Comics: Henri A. Fluchere, National Comics Production Manager

Henri Andre Fluchere was born July 31, 1914 in Marseille, France, according to his Petition for Naturalization at Ancestry.com. On November 11, 1925, Fluchere, his parents, Armand and Emma, and sister, Odette, sailed aboard the S.S. Aquitania from Cherbourg, France. They arrived in the port of New York City on November 27.

1930 U.S. Federal Census
Home: 166 South Street, Quincy, Massachusetts
Name / Age / Occupation
Armand Fluchere, 46, draftsman/shipyard
Emma Fluchere, 37, blank
Henri Fluchere, 15, blank
Odette Fluchere, 10, blank

Fluchere attended Quincy High School in Quincy, Massachusetts. He was mentioned in the school yearbook, Golden Rod, November 1931 and January 1933. Fluchere graduated in June 1933 and contributed two illustrations to the yearbook. 

Golden Rod, June 1934, said 

Henri Fluchere, ’33, art editor of the Golden Rod, resides now in New York City. He attends Brooklyn College where he is captain of the hockey team.

Something About the Author, Volume 40 (1985) profiled Fluchere and said he attended Brooklyn College from 1933 to 1935, then City College from 1935 to 1936.

Fluchere filed a Petition for Naturalization on September 1, 1936. Fluchere stated that he had resided in New York County since June 30, 1933. His occupation was commercial artist and residence at 234 West 22nd Street, New York City. Fluchere was naturalized on December 23, 1940.

1940 U.S. Federal Census
Home: 234 West 22nd Street, New York, New York
Name / Age / Occupation
Armand Fluchere, 54, draftsman/building concern
Emma Fluchere, 47, blank
Henry Fluchere, 25, new worker
Odette Fluchere, 24, blank
(The census was enumerated in April.)

Manhattan, New York City telephone directories, from 1942 to 1946, listed Fluchere at 125 West 58th Street.

Fluchere enlisted in the army on April 28, 1942. According to Fluchere’s son, Michael, his father served in the “Military Intelligence as an Interpreter (French) as a Master Sergeant with the 28th Infantry Division. After the 28th Infantry Division crossed the Rhine River into Germany, his services were no longer needed and he was reassigned to The Stars and Stripes Newspaper in Paris as an illustrator and artist. After returning from World War II, he worked for Superman Magazine as an illustrator.” Something About the Author said Fluchere received the Purple Heart. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, Fluchere was discharged December 11, 1945.

According to Something About the Author, Fluchere married Ruth Allen [Chapman] in 1944 but it was on June 26, 1943. They divorced January 1946.

Fluchere married Maud Elliot Hall (a musician) on September 4, 1946. Earlier, the Philadelphia Inquirer, May 3, 1946, published the engagement announcement. On August 2, 1946, the Inquirer reported the upcoming September wedding. A full account of the marriage appeared in the Inquirer on September 5, 1946.

Maud Elliott Hall Is Bride of Henri A. Fluchere
The Swarthmore Presbyterian Church formed the setting for an attractive wedding yesterday, when Maud Elliott Hall, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Howe Hall, became the bride of Henri A. Fluchere, son of Mr. and Mrs. Armand Fluchere, of New York.

The ceremony was solemnized at half after two o’clock, with Rev. David Braun officiating.

The bride, who was given in marriage by her father, wore a period sown of ivory tone slipper satin, the model featuring a square neckline, with short sleeves and a train suspended from the shoulders. The gown was trimmed with heirloom duchess lace. Her tulle veil fell from a lace cap which had been worn by her great-grandmother, the late Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, and she carried a bouquet of roses and bouvardia.

Grisella C. Hall, who acted a s maid of honor and only attendant for her sister, wore a frock of aqua taffeta, made on tailored lines, with a high neckline. She carried a bouquet of chrysanthemums in autumn shades and her headdress was an artistic arrangement of matching flowers.

Gowned in Black

Mrs. Hall chose a graceful black marquisette gown, with a matching hat, the latter trimmed with flowers in variegated colors. With this went an orchid corsage. The bridegroom’s mother also chose black in a floor-length crepe gown, with a ribbon-trimmed hat of the same color. She, too, wore a corsage of orchids.

Murray Boltinoff, of New York, served as best man. There were no ushers. A small reception at the home of the bride’s parents for members of the immediate families followed the ceremony. Upon their return from a wedding trip, the couple will make their home in New York.

The bride is a granddaughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. David Prescott Hall, of Plainfield, N. J., and of the late Mr. and Mrs. Edward Henry Earnshaw, formerly of this city. She is a great-niece of Mrs. Maud Howe Elliott, of Newport, R.I.

Fluchere worked at National Comics beginning in 1946. Something About the Author said Fluchere attended Columbia University from 1946 to 1948.

The Daily News (Tarrytown, New York), March 1, 1949, reported Fluchere’s upcoming talk in the column, Happenings Here and There in the Village.

Comic Books—Henri A. Flushers [sic], commercial artist and production manager of National Comics, will tell the story behind the tremendous volume of comics produced today, to the Irvington Kiwanians at their meeting in the Hotel Florence at 7:15 P.M. tomorrow. He is also expected to discuss the recent trend to legislative control of comics.

