“…One day, I stopped the already ancient Ira Schnapp when he came up to the offices. He had been a letterer and logo designer beginning in the ’30s. He showed me how he took artist Joe Shuster’s crude Superman title and turned it into the trademark the world knows and recognizes today….”
—Michael Uslan, The Boy Who Loved Batman: A Memoir (2011)
Israel “Ira” Schnapp was born in Sassow, Austria on October 10, 1895, according to his World War II draft card. The 1910 U.S. Federal Census recorded his family in Manhattan, New York City at 86 Ludlow Street. He was the fourth of seven children born to Max and Sadie. His father, a retail merchant in the grocery business, emigrated in 1895. His oldest brother, Jacob, followed in 1898. Schnapp, his mother and two older brothers, Samuel and Joseph, arrived in 1900. His sisters, Lena and Sarah, were born in New York.
Schnapp graduated from Stuyvesant High School in June 1913.
Schnapp signed his World War I draft card on June 5, 1917. His surname was misspelled as Schapp. Schnapp’s address in the Bronx was 483 East 170 Street. He was employed as a letterer at the W.T. Slide Company which was located at 115 East 23 Street in Manhattan. Schnapp was described as medium height and slender build with brown eyes and hair.
The New York, New York, Marriage Index, at Ancestry.com, said Schnapp married Beatrice Schwadron on September 30, 1918 in the Bronx.
In the 1920 federal census, which recorded Schnapp’s first name as Irving, he and Beatrice lived in the Bronx at 1510 Boston Road. He worked as an artist in the moving picture industry. The 1925 New York State Census found the Schnapps, with daughter Therese, in the Bronx at 2305 Grand Avenue. His occupation was artist.
The 1930 census said the Schnapps had a son, Martin, and remained in the Bronx but at 1455 Sheridan. Schnapp was a commercial artist. Sometime this decade he used the name Ira.
In 1936 Schnapp created a weekly panel, “The Art of the Ages”, which was syndicated by Curtis Newspaper Features, Inc., located at 45 West 45th Street in Manhattan. The syndicate’s partners were Julius H. Kamerman and William B. Curtis. “The Art of the Ages” was listed in Editor & Publisher on September 26, 1936; September 25, 1937; and September 24, 1938. In 1940 “The Art of the Ages” appeared in the Toledo Blade (Ohio), on page two of the Peach Section (near the end of the paper). The panel ran 24 consecutive weeks without a syndicate’s name.
The 1940 census listed “Ira Schapps” at 515 West 110 Street in Manhattan, his same residence in 1935. He remained a commercial artist, who had two years of high school education.
January 23, 1940
The Knight, Death and the Devil by Albrecht Durer
January 30, 1940
The Transfiguration by Raphael
February 6, 1940
The Angelus byJean Francois Millet
February 13, 1940
Statue of Moses by Michelangelo
February 21, 1940
King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid by Sir Edward Burne-Jones
February 27, 1940
The Blue Boy by Thomas Gainsborough
March 5, 1940
Madame Le Brun and Daughter by Madame Le Brun
March 12, 1940
Aurora by Guido Reni
March 19, 1940
The Birth of Venus by Botticelli
March 26, 1940
The Night Watch by Rembrandt
April 2, 1940
The Statue of Perseus by Benvenuto Cellini
April 9, 1940
April 16, 1940
The Horse Fair by Rosa Bonheur
April 23, 1940
Hope by George Frederick Watts
April 30, 1940
Joan of Arc by Jules Bastien-Lepage
May 7, 1940
The Toilet of Venus by Francois Boucher
May 14, 1940
The Laughing Cavalier by Frans Hals
May 21, 1940
The Age of Innocence by Sir Joshua Reynolds
May 28, 1940
Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
June 4, 1940
The Potato Eaters by Vincent van Gogh
June 11, 1940
Bartolommeo Colleoni Statue by Andrea del Verrocchio
June 18, 1940
Portrait of the Artist’s Mother by James Whistler
June 25, 1940
July 2, 1940
The Song of the Lark by Jules Adolphe Breton
Advertising Age, December 30, 1940, said
Join Superior StudiosThomas G. Wiley has been named vice-president, and Jule Bauch, secretary and production manager, of Superior Studios, Inc., New York. Hector Zambrano and Ira Schnapp have joined the technical staff and Sam Golden and Merlin Lewis, the sales force.
