managing editor was Arnold Gingrich who was a co-founder of Esquire magazine.
From June to December 1946 Muchow produced Taffy for Timely’s Miss America magazine. Her artwork can be viewed in the following issues: June, August (below), September, November and December. A checklist of Muchow’s Taffy is at the Grand Comics Database. Muchow’s Taffy was mentioned in Trina Robbins’ A Century of Women Cartoonists (1993).
Muchow was counted in her father’s household in the 1950 census. The Muchows lived at the same Evanston address. Muchow was a journalist at a publishing company.
At some point Muchow returned to New York. Her contributions to Esquire have not been cataloged.
On February 2, 1957 Muchow and Bruce Williamson married in Greenwich, Connecticut.
The following year they sailed to England and arrived on August 2, 1958. They planned to visit for twelve days.
Around 1960 Muchow’s daughter, Stephanie, was born. Stephanie wrote about her mother in the 2018 post, Supplies at Hand.
Muchow’s former husband passed away on October 6, 1998.
On June 17, 2013 Muchow passed away in Alameda, California. Her obituary appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Phyllis Williamson passed away peacefully in Alameda on June 17, 2013. She was born Phyllis Muchow in Evanston, Illinois. After graduating from Northwestern University, she worked as a writer and editor for many publications including Esquire, Time, and Forbes until her retirement at age 81. Phyllis lived in Greenwich Village from the late 1940’s until 2009. She had many fascinating stories to tell. She is survived by her daughter Stephanie (Joseph McGuire), grandsons Henry and Ethan, brothers Gordon and Johnny, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her former husband, film critic Bruce Williamson, parents William and Lillian Muchow, and brother Ralph Muchow.
Phyllis was a passionate devotee of art, history and culture, who loved collecting rocks and shells on the beaches of Montauk and Nantucket Island. A private family memorial will be held at a future date in Nantucket, MA.
Comics: Zena Brody, Assistant Editor and Editor
The 1930 United States Census counted Brody (line 67) as the only child of Sam Friedland, a fur salesman, and Betty Rosen who married on April 2, 1927 in Manhattan, New York City. Both were Russian immigrants. The family lived in Brooklyn at 3094 Darby Street.
In the 1940 census, Brody (line 56), her parents and sister, Gloria, were Brooklyn residents at 219 Brightwater Court. Brody was a student at David A Boody Junior High School in Brooklyn. The school’s yearbook, The Beacon, June 1940, said “Zina Friedland” was an honor roll student with perfect attendance. The name of Brody’s high school is not known.
According to the 1950 census, Brody (line 8) lived with her parents at the same place in Brooklyn. Her occupation was assistant magazine editor. In 1949 she earned $1,650 working 26 weeks. Evidently Brody started, in mid-1949, at DC Comics and assisted Whitney Ellsworth who was editor of the romance titles.
In Alter Ego #26, July 2003, Irwin Donenfeld and Julius Schwartz were interviewed by Mark Evanier and Robert Beerbohm. On the subject of romance comics, Schwartz recalled DC’s first romance title, Romance Trail, whose first issue was cover dated July-August 1949. It sold well. Donenfeld said he hired Brody to develop more romance titles. The next three were Girls’ Love Stories #1, August-September 1949; Secret Hearts #1, September-October 1949; and Girls’ Romances #1, February-March 1950. These titles listed Whitney Ellsworth as the editor in the indicia. Brody eventually became editor.
Brody’s engagement was announced in The Michigan Alumnus, May 12, 1951.
Zena Friedland, ’48, an editor for National Publications in New York, is engaged to Eugene Brody, ’47, A.M. ’48, who is studying at Long Island University Medical School. They plan to be married in June.Eugene Albert Brody was born on April 19, 1927 in Brooklyn. The couple obtained a marriage license in Manhattan on June 19, 1951. The wedding was on June 24, 1951.
The 1956 Manhattan voter register listed Brody, a housewife, as a Democrat at 19 East 98th Street. In the previous year, according to the register, she was a housewife in Brooklyn at 100 Lefferts Avenue. On his blog, Todd Klein said Brody gave birth to her first child in 1955. Her children were Robert, Ellen and Paul. In 2013 The New York Times, published a story about Robert by his wife Karen.
