Monday, December 18, 2023

Comics: Georgette Sauterel, Penciler, Inker, Letterer, Engineer and Physicist


Georgette Sauterel Egan, 1966

Georgette Louise Sauterel was born on September 15, 1922, in Manhattan, New York, New York, according to the New York, New York Birth Index at Ancestry.com.

Sometime after Sauterel s birth, her parents traveled to Europe. On September 1, 1925, Sauterel (line 2) and her mother were aboard the steamship De Grasse when it departed from Le Havre, France. They arrived in the port of New York on September 28, 1925. Her father was at 331 West 50th Street in New York City. 


Sauterel has not yet been found in the 1930 United States Census. 

The 1940 census counted Sauterel (line 47) and her parents, George (a waiter) and Lucienne (dress designer), in Forest Hills, Queens at 3131 54th Street. Sauterel had four years of high school and attended college.


It’s not clear exactly when Sauterel worked in the comic book industry. Women and the Comics (1985) said 
Most of the women in the comic book shops of the 1940s worked in outfits run by Jack Binder, Lloyd and Grace Jacquet, Eisner-Iger (later Iger-Roche), or Harry “A” Chesler. It was Chesler who had acted as an agent for the work of Corinne Dillon, Jean Hotchkiss and Claire Moe in the late thirties. Female artists who worked in his shop include Ann Brewster and Georgette Sauterel, but neither stayed long. Sauterel did the bulk of her work for the Binder shop and Brewster, who under Chesler’s direction did “Yankee Girl” for Dynamic, soon left to join her there. Jack Binder’s comic book art factory was located in Englewood, New Jersey. There he and his staff produced an abundance of material for Fawcett and Street & Smith comic books between 1940 and 1943. The women he employed—Ann Brewster, June Hill, Gloria Kamen, Betty Kathe, Pauline Loth, Georgette Sauterel and Marcia Snyder ...
On July 23, 1943, Sauterel and Wilbourn R. Mayo obtained, in Queens, marriage license number 5681. They married the next day. 



The marriage ended in divorce. Mayo (1920–1990) remarried. 

On June 9, 1944, Sauterel enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps. She was a draftsman. 


At some point Sauterel moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma where she married Daniel G. Egan on August 18, 1948. 


In the 1950 census, the couple (lines 24 and 25) were Tulsa residents at 334 South Gale. Sauterel was a typist at a chemical laboratory. Her husband was a petroleum engineer.


In the 1960s, Sauterel continued her education at Arlington State College in Texas. She graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1966. She was listed in the commencement program
Georgette Sauterel Egan, Physics—Rolling Hills Estate
Women in Physics (1972) published a roster of women physicists. 
Egan, Georgette S., BA/BS
16390 Buchet Dr., Granada Hills, Calif. 91344
Sauterel was employed at Hughes Aircraft Company. Her patent was published in the Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, May 21, 1974 and August 13, 1974. (also see Google Patents

Industrial Research, August 1977, published Sauterel’s paper “Hot Spots in Electronic Circuits”. 

Sauterel’s father passed away on April 13, 1974 in Florida. According to the California Death Index, at Ancestry.com, her mother passed away on August 12, 1982. 

Sauterel’s husband, Daniel, passed away on August 9, 1993 in Sarasota, Florida. An obituary appeared in the Crowley Post-Signal (Louisiana), August 11, 1993. 

Sauterel passed away on June 10, 1995. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Florida), June 13, 1995, published an obituary.
Georgette S. Egan, 72, Manatee County, died June 10, 1995.

She was born Sept. 15, 1922, in New York City, and came to this area 23 years ago from Los Angeles. She was an engineer and physicist for Hughes Aircraft and was one of three women managers. She was a senior project engineer for Levi Strauss. She was a Catholic. She received a bachelor’s degree in physics from UCLA in 1966. She served in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II.

Survivors include two daughters, Dania Greer of Blackburn, Victoria, Australia, and Patricia of Bradenton.

There will be no visitation or services. Manasota Memorial Funeral Home is in charge.
Sauterel’s daughter Patricia passed away on August 27, 2011, according to the Port Charlotte Sun (Florida), September 9, 2011. The status of Sauterel’s daughter, Dania, is not known.




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(Next post on Monday: Holiday Greetings)

Monday, December 4, 2023

Comics: Jack Meltzer, Letterer, Artist, Art Director, Advertising Consultant, Graphic Designer and Photographer


Jacob “Jack” Meltzer was born on May 1, 1914, in the Bronx, New York, New York, according to the New York, New York Birth Index at Ancestry.com. His parents were Samuel C. Meltzer and Ruth Weisberg. 

The 1915 New York state census said Meltzer (line 30) was the youngest of two brothers. The family of four were Bronx residents at 771 East 181st Street. His father was a post office employee. 


In the 1920 United States Census, the Meltzers (lines 87 to 90) resided in the Bronx at 765 Garden Street.


The same address was in the 1925 New York state census. Meltzer is on line 35. 


According to the 1930 census, fifteen-year-old Meltzer, his parents and two siblings lived at 2704 Kingsbridge Terrace in the Bronx. It’s not known which public schools he attended. The Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Massachusetts), May 8, 1991, said he “completed his schooling with the Art Students League in New York City.”


Meltzer found work at Harry “A” Chesler’s comic book shop. The Grand Comics Database and Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999 said he did lettering circa 1936 to 1937. About the Chesler shop, Editor & Publisher, March 20, 1937, said 
There are 11 cartoonists in the 22-man organization. Three men do nothing but lettering for the artists, and special features writers prepare the continuity.
Meltzer may have been one of the three letterers. 

On April 25, 1938, Meltzer and Sylvia Ethel Litinsky obtained, in Brooklyn, marriage license number 6630. They married on May 1, 1938. 



The 1940 census counted Meltzer and his wife in his mother-in-law’s household. The address was 1303 East 40th Street in the Bronx. Meltzer was a commercial artist who earned $1,440 in 1939. His highest level of education was the fourth year of high school. 


On October 16, 1940, Meltzer signed his World War II draft card. His description was five feet six inches, 152 pound, with brown eyes and hair. The freelance artist’s address changed several times. 


The Grand Comics Database credits Meltzer and Bill Madden for the “Chuck” art in Super-Mystery Comics, volume 5, number 2, October 1945. “On second page there are paper signs behind the bar reading: ‘Meltzer Seltzer’ and ‘Maddy-Delight’.”


According to the 1950 census, Meltzer and his wife had two daughters, Isabel and Leslie. Also in the household was his mother-in-law. They lived in Manhattan at 251 West 71st Street. Meltzer was an advertising director at a radio advertising company.


The Berkshire Eagle said
Mr. Meltzer was a free-lance art director, advertising consultant and graphic layout artist, contracting with several major corporations.

He was an accomplished artist in both writing and painting and a prolific photographer. 

He moved to Stockbridge in May 1989 from Huntington, L.I., where he had been a founder of the Huntington Art League. [He probably knew Creig Flessel.] 
Meltzer passed away on May 7, 1991, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. An obituary appeared in the Berkshire Eagle, May 8, 1991. 


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