In 1942, Schnapp signed his World War II draft card, which named George Iger as his nearest relative, a brother-in-law, who had married his sister, Lena/Lenore in the mid-1920s. In the 1930 census, Iger owned a restaurant, and in 1940 he operated a food packing business, Regis Food Company, according to his draft card. Schnapp’s mother lived with the Iger household in 1940.
Schnapp found work and employment in the comic book industry, and the rest is history, covered in-depth at Dial B for Blog’s “The Visionary: Ira Schnapp”, a ten-part look at his career; part 1 is here. Letterer Todd Klein spoke to artist Neal Adams, at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, about Schnapp and posted the information on Todd’s Blog.
According to the Social Security Death Index, Schnapp passed away July 1969 and his last residence was New York City. Schnapp’s birth date was given as October 10, 1892, three years earlier than the date on his World War II draft card. A death notice appeared in The New York Times, July 26, 1969.
Schnapp—Ira, beloved husband of Beatrice, devoted father of Martin and Teddy, loving grandfather of Jonathan David and dear brother. Services Sunday, 10:30 A.M. at “The Riverside,” 76 St. and Amsterdam Ave.
Census and military records at Ancestry.com were used in this profile. “The Art of the Ages” was found at the Google News Archive; I searched “Ira Schnapp" and got three hits, then I searched individual issues of the Toledo Blade. Schnapp’s panel appeared on Tuesday with one exception, when it was bumped to Wednesday. Like Schnapp, Artie Simek and Fred Eng were known mainly as letterers but they were also artists.
Todd Klein acquired printed copies of four “The Art of the Ages” and commented on them at his site.
Related Posts
Ira Schnapp’s Thirty-Plus Years in Motion Picture-Related Businesses, Fred Iger, 1924–2015, Anatomy of a Logo: Superman
A. Machine and Royal Cartoon, Mario Acquaviva, Gerald Altman, Gene Barnett, Vivian Berg, Daniel Bhang, Ray Burley,
Gerda Gattel, Angelo Grasso, Anita Greene, Al Grenet, Ed Hamilton, Ray Holloway, IBM Directory, Alex Jay, Albert and Charlotte Jetter,
Abe Kanegson, George Kapitan, Anna Kaufman, Gary Keller, Nadine French King, Ralph Komisarow, Grace Kremer, Morrie Kuramoto, Al Kurzrok,
Georgette Sauterel, Ira Schnapp, Irving Settel, Rome Siemon, Artie Simek, Lora Sprang aka Pat Gordon, Herman Stackel, Stan Starkman, Daisy Swayze, Zoltan and Terry Szenics,
Further Reading
Todd’s Blog, Ira Schnapp: His Life, Work and Family, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6
Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999
Wikipedia
Todd’s Blog, Ira Schnapp: His Life, Work and Family, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6
Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999
Wikipedia
(Updated August 23, 2023; next Monday: photos of the Forbidden Planet stores)
Hi Alex,
ReplyDeleteInteresting post and very well researched!
How about some research into the great comic book logo designer Otto Pirkola who worked for Harvey Comics from the mid 40's until the early '70s? He drew all the classic Harvey titles with the swinging cartoony bounce, like Baby Huey, etc. Ken Selig, who now does inking for Archie, trained under him prior to becoming art director at Harvey himself.
David
Hi Alex,
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff!
Just went on Ancestry to see what else I could see about Schnapp's passing, and found that the SSDI reports his last residence as NY, NY?
Any suggestions as to how to find a photo of him?
Todd Klein did 4-part series on Schnapp and the pulps (http://kleinletters.com/Blog/?s=schnapp) and even he could not find a photo of him. It’s a bit of mystery whether or not Schnapp had a family. If he did, then his children would have a photo of him. One way to confirm when Schnapp passed away would be to get his Social Security number from DC.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm remembering correctly, the Dial B for Blog 10-parter on Ira Schnapp includes a Deadman issue from 1968 where Neal Adams drew a likeness of Schnapp on the cover.
ReplyDeleteIra and other DC people were on the cover of Strange Adventures #207.
ReplyDeleteThis is really great.
ReplyDeleteGreat post
ReplyDelete