Comics: A Few Details About Les Zakarin, Inker

Les Zakarin was born Lester Sam Zakarin on March 17, 1929, in Brooklyn, New York. The birth information is from the New York, New York Birth Index, at Ancestry.com, and Army draft card. Zakarin’s full name was on his Social Security application. 

In the 1930 United States Census, Zakarin was the only child of Alex, a Russian immigrant, and Mollie. They lived in Brooklyn at 334 Bradford Street. 

Lines 64–66

The 1940 census said Zakarin was the oldest of three boys. The Zakarins were Brooklyn residents at the same address. 

Lines 25–29

Zakarin attended the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan and graduated in 1947. His classmates included Jon D’Agostino, Hal Fromm, John Romita and Herbert Tauss. 

The Palette yearbook

On March 24, 1947, Zakarin signed his draft card. His Brooklyn address was 1398 East 49th Street. He was employed at the Pyramid Belt Co. in Manhattan. Zakarin’s description was five feet seven inches, 130 pounds, with brown eyes and hair.

In Alter Ego, #9 July 2001, Roy Thomas interviewed John Romita who explained how he got into comics. 

RT: You mentioned at the 1995 Stan Lee Roast in Chicago how in ’49 you started out penciling for a guy who was really an inker, but who pretended to Stan that he was penciling material which you ghosted for him. Don’t you think it's time you finally told us who that artist was?

ROMITA: The reason I never gave his name was, I didn’t want to embarrass him. His name was Lester Zakarin. I met him for the first time in forty years in 1999, at a convention in New York, and he told me he wasn’t offended by any of the interviews I’d given. I’d always say that this artist I was ghosting for would tell Stan he could pencil, but actually I’d do the penciling for him, and he just inked my pencils.

But Stan was one of the few editors who’d ask guys to make changes. And when he asked Lester Zakarin to change something, he would panic. So I would go into the city with him and I’d wait at the New York Public Library, which was very close to where Timely was, at the Empire State Building. Zakarin would get the corrections from Stan and tell him, “I can’t draw in front of people. It has to be absolutely quiet. I’m going to a friend’s office. I’ll do these corrections and bring them back in the afternoon.” Then he’d meet me at the library, and I’d do the corrections, and then he’d go back to Stan. [laughs]

Zakarin’s comics credits are at the Grand Comics Database and Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999. 

According to the 1950 census, Zakarin was a cartoonist at a magazine publisher. He earned $2,000 in 1949. Zakarin lived with his parents in Brooklyn at 1398 East 48th Street.

Lines 1–4; Zakarin’s father was on the previous sheet

Zakarin, a registered voter, was a Democrat. 

In 1952 Zakarin and Iris F. Schulman obtained marriage license number 16084 in Manhattan.

During the Korean War, Zakarin was listed in the 1953 Augusta, Georgia city directory. 

Art Director & Studio News, September 1954, said Zakarin was a winner in the Annual June Exhibition of the Cartoonists and Illustrators School. 

The 1954 Brooklyn telephone directory listed Zakarin and his wife at 642 East 92 Street. 

According to the Board of Elections in the City of New York, List of Enrolled Voters for the Year 1956–1957, Borough of Brooklyn, Zakarin and his wife were Democrats who resided at 446 Kingston Avenue. The 1962 Brooklyn directory had the same address. 

A 1969 issue of the University of the State of New York Bulletin listed Zakarin in the category of Registered Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. 

Zakarin, Lester Samuel (PE), 1841 Central Park Ave, Yonkers

The American Society of Civil Engineers Directory 1972 included Zakarin. 

Zakarin, Lester S. (62, A.M. 62) Proj Engr, Malcolm Pirnie Inc, 226 Westchester Ave, White Plains NY, 10604, (1853 Central Park Ave, Yonkers NY) (28) CO SM

The photograph below is from an event in the early 1970s. (Visit the Tripod site of Yosi Jeff Zakarin: click Zakarins Unite!!! A Family History Site; click Photographs; click Historical Photographs From 1941 to 1980, automatic download.)

