Tenth Letter of the Alphabet: July 2024

Merna Evelyn Gamble was born on January 17, 1910, in Gibbon, Nebraska, according to a Nebraska birth record at Ancestry.com. Her parents were William Ebenezer Gamble and Zora May Randall who married on February 17, 1907.

The 1910 United States census counted Gamble (line 78) and her parents in Center Township, Nebraska. Her father was a farmer growing crops.

The 1920 census said Gamble (line 43), her parents and sister were residents of Gibbon, Nebraska on the west side.

In 1927 Gamble graduated from Gibbon High School.

Gamble has not yet been found in the 1930 census. Her family remained in Gibbon.

The Gibbon Reporter, August 17, 1933, reported her exhibit.

Display by Local Artist
In our community, there is a person, who for the past few years has been studying art in New York City and has won recognition from her work as a fine artist.

On last Thursday, August 10, the Methodist Ladies Aid society gave the public the opportunity and privilege of seeing Miss Merna Gamble’s pictures by displaying them at a musical tea at the home of Mrs. Roy A. Davis.

As art and music go together the Misses Dorothy Johnson, Lila Zimmerman, Lorene Wight, Thais Mickey, Lillian Davis, Dorothy Davis, Mesdames Robert Woodward, D. E. McGregor and Charles Hauke furnished their music to make a pleasing background for Miss Gamble’s exhibit.

Miss Gamble expressed her versatility of art by having in her display a variety of different types of art, as commercial, pen and ink, pastel, water color and oil. Of special interest to the women who attended was the large oil painting which portrayed and typified a Nebraska harvest field. In the future it is very probable that people will be viewing Miss Gamble’s pictures in some famous art galleries.

Gamble contributed to the publication Art Instruction, January 1938.

On February 15, 1940, Gamble and “John Linder Mayor” obtained a marriage license in Manhattan. They married the next day.

On the application “Linder Mayor” was not truthful with his birth information.

John Edward Lindermayor was born on June 11, 1915, in Brooklyn, New York, according to his World War II draft. A birth record at Ancestry.com recorded his surname as Lindermayr. The same spelling appeared on his father’s World War I and II draft cards, voter registration, 1935 patent, and death certificate. His parents were Joseph Lindermayr and Marie “Mary” Schuttler, who married on September 12, 1910 in Brooklyn.

Lindermayor’s father signed his World War I draft card on September 12, 1918. His address was 329 Beta Place in Queens, New York.

The 1920 United States census counted Lindermayor (line 82) as the youngest of three siblings. Their parents were German immigrants. The father was an automobile mechanic. The family of five were Brooklyn residents at 120 Rockaway Avenue.

The 1924 voter registration for Queens, New York listed Lindermayor’s parents at 323 Olmstead Place.

The Long Island Daily Press (Jamaica, New York), April 6, 1929, published a list a new members of the Junior Press Club Honor Roll.

In the 1930 census, Lindermayor (line 21), his parents and sister lived in Queens, New York at 114-21 Jamaica Avenue.

It’s not known when and how Gamble and Lindermayor met. One possibility is the Art Students League of New York which listed “Mrs. John Lindermayor” in a 1975 catalog.

Both of them produced art for Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson’s New Fun comics books, beginning in the mid-1930s, here and here.

Lindermayor copyrighted artwork in 1934, 1937, 1955, 1958, 1962, 1963 (TV show), 1964, 1965 and 1966.

On October 16, 1940, Lindermayor signed his World War II draft card. His address was 71-21 65th Street in Glendale, New York. He was described as five feet eight inches, 140 pounds, with blue eyes and red hair. Lindermayor named his wife as next of kin.

According to the 1950 census, Mayor was the surname for Gamble (line 17), her husband, a salesman, and son, Arnold, who lived in Burbank, California at 815 San Jose. She was a housewife.

The 1954 California voter registration listed “John E Linder-Mayor” and “Mrs. Merna E Linder-Mayor” at 8631 Clearview Place, in Riverside, California. Both were Republicans.

Gamble’s father passed away on November 1, 1956 in Lawndale, California. He was laid to rest at Riverside Cemetery. The Grand Island Daily Independent (Nebraska), February 14, 1987, said Gamble’s mother passed away on February 11, 1987.

Gamble’s husband passed away on July 23, 1972, in San Diego, California. An obituary appeared in the Times-Advocate (Escondido, California), July 25, 1972.

Vista—John E. Lindermayor, 57, of 203 W. Los Angeles Drive, Vista, died Sunday in a local hospital.