The Daily News, March 3, 1949, reported the event.

Advertising Art Explained
Irvington Kiwanians heard Henri A. Fluchers [sic], commercial artist and production manager of National Comics, talk last night on the different aspects and kinds of art used in advertising and commercial art.

Fluchers brought illustrations of every kind of art used commercially, including photographs, half tones, line drawings, color reproductions and several others.

He was expected to speak on comic books, but touched only briefly on that subject when he said that his company was very much opposed to the bill now in the Legislature, to control comics. He also said that his company employs a child psychologist to go over every strip and suggest improvements and changes.

1950 U.S. Federal Census

Home: 26 Clinton Avenue, Irvington, New York

Name / Age / Occupation

Henry A Fluchere, 35, commercial artist/publication company

Maud H Fluchere, 25, housewife

Peter Fluchere, 2, blank

Michael Fluchere, March, blank

(The census was enumerated in May.)

Something About the Author said Fluchere began his freelance writing career in 1950. He was art director for McGraw’s Technical Writing Service from 1950 to 1953.

The Irvington Gazette (New York), November 5, 1953, noted Fluchere’s new home, “Mr. and Mrs. George Hinckley of Oak street moved on Monday to Chicago. They have sold their home to Mr. and Mrs. Henri A. Fluchere who will occupy it shortly.”

Something About the Author said Fluchere was an Irvington village trustee from 1958 to 1960; police commissioner from 1958 to 1960; and acting mayor from 1959 to 1960.

Popular Science published Fluchere’s tip in the August 1961 issue, and his article in January 1962.

The Daily News, March 11, 1969, profiled Fluchere who ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Irvington. 

Mayoral candidate Henri Fluchere is no stranger to village government. He served as trustee from 1958–1960 and was acting mayor during the 1959–60 year. He also served as public safety commissioner while on the board.

During the 21 years he has lived in Irvingion, Mr. Fluchere has been active in community affairs. He served as chairman of the Irvington Historical Week in 1960. He has been a president and vice president of the Parent Teacher Association as well as serving as membership chairman and program chairman.

Mr. Fluchere is a charter member of the Irvington Human Rights Committee a board member of the Friends of the Irvington Library, and a member of the selection committee for the Ambassadors Program. Last year he joined the Irvington Kiwanis Club. He is also a member of the Greenburgh Community Action Program and a member of the Greenburgh Lay-Clergy group.

A member of the national executive committee of the American Veterans Committee, Mr. Fluchere is also a member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts and an associate member of the American Society of Enologists.

A sports booster, he led the campaign to acquire a scoreboard for the high school playing field.

He served for six years as vestryman at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church where he is now director of acolytes.

The 54-year old Mr. Fluchere is an author, illustrator and designer, specializing in scientific and engineering textbooks. He attended Quincy, Mass., schools. His professional training was received at City College, Brooklyn College and Columbia University.

During World War II he served three and one-half years in the European theater with the 128th Infantry Division. He holds the Purple Heart decoration.

Mr. Fluchere, his wife, Maud, and their three children live on Oak Street. 

Something About the Author said Fluchere wrote “The Westchester Winetaster,” a weekly column in Westchester newspapers. He was a member of the American Wine Society.

The Patent Trader (Mount Kisco, New York), February 15, 1973, noted this event, “The wine-tasting will be conducted by Henri Fluchere, a wine expert whose weekly column appears in The Weekly News.”

Fluchere also conducted workshops as reported in the Courier and Freeman (Potsdam, New York), November 23, 1976, “We enjoyed a workshop with Henri Fluchere, wine writer of the Consumer Wineletter and noted author. His guest speaker was Marcia Mondavi of the Robert Mondavi Winery in California.”

Fluchere passed away November 25, 1991. He was laid to rest at Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church Memorial Gardens. His wife passed away on June 17, 2018. 


Books illustrated by Fluchere
How To…
Jack Woodford
Arco Publishing, 1951

Airbrush Techniques for Commercial Art
with John Musacchia and Melvin Grainger
Reinhold Publishing, 1953

Using Mathematics
Kenneth B. Henderson and Robert E. Pingry
McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1955

Course in Beginning Watercolor
with John Musacchia and Melvin Grainger
Reinhold, 1956

You and Your Cells
Leo Schneider
Harcourt Brace & World, 1964

Man and the Living World
Karl Von Frisch
Time-Life Books, 1965

Microbes of Your Life
Leo Schneider
Harcourt, 1966

Relativity: An Introduction for Young Readers
Michael Chester
W. W. Norton, 1967

Long Life to You: Modern Medicine at Work
Leo Schneider
Harcourt, 1968

The Story of the United States Flag
Wyatt Blassingame
with Victor Mays
Garrad, 1969

The Indus: South Asia’s Highway of History
Jane Werner Watson
Garrad, 1970

Flying
Barry Schiff
Golden Press/Western Publishing, 1971

Wines
Henri André Fluchere (author)
Golden Press, 1973

(Updated August 10, 2022; next post on Monday: Lin Streeter, Artist)