In 1994 Zakarin was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. 

Zakarin passed away on January 30, 2003, in New York. He was laid to rest at Mount Ararat Cemetery. 

Related Post

John Romita Sr., Artist and Art Director

Further Reading

Alter Ego #27, August 2003, preview has first two pages of Zakarin’s interview

School of Industrial Art’s Cartoonists, 1939–1960

Lambiek Comiclopedia

(Next post on Monday: The Forbidden Planet Halloween Ads, 1982–1989)

 

 

Comics: A Few Details About John Romita Sr., Artist and Art Director

John Victor Romita Sr. was born on January 24, 1930, in Brooklyn, New York, according to the New York, New York Birth Index at Ancestry.com.

The 1930 United States Census was enumerated in April. Romita was three-months-old and the first child of Vito, an Italian immigrant, and Minnie. They were Brooklyn residents at 1414 East 13th Street. 

Lines 40–42

The 1940 Census said Romita was the oldest of five siblings. The family lived at 242 Ellery Street in Brooklyn. 

Lines 30–36

Romita attended the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan and graduated in 1947. His classmates included Jon D’Agostino, Hal Fromm, Herbert Tauss and Les Zakarin. In a 2003 interview, Romita mentioned two instructors, Howard Simon and Ben Clemons. 

The Palette yearbook

The Romita family resided in Brooklyn at 229 Ellery Street, apartment 1. Romita was an “artist helper”. 

Lines 10–16

In Comic Book Marketplace, #84, August 2001, Romita said he served during the Korean War starting in 1951. After basic training, he was assigned to Fort Dix where he produced artwork and posters.

In 1952, Romita and Virginia G. Bruno obtained marriage license number 25662 in Manhattan. 

In The Comics Journal #252, May 2003, Romita said he was discharged from the Army in July 1953. 

The Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series, Volume 9, Part 1, Number 1, Books and Pamphlets, January–June 1955 had the following entry. 

Cooley, Donald G.

What is a friend? 15 p. Appl. author: John Victor Romita, © Ticonderoga Publishers, division of Christmas Club, a Corp.; 13Apr55; A189633.

Related Post

A Few Details About Les Zakarin, Inker

 

Further Reading

Grand Comics Database

Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999

Lambiek Comiclopedia

Cartoonist PROfiles, #39, September 1978, Interview, Part 1

Cartoonist PROfiles, #40, December 1978, Interview, Part 2

Comic Book Artist #6, Fall 1999, John Romita Sr.: Spidey’s Man (excerpt) 

Alter Ego #9, July 2001, A Candid Conversation With Marvel Artist/Art Director Supreme John Romita

Comic Book Marketplace, #84, August 2001, John Romita Sr. the Versatile Virtuoso

Editor & Publisher, November 11, 1976, Spider-Man debuts

John Romita, Sr. (2006)

Comic Book, June 13, 2023

Comic Book Resources, June 13, 2023

Hollywood Reporter, June 13, 2023

News from ME, June 13, 2023

The New York Times, June 14, 2023

Wikipedia

School of Industrial Art’s Cartoonists, 1939–1960

(Next post on Monday: William Powell Schoonmaker, Illustrator, Designer and Lettering Artist)

Comics: Hank Chapman and Bonnie Hano’s Marriage, an Amazing Fantasy

Alter Ego #18, October 2002 published Jim Amash’s interview with Stan Goldberg who said Hank Chapman married Bonnie Hano (see page 12). Did they really marry each other? 

An excellent article, by Ger Apeldoorn, about Hank Chapman is at The Comics Detective website. It was posted in 2010. Bonnie Hano has a brief profile at Women in Comics Wiki. She passed away in April 2022. Here’s additional information about Chapman and Hano to help answer the question.