In 1964 Brody and Ruth Lembeck wrote and copyrighted their musical comedy, Call Me Mother. Four years later Lembeck thanked Brody in 380 Part-Time Jobs for Women. In her 1973 book, Job Ideas for Today’s Woman, Lembeck wrote
To the Memory of Zena Brody who was with me this time around, too.Brody passed away on July 12, 1971 according to the New York State Death Index at Ancestry.com. The same date was published in The Michigan Alumnus, April 1973. I believe Find a Grave had the wrong month, June 12, 1971. Brody was laid to rest at Mount Lebanon Cemetery.
TwoMorrows, in Alter Ego, John Romita mentioned working with Zena Brody
Comics: Stephen Palmisano, Unknown Letterer
Creator: Mon Randall, Cartoonist and Illustrator
California School of Mechanical Arts
San Francisco, California
Lettering and Typography: Labels, Part 2
#150, January 15, 1940
Typography: Lubalin, Smith, Carnase Typefaces
Comics: Frank Vina, Unknown Letterer
Street Scene: Life-size Lowercase g
Lettering: Theater Posters in The Federal Illustrator
Spring 1930
Article by Gene Hundredmark
Comics: A Few Details About Jack Keller, Artist and Writer
Keller attended West Reading High School. The Reading Eagle, May 10, 1940, said the art department exhibit included pen drawings by Keller. According to the Eagle, May 29, 1940, Keller was one of fifty students who graduated last evening.
On June 30, 1942, Keller signed his draft card. His address was unchanged. He was a self-employed cartoonist. His description was five feet seven inches, 130 pounds, with blue eyes and auburn hair.
In 1942 Keller went to New York and sold his first comic book feature, “The Whistler Strikes”, which appeared in War Stories #5 from Dell Comics. Dr. Michael J. Vassallo said
Keller was now living in New York City full time at the 34th street YMCA and his quarters were cramped and tiny.Keller found work with Busy Arnold at Quality Comics. He also did backgrounds on Lou Fine’s The Spirit when Will Eisner was away during the war. Clients included DC, Fawcett, Fiction House, Hillman, Lev Gleason and others.
Keller’s father passed away on January 29, 1947. His obituary appeared in the Eagle, January 30, 1947.
Keller’s engagement to Phyllis Ann Bolig, was announced in the Eagle, September 15, 1949.
In 1950, Keller saw Stan Lee and started doing horror, war and romance stories. Keller started on Kid Colt in 1953. An overview of his career is at Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999. The Grand Comics Database has a checklist of his credits.
The Eagle, February 25, 1951, said Keller, 28, and Phyllis A. Bolig, 20, obtained a marriage license. They married on March 3. The Eagle said
... The bride is a graduate of Shillington High School while the bridegroom is a graduate of West Reading High. He is employed as a cartoonist with the Timely Comics, in New York.Their first child, Richard Jack Keller, was born on October 3, 1953 in Reading.
When work from Marvel decreased, Keller found a job at a car dealership. The salesmen of Morganstern Chevrolet were pictured in an advertisement in the Eagle, January 24, 1958. Keller is in the bottom row, second from left.
Gradually Keller was getting more assignments from Marvel. The same image of Keller appeared in the 1964 annual, Marvel Tales #1, which featured Marvel’s staff. His Marvel credits are here. Keller was best known for Kid Colt.
Keller’s art was among the exhibits at the Reading Public Museum and Art Gallery in March 1965. Also included were works by Milton Caniff, LeRoy A. Gensler and Kenard Fischer, both Reading newspaper cartoonists. The Eagle, March 8, 1965, said nearly 1,500 people attended the first day.
By 1972, Keller was employed at the car dealer, Marshall Chevrolet. The company went out of business in early January 1982.
In September 2000, Keller was a guest at Golden Eagle Comic Con 1 in Kutztown, Pennsylvania.
Keller passed away on January 2, 2003. An obituary appeared in the Eagle, January 3, 2003.
Jack R. Keller, retired illustrator of comic booksObituaries were published in The Comics Journal #251, March 2003, and Alter Ego #23, April 2003.
Jack R. Keller, a retired comic book artist, writer and creator, died Jan. 2 in St. Joseph Medical Center, where he had been a patient since Dec. 17.
Keller, 80, of Brighton Avenue, Pennside, was a free-lance cartoonist since 1941 and illustrated Kid Colt Outlaw for Marvel Comics from 1952 to 1964, the most prolific run for one strip in comic book history.