Born June 11, 1915, in New York, he had been a commercial artist for 40 years, working for DePatti Free-Ling, Warner Brothers and Disney Studios.

Surviving are his wife, Merna, and a son, Arnold Lindermayor, both of Vista, and two sisters.

A private service was held this morning at the Vista Chapel Mortuary. Cremation and interment will be at Eternal Hills Memorial Park.

Gamble contributed to the 1976 book, Golden Chia: Ancient Indian Energy Food.

At some point Gamble settled in Arizona. On January 13, 2012, the city of Sedona, Arizona posted a report about its centenarian project.

Sedona’s Historic Preservation Commission was tasked with the mission of creating projects or events to commemorate Arizona’s Centennial, the day that Arizona celebrates 100 years of statehood.

The Commission thought it would be interesting and meaningful to find Sedona Centenarians, those individuals who, like the state, are celebrating their 100th birthdays. The Centenarians’ memories of the growth of Sedona would parallel the developing complexity of the state over the past century. There would be a need to develop a method of creative expression of a century of individual lives coming together to make a statement unique to Sedona. Because artists have been such an integral part of Sedona’s history, a work of art would be an appropriate outcome for the project.

After months of research, newspaper notices, and phone calls, the Commission was able to identify five Centenarians who were able and willing to participate. …

… Merna Lindermayor was born on January 17, 1910, on a farm in Nebraska. She studied art in New York, became a professional artist and illustrator, and married and artist who became an animator for Disney Studios. She worked for various advertising agencies, and had her illustrations published in magazines such as Look and Life. Merna first moved to Sedona temporarily in the mid-1970’s, living in a home near Oak Creek, and then settled permanently in West Sedona in 1995. She has enjoyed her many friendships in her neighborhood. …

Gamble passed away on February 6, 2013, in Sedona. A brief obituary was posted at Journal AZ on March 1, 2013.

Merna E. Lindermayor
Jan. 17, 1910 – Feb. 6, 2013
Merna [Gamble] Lindermayor, 103, of Sedona and Cottonwood, died Feb. 6.

Born on a farm in Gibbon, Neb., she went to New York to study art and began a lifelong career as an artist.

She was preceded in death by her husband, John, her son, Arnold, and sister Reva Headley, of Shelton, Neb.

She is survived by her sister Violet [Miller] Webb of Rosamond, Calif.

Per her wishes, no services are planned.

Further Reading

A Century of Women Cartoonists (1993) here and here

Pretty in Ink: North American Women Cartoonists 1896–2010 (2013).

The Secret Origin of DC Comics, here and here

Lambiek Comiclopedia

Grand Comics Database, Gamble, Lindermayer

Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999, Gamble, Lindermayer

Women in Comics Posts

Ruth Atkinson, Olive Bailey, Valerie Barclay, Vivian Berg, Helen Chu aka Duffy Mohler, Ellen Cole, Corinne Boyd Dillon, Anahid Dinkjian,

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

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

Anna Kaufman, Bessie Mae Kelley, Nadine French King, Alice Kirkpatrick, Grace Kremer, Pauline Loth,

Veda Lufkin,

Marion McDermott, Emma C. McKean, Tarpé Mills, Claire S. Moe, 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 Monday: The Printing Art, 1917)

The earliest use of IBM typewriter “lettering” may have been on Stan Drake’s “The Heart of Juliet Jones”. In Cartoonist Profiles #4, November 1969, Drake was interviewed and asked about the lettering.

Q: Would you tell us what you did about the business of lettering your strip?

A: I was paying a considerable amount of money to a lettering man [According to Irwin Hasen, it was Ben Oda.] to letter my strip each week and I began to think, “Wouldn’t it be neat if I could just type it out and save all that money for the lettering.” So I got in touch with IBM and wanted to know if I had a lettering man letter up the alphabet, whether they could make a set of keys for their Executive typewriter, with these hand-drawn letters. My hope was that I could then sit down and type out my balloons and save the cost of a lettering man. But IBM told me that it would cost me as much as $7000 to make a set of keys like this. I realized finally that they didn’t want to do it because such a machine would be the only one existent, and if it needed repairs they’d have to be done specially, etc. I did actually settle for one of their standard type faces that looked something like comic strip lettering, but it was just so perfect that it wasn’t hand lettering. I did strips with this for a while though. I finally gave it up when the syndicate decided that they didn’t like it as well as hand-drawn lettering. But I guess I did save something like $1400 in lettering costs during the period when I used it.

Drake used IBM typewriter “lettering” on the dailies from January 10 to July 9, 1966, and the Sundays from February 13 to July 17, 1966.