Henry Peter Chapman was born Henry Csepielewski on May 3, 1915, in Utica, New York, according to the New York State Birth Index at Ancestry.com.

Over the decades, there were various spellings of Chapman’s birth surname.

The 1915 New York state census said Chapman was the youngest of two sons born to Martin and Adeline Ciapaskely, both Russian immigrants. They lived in Utica at 47 Cottage Place. His father was a shoemaker.

The 1920 United States Census recorded the Cypel family in Utica at 1217 Lincoln Avenue. It’s not clear if they were related to Cypel family preceding them. 

According to the 1925 New York state census, Chapman, his mother, brother and sister were Utica residents at 610 Cottage Place. The status of his father is not known. Their surname was spelled Ciepolowski. 

Chapman’s mother and brother were listed on the previous sheet. 

The 1930 census recorded the Czepelewska family in Utica at 1225 Francis Street. Hano makes her first appearance in this census. 

Bonnie Hano was born Bonnie Abraham on September 12, 1926 in Sioux City, Iowa, according to the Iowa Birth Index at Ancestry.com. Her parents were Leon Abraham and Rose Gelfand (not Gelfund), both Romanian immigrants.

In the 1930 census, Hano was the youngest of two sisters. They were Sioux City residents at 213 West Second Street. Her father was a presser at a dry cleaner.

According to the 1940 census, the Abrahams were in Sioux City at 1117 West 11th Street. 

In Utica, the census counted the Chepman family at 430 Mandeville Street. Chapman worked as a weaver at a cotton mill.  

In the early 1940s, Chapman signed his World War II draft card. His address was the same. His mother’s surname was spelled Cepelewski. Chapman’s description was six feet, 170 pounds, with brown eyes and hair. Chapman was a photographer when he enlisted on January 3, 1942 in the Army Air Corps. His veteran’s files said he was discharged on September 19, 1945.

Chapman got his training in Sarasota, Florida. He wrote for the U.S. Army Air Corps Field News newspaper that was printed in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Below is a page with five articles and a poem by Chapman. 

The Service Men’s Club column in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, November 30, 1943, said

Now that the Christmas season is so near we at the Service Men’s club are beginning to get cards and letters from our boys and girls from all points of the compass.

Today we receive the Christmas card gotten out by the “ol’ 97th Bombardment Group”, from S/Sgt. Henry P. Chapman, 12044277, Headquarters, 97 Bombardment Group, APO 520, New York city. Says Sgt. Chapman: “Africa, Yuletide Greetings, the name Sarasota will always be synonymous with unselfishness, kindness and munificence to us of the “ol’ 97th.”

While Chapman was serving in the European Theater, Hano was in high school and graduated in 1944 from Sioux City’s Central High School.

Bonnie Abraham

1944 Maroon and White yearbook

At some point, Hano and Chapman moved to New York City. When they met at the Timely/Atlas office, they were married but not to each other. 

On January 19, 1946, Bonnie Abraham and Jack Herman (not the person at Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999) obtained Brooklyn marriage license number 1491 and married that day. She used her maiden name so I believe this was her first marriage. This is notable because she was Bonnie Herman in her marriage to Arnold Hano.

Almost six months later on June 15, 1946, Chapman and Gloria F. Brady obtained Bronx marriage license number 6817. They married on or shortly after that date. The New York City marriage register for Chapman is below; the actual license and certificate are not yet available.

Based on the following timeline Chapman and Hano were never husband and wife.

Chapman enlists January 1942; serves in Europe.

Hano graduates June 1944.

Chapman discharged September 1945.

Hano marries January 1946.

Chapman marries June 1946.

The time frame was too tight for Chapman and Hano to have married and divorced. And there’s no New York record of their marriage. The Jack Kirby Collector #69, Fall 2016, published David Laurence Wilson’s interview with Hano and her husband. Here’s what she said. 