He also did hot rods and racing cars for Charlton Comics from 1958 until his retirement in 1973. Keller was considered by other professionals as the icon of auto racing/hot rod comics.
Keller also wrote and illustrated many other characters such as the Sheriff of Tombstone, Billy the Kid, Cheyenne Kid and illustrated many war comic stories.
Following his retirement, he was employed as a salesman by Marshall Chevrolet, Reading, until 1983 when the dealership closed. He was last employed as a part-time salesman by Fun Stuff Hobbies and Kiddie Kar Kollectibles, both of Reading, last working in June.
Born in Reading, he was a son of the late Reuben and Catherine (Horning) Keller.
Keller was a 1940 graduate of West Reading High School.
He was a member of the Community Evangelical Church, Lower Heidelberg Township.
Surviving are two sons, Richard J., Mount Penn and Robert J., Portland, Conn.
Other survivors include a sister, Vivian (Keller) Riegel, Sinking Spring; and a grandson.
He was predeceased by a son Scott M. Keller, in 1988.
Services will be Monday at 11 a.m. in Edward J. Kuhn Funeral Home Inc., West Reading. Burial will be in Forest Hills Memorial Park, Reiffton.
Comicartville Library, Jack Keller Remembered
Doc Lehman, Summer, Race Cars & Comic Books
Comics Buyer’s Guide #894, January 4, 1991, Hotrodding in two dimensions
Comics: Rick Keller, Letterer
While in high school, Keller lettered some of his father’s comic book work for Charlton Comics. He was fourteen or fifteen years old when he lettered the story, “Pursuit of the Transparent Man”, in World of Wheels #19, February 1968.
Evidently Keller’s last lettering job was “Pruning the Pros!” in Hot Rods and Racing Cars #114, May 1972. His credits are at the Grand Comics Database.
In June 1971, Keller graduated from Mount Penn High School.
The Reading Eagle, August 29, 1971, said Keller was to continue his education at Pennsylvania State University’s Berk Campus. According to the Eagle, March 4, 1976, Keller earned a Bachelor of Science degree in health and physical education.
The Eagle, April 3, 1978, said Keller was a teacher at Berks County Intermediate Unit. Keller was the Mount Penn Playground leader and volleyball coach of the Mount Penn Junior Coed Team, which was county champions in 1978, as reported in the Eagle, August 11, 1978.
Keller passed away on April 20, 2022. An obituary appeared in the Eagle, April 22, 2022, and repeated at Kuhn Funeral Home & Crematory, and Legacy.com.
Richard “Rick” J. Keller, 68, passed away on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 in his Reading residence after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer.Keller was laid to rest at Forest Hills Memorial Park.
Born in Reading, he was a son of the late Jack and Phyllis (Bolig) Keller. Rick graduated from Mt. Penn High School and The Pennsylvania State University. He funded his college education by lettering comic books for his father. Rick was employed as a Special Education/Physical Education teacher by the Reading School District and Berks I.U. for 37 years until his retirement in 2012.
Many will remember Rick as a Mt. Penn playground leader, a baseball and volleyball mentor as well as timekeeper at Mt. Penn High School basketball games. He was also a junior varsity soccer coach. Rick was a 2015 inductee in the Mt. Penn Athletics Hall of Fame.
Rick was active as a volleyball referee in PIAA, USAV, NAGWS and community co-ed volleyball. For many years, he participated in street hockey, volleyball, slow-pitch softball and golf. He enjoyed playing golf until the very end.
Rick liked to renovate his home and create a beautiful outdoor living space. He regularly attended the Trans Am Nationals and won awards for his 2002 Pontiac Firehawk. He was a Three Stooges fan as well as an avid “Leave It to Beaver” devotee.
He was a life-long American patriot and a constitutional scholar.
Rick is survived by brother, Robert Keller and his wife Lynn of Portland, CT; nephew, Michael Keller and his wife Jacqueline of Farmington, CT; and cousin, Philip Riegel and wife Kathy of Pottstown. He was predeceased by a brother, Scott Keller.
Visitation will be Wednesday, April 27, 2022 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Edward J. Kuhn Funeral Home, Inc. 739 Penn Avenue West Reading, PA 19611.
In lieu of flowers, please plant trees in your community and/or support youth sports and animal rescue groups in your area.
Edward J. Kuhn Funeral Home, Inc. is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences may be recorded at www.kuhnfuneralhomes.com.
Lettering: Names in Script
Professor G.A. Gaskell
Platt R. Spencer, Master Penman
John D. Williams, Master Penman
C.P. Zaner, Master Penman
E. W. Bloser, Master Penman
Lloyd M. Kelchner, Master Penman
Comics: Jill Elgin, Artist and Writer
... Mary Poore and Chick were married in August, 1919. They joined other married undergraduate couples in Princeton in the fall of 1920. He received his C.E. degree in June, 1921, and the Graduate E.E. degree in June 1922. He worked for the New York Telephone Company, then the Ohio Bell Telephone organization, returning to his home town of Columbus, Ohio in 1923. ...According to the 1920 United States Census, Elgin’s parents lived with her maternal grandparents, George and Belle Poore, in Columbus at 232 South Monroe Avenue. Elgin’s parents were at the same address in the 1924 city directory. The 1927 directory listed her parents at 247 North Remington Road in Bexley, a suburb of Columbus.
The 1930 census counted Elgin (line 92), her parents and sisters, Susanne and Charlene, at the same Bexley address. Her father was an electrical engineer.
The Columbus Dispatch, October 29, 1932, mentioned Elgin as a student at Cassingham Avenue School. The Dispatch, August 2, 1931, said Elgin was a Camp Fire Girl.
By the mid-1930s, Elgin (line 80) and her family were residents of Xenia, Ohio at 241 North King Street, according to the 1940 census.
The Dispatch, August 25, 1940, listed Elgin’s state fair awards:
Special Students ClassificationThe Dispatch, August 23, 1941, said Elgin won three state fair ceramics awards.
Any Subject—Any Medium—First, Kathleen Elgin, Xenia; ...
Sculpture—First, Kathleen Elgin, Xenia; ...
Unclassified—Fourth, Kathleen Elgin, Xenia; ...
Design—First, Kathleen Elgin, Xenia;...
Kathleen Elgin, Xenia, three firsts for “St. Catherine,” in stained glass, tile tableware and a pottery punch bowlElgin’s father signed his World War II draft card on February 16, 1942. His address was 241 North King Street in Xenia, Ohio. Sometime later, the address was updated to R.R. 8, Shakertown Pike, Dayton, Ohio. The Princeton Alumni Weekly said
... He served as a Major in the Air Force in World War II. Chick was an Engineer for Lindly and Company of Mineola, N.Y. from the end of the war until his retirement in 1964. All Engineering pursuits held a keen interest for him, and he was at his best when engineering problems were involved. The Elgins built a lovely home in Hampton Bays, N.Y. after retirement, where Mary and Chick were very happy. ...Some of the books by Elgin included a brief biography. Science Fiction & Readers Guide (1953) said
Jill Elgin enjoys people, books, and dogs. She was brought up in Baltimore [sic] and studied at the Maryland Institute of Art [sic] and at the Grand Central School of Art in New York City. She has done a number of portraits and has illustrated several children’s books. She likes to travel throughout the United States, especially in the West.The bio in The First Book of Norse Legends (1956) said
Kathleen Elgin began to draw when she was five years old, and she has never stopped since then. She studied at the Dayton, Ohio, Art Institute for two years, then went to work in a stained glass studio. During World War II she illustrated technical manuals for the U.S. Air Force. After the war she moved to New York City, where she studied at the American School of Design.Another bio, in Billions of Years of You (1967), said
Today Miss Elgin divides her career between advertising and book illustrating. She illustrated The First Book of Japan, The First Book of Poetry, and The Science Book of the Human Body. She both wrote and illustrated The First Book of Mythology.