Do you know what’s so crazy? I looked up something one day, and I found on the Internet that I was Hank Chapman’s first wife. I don’t know where they ever got that. When I met Hank, he was married to Gloria, whom he called Toni, and we knew her as Toni. They became very good friends of ours. So how did I get married to Hank on the Internet? How do things like that happen? 

Stan Goldberg’s claim about their marriage had spread far and wide in books, magazines and websites.

In the 1950 census, Chapman and Gloria were residing in Queens, New York at 67-38 108th Street. He was an editor at a comic book publishing company. Hano and Jack have not yet been found. 

In the late 1940s, Hano was working for publisher Martin Goodman at Magazine Management. The 1950 Literary Market Place listed Hano as associate editor Bonnie Herman at Lion Books, Inc., and the rest of the staff that included Arnold Hano, the editor. 

They married in Greenwich, Connecticut on June 30, 1951. (In 1950 or 1951, Arnold Hano’s 1942 marriage to Marjorie Adele Mosheim ended in divorce. They had a son and daughter.)

Hano left Lion to work at Timely and assist Stan Lee who wrote a poem to her. When Chapman left Timely, Hano took over his job as production manager. 

In 1952, Hano and her husband lived at 124 East 24th Street in Manhattan. Both were members of the American Labor Party. Their address, in 1953, was 230 West 105th Street. 

Under the pseudonyms Matthew Gant and Mike Heller, Hano wrote Valley of Angry Men (1953), So I’m a Heel (1957), and The Manhunter (1957). 

Paperback Confidential: Crime Writers of the Paperback Era (2013) said 

... In 1955, Arnold Hano moved with his wife Bonnie and their daughter Laurel to Laguna Beach, California. 

Desert Magazine, February 1959, said

After a New Mexico vacation in 1952, free lance writer and photographer Henry P. Chapman quit his editorial staff job with a New York publishing house and moved West. Today an adobe in Tesuque is his home and office, and the Indians of the Tesuque Pueblo his neighbors.

Henry and his wife, Toni, have “prospected for facts and photos all over the world and in most of the 49 United States.” His article in this month’s Desert, “Rockhounding with a Camera,” tells how they gather “treasure” in the Southwest.

Chapman passed away on October 18, 1973, in New Mexico. He was laid to rest at the Santa Fe National Cemetery. A brief obituary appeared in the Santa Fe New Mexican, October 19, 1973. 

Chapman, Henry P. 58—Passed away at his home in Tesuque, Thursday afternoon following a sudden illness, veteran of World War II and a resident of Santa Fe area for the last twenty years. Survived by wife Toni. Arrangements to be announced later through Memorial Chapel. 

Hano passed away on April 18, 2022. Four days later a long obituary appeared in the Laguna Beach Independent. 

Further Reading

Grand Comics Database has a checklist of Chapman’s work.

American Legion, January 1960, “The Day I Died!” by Chapman.  The story was reprinted in Military Intelligence: Its Heroes and Legends (1987) 

Desert Magazine, various issues with Chapman’s articles, photographs or just a mention 

Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson (1995), Bonnie Hano was a family therapist.

Timely-Atlas-Comics, Martin Goodman: The Marilyn Monroe Covers, Articles and Photo Features; Arnold Hano was editor of Focus. 

Laguna Beach Independent, March 17, 2022, Laguna Beach offers fond farewell to Arnold Hano 

Time, August 15, 1955, a review of Arnold Hano’s A Day in the Bleachers

Women in Comics Posts

Jeanne Alippe, Ruth Atkinson, Olive Bailey, Valerie Barclay, Betty Bentley, Vivian Berg, Zena Brody, Jean Callahan, Helen Chu aka Duffy Mohler, Ellen Cole, Corinne Boyd Dillon, Anahid Dinkjian, Jill Elgin,

Barbara Clark Fogel, Laura E. Foster, Evelyn Gaines aka Lynn Lovelace, Merna Gamble, Gerda Gattel, Selma Meyers Gleit, Jane Krom Grammer, Anita Greene,