Kathleen Elgin, who has illustrated over thirty-five books is also an author. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, she studied at the Dayton Art Institute in Ohio and the School of General Studies, Columbia University. A wintertime resident of New York City, Miss Elgin makes her home on New York’s Fire Island during the summer months.Illustrators of Children’s Books, 1957–1966 (1968) said
After graduating from high school in Xenia, Ohio, Kathleen Elgin attended the Dayton Art Institute for two years, studying in Decorative Arts, her interest developing in stained glass. Later she worked in a glass studio for two years on the commission of a History of Medicine window for the Mayo Clinic. During the Second World War she executed technical manuals for the Air Force. She came to New York in 1945 and began free lancing in advertising, turning after six years to the field of book illustration. Since then, she has written as well as illustrated several books. Miss Elgin, who works primarily in black and white, describes her work as representational and decorative. She notes that in the last ten years her style has changed from pure line to half tone, and that she has perfected her dry brush technique. In 1962, she had a one-man show of her dry brush drawings. Miss Elgin lives on Fire Island, New York.According to the bio in The Human Body: The Skeleton (1973), Elgin came to New York in 1944.
Before Elgin began work for a living, she needed a Social Security number. In Ohio, Elgin filed an application in August 1942. She moved to New York and quickly found an assignment. Elgin’s first book, Gay Legends of the Saints, was published in November 1942 by Sheed and Ward.
Green Hornet Comics #22, January 1945, Blonde Bomber
Speed Comics #37, May 1945, Girl Commandos (Original art is here. The cover of War Sirens and Liberty Belles #1, 1991, used part of the splash page and reprinted four of her Girl Commandos stories.)
Elgin’s work on Girl Commandos and the Black Cat was mentioned in Women and the Comics (1985); The Encyclopedia of American Comics (1990), here and here; A Century of Women Cartoonists (1993); The Comic Book Reader’s Companion: An A-to-Z Guide to Everyone’s Favorite Art Form (1993); The Great Women Cartoonists (2001); 500 Great Comic Book Action Heroes (2002); Comic Book Encyclopedia (2004); The Superhero Book: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Comic-Book Icons and Hollywood Heroes (2004); The Ten-Cent Plague (2008); Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy Volume 1: Overviews (2009); Divas, Dames & Daredevils: Lost Heroines of Golden Age Comics (2013); Pretty in Ink: North American Women Cartoonists 1896–2010 (2013); Comics Through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas, Volume 1: 1800–1960 (2014); and Babes in Arms: Women in the Comics During the Second World War (2017).
Elgin’s Girl Commandos art was included in the exhibition, “Wonder Women, on Page and Off”, which opened at the Women’s Museum of California. The exhibit was curated by Trina Robbins from her personal collection and other artists. The show ran from June 7, 2013 to September 1, 2013. In 2014 the exhibit traveled to Pittsburgh’s ToonSeum. The Associated Press article is here.
The 1950 census counted Elgin (line 25) as a Manhattan, New York City resident in the Ansonia Hotel at 2109 Broadway. She was a freelance book illustrator. Her roommate was Bernice Shepard. The Dispatch, March 6, 1955, said Elgin was Shepard’s maid of honor. Elgin’s parents and sister, Charlene, resided in Northport, New York at 168 Bayview.
Elgin’s books were credited to either Jill Elgin or Kathleen Elgin. In the early 1950s, some of her books include
For a brief time, Elgin was art editor of A.D. magazine. The Summer 1951 issue said
As this issue goes to press the editorial staff welcomes a new member. Miss Jill Elgin, one of New York’s better commercial artists, becomes our Art Editor. You have seen her work in our previous issues. “Now,” she says, “I intend to introduce the best art talent I can find to the readers of A. D.” She tells us she will welcome correspondence with young artists. Miss Elgin graduated from the Grand [Central] Art School and the Art Career School, specializing in illustration and portrait painting.Elgin illustrated the articles, “A Sense of Belonging” and “Jean Cocteau, The Frivolous Prince”.
In 1952 Elgin visited Europe. She was aboard the ship Nieuw Amsterdam when it departed Havre, France on May 28. One week later, she arrived in New York on June 4.
In the 1950s, Elgin lived on the southeast corner of Ocean Parkway and Superior Street in Ocean Bay Park, New York. Some Manhattan, New York City telephone directories are available at Ancestry.com. Elgin was listed in directories, from 1957 to 1960, at Midway Walk, Ocean Bay Park.
Elgin’s books from 1953 to 1959 include
1953: The Hungriest Robin; It Was All Very Strange; The Mysterious Treasure of Cloud Rock; The Real Book About Bugs, Insects and Such; and Stories of Today
1954: A Dangerous Day for Mrs. Doodlepunk; The First Book of Poetry; Land of Gray Gold: Lead Mining in Wisconsin; and Mixups and Fixups
1955: 365 Bedtime Stories; Best Friends; Dinah Shore Coloring Book; Finding Answers; A Crown for Carly; The First Book of Mythology; Little Men; Little Women; and The Science Book of the Human Body; and Ten-in-One Coloring Book
1956: All Ready for Summer; Away I, Go; The First Book of Norse Legends; Guess and Color Coloring Book ; We Live on a Farm; and A Wish for Billy
1957: All Ready for School; Speckles Goes to School; and Toys to Color
1958: Five-in-One Coloring Book; Little Schoolhouse
1959: Plants That Heal
Elgin’s career overview at Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999 includes unconfirmed employment at the studio of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in the 1950s.
1960: ABC 1-2-3 Dot-to-Dot Coloring Book; Fairy Tales to Read Aloud; Farm Fun Coloring Book; Getting to Know India; Getting to Know Israel; How to Grow House Plants; and The Story of Archaeology in the Americas
1961: ABC 1-2-3, Color and Follow the Dots; ABC Science Series 3; The Adventures of Silly Billy; All Ready for Summer; From This to That; and Underwater Zoos
1962: Attorneys’ Dictionary of Medicine; Farmyard Friends to Color; Grandpa’s Wonderful Glass; James Whitcomb Riley, Hoosier Boy; The Language of Animals; Living in Places Near and Far; My Circus Coloring Book; and The Story of Life: Plants and Animals Through the Ages
1963: Bible Pictures to Color; Ham the Astrochimp; How Animals Live Together; and See This Little Line?
1964: Nun: A Gallery of Sisters; and The Secret Story of Pueblo Bonito
1965: Keeping Your Friends
1966: The Beginnings of the Church; English This Way Book 7; and In the Steps of the Great American Zoologist: William Temple Hornaday
1967: Billions of Years of You; The Human Body: The Brain; Human Body: The Ear; and Human Body: The Eye
1968: Alphabets to Color; The Great Reaching Out: How Living Beings Communicate; The Human Body: The Hand; More Reading 2; and The Quakers: The Religious Society of Friends
1969: Ballet Coloring Book; The Female Reproductive System; The Male Reproductive System; and The Mormons, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
In 1966 Elgin was president of the Ocean Bay Property Owners Association. The Long Island Advance, July 14, 1966, said she presented a petition to the Brookhaven Town Board seeking action to “protect the residents of the beach area from excessive noises and rowdyism during the weekend.”
Elgin’s father passed away on April 21, 1967. An obituary appeared in The Long-Islander, April 27, 1967.
Elgin’s books from 1970 to the early 1980s include
1970: The Episcopalians: The Protestant Episcopal Church; The Human Body: The Respiratory System; Santa’s Paint with Water; and Simple Objects to Color
1971: The Human Body: The Glands; The Human Body: The Skin; and The Unitarians: The Unitarian Universalist Association
1972: The Ups and Downs of Drugs
1973: African Treehouse; The Human Body: The Skeleton; The Human Body: The Digestive System; and Twenty-Eight Days
1974: The Fall Down, Break a Bone, Skin Your Knee, Book; and The Human Body: The Muscles
1979: Baby Mouse Learns His ABC’s
1981: Baby Mouse Goes Shopping
1982: Baby Mouse Goes Searching
Elgin retired in Florida. Her illustration, “Wreck Ashore!”, was reproduced in The Florida Keys Volume 3: The Wreckers (2001).
Field Guide to Wild American Pulp Artists
Four-Color Shadows, Girl Commandos
Lambiek Comiclopedia
Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999
Heritage Auctions, original art
Lettering & Decoration: Bertsch & Cooper
Comics: Superman Days
In The Great Superman Book (1978), Michael Fleisher described the Superman Day celebrated in Metropolis in November 1962 and September 1965.
Another Superman Day was reported in The Monster Times #26, September 1973. The chosen day, January 21, was celebrated in Metropolis, Illinois.
Anatomy of a Logo: Superman
Comics: A Few Details About Len Leone, Letterer, Assistant Art Editor and Art Director
The 1930 United States Census counted Leone (line 16), his mother and brother in the household of his maternal grandparents, Joseph and Vincencia Purpura. The family lived in Brooklyn at 312 8th Street.