Bonnie Hano, Delores Heilman, Ray Hermann, Joye Hummel, Marjorie Wilkes Huntley, Grace Jacquet, Charlotte Jetter, 

Anna Kaufman, Bessie Mae Kelley, Nadine French King, Alice Kirkpatrick, Grace Kremer, Ada Levy,  Pauline Loth, Veda Lufkin,

Marion McDermott, Emma C. McKean, Tarpé Mills, Claire S. Moe, Phyllis Muchow, Lily Reneé, Ruth Roche, 

Georgette Sauterel, Marie Severin, Marcia Snyder, Lora Sprang aka Pat Gordon, Serena Summerfield, Daisy Swayze, Terry Szenics, Claire Szep, 

Alberta Tews, Peggy Zangerle

(Next post on Sunday: 1987 and 2023 Chinese New Year Greetings)

Comics: A Few Details About Artist Vic Carrabotta and His Wife, Connie Zeagler

At Ancestry.com, there is no New York City birth record for Victor S. Carrabotta on June 24, 1929. There is a New York State birth record for Salvatore V. Carabatto on June 24, 1929 in Eastchester, [Westchester County], New York. 

Carrabotta and his family have not yet been found in the 1930 United States Census. 

The 1940 census said Carrabotta, his parents Alfred and Rose, and older sister Theresa, lived in the Bronx, New York at 1246 Beach Avenue. His father was an orchestra musician and his mother worked in a WPA program. 

On February 15, 1942, Carrabotta’s father signed his World War II draft card. His address was 1382 White Plains Road in the Bronx. 

Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999 said Carrabotta attended Manhattan’s High School of Music & Art. 

Carrabotta joined the Marine Corps. At Ancestry.com, a muster roll dated October 1948 placed him with the 4th Recruit Training Battalion, Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island, South Carolina.

According to the 1950 census, Carrabotta was counted with his widow mother in the Bronx at 1436 St. Lawrence Avenue. Carrabotta’s occupation was the armed forces. He was discharged in 1951.

Carrabotta talked about his comic book career, in an interview with Jim Amash, that appeared in Alter Ego, #58, May 2006. Carrabotta said his wife, Connie, was seven to eight months pregnant when, in 1952, he met Jack Kirby who sent him to Stan Lee. Lee gave Carrabotta his first comic book job, “The House on the Hill”, in Astonishing #13, May 1952. In 1952, Carrabotta married Constance Zeagler in the Bronx. 

Zeagler was born on June 18, 1935, in Lone Star, South Carolina. She was sixteen or seventeen years old at the time of her marriage. Census records said Zeagler lived with her parents, Corbett and Julia, and sister, Emily, in Pine Grove, South Carolina. Apparently she met Carrabotta when he was a Marine. Zeagler passed away on April 14, 2020. On April 25, 2020, her granddaughter, Layla Carrabotta, lit a candle and said “I love you, grandma.” at the South Carolina Cremation website. 

The Grand Comics Database has a checklist of Carrabotta’s work. His website has a Wikipedia link. 

Carrabotta worked in advertising and talked about it with Daniel Best. Here is an advertising example: Carrabotta co-art directed a 30-second TV commercial that was recognized in The 62nd Art Directors Annual (1983). 

Wikipedia said Carrabotta married twice. It’s not clear if the following grooms are him. The New Jersey Marriage Index, at Ancestry.com, said a Victor S. Carrabotta who married Alison P. Falby on February 11, 1986 in Cresskill, New Jersey. The New York, New York Marriage License Index recorded a Victor S. Carrabotta who married Shuying Fu on August 15, 2000 in Manhattan. 

Carrabotta passed away on November 22, 2022 in South Carolina. Obituaries are at Comic Book Resources and The Daily Cartoonist. 

(Next post on Monday: Claire S. Moe, Artist)