In the 1940 census, Leone’s maternal grandmother was the head of the household. His mother was a stenographer. Leone (line 77) had completed two years of high school. They were Brooklyn residents at 316 80th Street.
The Steranko History of Comics 2 (1972) said
Fawcett still maintained its own staff for several years, which included letterers like Al Jetter, his wife Charlotte, Martin De Muth, Angelo Grasso, Ben Oda, and Leonard Leone (who began correcting lettering at Fawcett and eventually became vice president and art director at Bantam Books).The Fawcett Companion: The Best of FCA, Fawcett Collectors of America (2001) said Robert Laughlin and Leone, in 1946, worked on Fawcett’s comic books. Laughlin said
Leonard and I were just doing menial jobs, such as making changes in word balloons. We did content pages and advertisements—like those for the Captain Marvel Club—but it was all layout and paste-up work, with no original artwork created. Those ads were all done on a freelance basis. Lettering stories was our main task. The editors were always making changes in the copy.On September 23, 1947, commercial artist Leone and receptionist Loretta E. Quinn obtained, in Brooklyn, marriage license number 20997. They married on October 5, 1947. At the time, Leone was a Brooklyn resident at 141 93rd Street.
The same address was recorded in the 1950 census. Leone (line 1) and his wife had a son, Leonard Jr. Also living with them was Leone’s mother and brother. Leone was a commercial artist.
In 1953, Leone was a member of the Salmagundi Club.
At some point Leone moved from Fawcett’s comic books to its magazine division. By 1953 he was assistant art editor at True the Man’s Magazine. Al Allard was its art director. Allard’s profile is here in the sidebar.
In a few months, Leone became art director at Bantam Books. A stylistic change in paperback covers was noted in Quote Magazine, October 16, 1955, which said
... Publishers are bringing out better books in greater variety, and garbing them with more concern for the content. Leonard Leone, art director of Bantam Books, reflects the current thought in his discussion of a new cover design for Somerset Maughham’s Stranger in Paris. ‘None of this bosomy, tight-dress stuff,” he said. “This is a good novel and the new cover should demonstrate that fact.” ...The change was also reported in Art Direction, December 1955. The July 1957 issue of Art Direction featured Leone’s article about paperback covers.
“About 15 years ago, when Saul David hired me as art director,” says Leone, “everybody was buying emotional, highly realistic, low-key cover art. We decided to move the other way. We decided to buy airy, light things—not yet the white cover. Often when an illustrator would come by with sketches, we liked the lightness and airiness of the sketches and decided to shoot directly from them. Of course, we would pay the full price of a finished painting. This was a constant source of amazement to some of the illustrators. They couldn’t quite believe it. ...
Leonard Leone actually knew what he was doing. He was the first really articulate art director I ever worked for. He actually came up with concepts; most art directors didn’t. He always had an idea and would act it out for you. He was very design-oriented, so it reduced the work load on my poor brains. It was no longer really me anymore—it was me trying to be something to suit Leone.Another memorable cover was Jaws. The New York Times Magazine, April 21, 1974, wrote about the making of the book and cover. The Print article, “The Making of Jaws’ Iconic Book Covers”, showed the various covers. Both articles did not mention Leone. Leone got his due credit in Robin Adams Sloan’s syndicated column which appeared in numerous newspapers including the Evening Independent (St. Petersburg, Florida), September 27, 1975.
On August 23, 1989, Leone’s mother passed away.
Leonard P. Leone(Leone should not to be confused with Leonard Leone, of Niagara Falls, New York, who studied advertising design at Pratt Institute and graduated in 1953.)
March 11, 1924 – July 1, 2013
Leone, Leonard P. on July 1, 2013, 89 years of age, of Northport. Beloved husband of the late Loretta. Loving father of Leonard & Carmella, Robert & Laura, David & Theresa, and Jeffrey & Maureen. Fond grandfather of Five. Reposing Nolan & Taylor-Howe Funeral Home, 5 Laurel Avenue, Northport, Wednesday 10 AM–12 Noon. Service at the Funeral Home at Noon. Interment, with Military Honors, Calverton National Cemetery.
The Paperbound Book in America
Who Is Who in Publishing
The Business of Publishing: A PW Anthology
The Time of Their Lives: The Golden Age of Great American Book Publishers, Their Editors, and Authors
Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary
Leone and family members mentioned in the Northport Journal and The Long-Islander