Tenth Letter of the Alphabet: Chicago

Showing posts with label Chicago. Show all posts

Monday, December 1, 2025

Comics: Ed McLean, Letterer, Freelance Writer and Copywriter

Edward Leroy “Ed” McLean was born on December 5, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois according to his post-World War II draft card which had his full name. His parents were James H. McLean and Beatrice E. Davis who married on June 24, 1920 in Chicago.

The 1930 United States Census counted McLean (line 17), his parents and three older siblings, Margaret, Beatrice and Thomas, in Chicago at 5121 Justine Street. His father was chauffeur at a furniture storage company.

In the 1940 census, McLean (line 38) had two younger siblings, Douglas and Ursula. The family of eight were Chicago residents at 5724 South Racine Avenue.

The same address was on McLean’s draft card which he signed on May 20, 1946. His veteran’s file said he had enlisted in the Navy on November 20, 1945 and honorably discharged on May 15, 1946. McLean was described as five feet seven inches, 130 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair.

McLean was not counted at Chicago with his parents in the 1950 census. There was a newspaper cartoonist with the same name (line 20) in New York City at 463 West 19th Street.

Although his birth year, 1925, and birth state, New York, differ, I believe it was McLean because of Jules Feiffer’s 2010 autobiography, Backing Into Forward: A Memoir. Feiffer devoted a chapter titled, Ed, on McLean who was lettering at Wally Wood’s apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The book included a 1948 photograph of McLean.

... Woody introduced me to one of his studio mates, a lettering man named Ed McLean ...

... We met on my first visit to Woody’s studio, a long room that deepened and darkened as your eyes failed to get used to it. Artists and writers sat like galley slaves at desks and drawing tables jammed close enough together to constitute a single piece of furniture, an intimidating world of cluttered comic pages and pounding typewriters, dingy and roach-rich. The no-frills ferocity of the place was intoxicating. ...

... Ed was short and stocky, a big head with thin red hair, built like an Irish workingman, not a writer. ...

... Ed was from the South Side of Chicago, Studs Lonigan territory, and like Farrell’s hero and Farrell himself, he stemmed from Irish Catholic working-class roots. When we met in Woody’s studio, he had been in New York for six months, on the lam from faith and family. Ed was an itinerant. ...

There are no entries for McLean at the Grand Comics Database and Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999. Information about his art training has not been found. McLean may have met Wood at Burne Hogarth’s Cartoonists and Illustrators School. A class photograph is here.

In 1957, McLean and Ylavaune Wiley obtained, in Manhattan, marriage license number 9447. Their May 16 wedding was reported in the Iowa City Press-Citizen, May 20, 1957. Feiffer was one of the attendants. Ylavaune was the research librarian for the Radio Advertising Bureau, Inc. McLean was a freelance writer.

Soon, McLean found work as a copywriter. His acclaimed talents and skills were described in obituaries and remembrances at Chief Marketer, September 7, 2005 Direct Marketing News, September 7, 2005 and Target Marketing, December 1, 2005. A photograph of McLean is at Denny Hatch’s Free Direct Marketing Blog.

McLean passed away on August 13, 2005 in Ghent, New York. Six months later, his wife died on February 23, 2006.

Further Reading
Potrzebie

Jean Callahan, Helen Chu aka Duffy Mohler, Milton Cohen, Ellen Cole, Herb Cooper, Danny Crespi, Laurens Crossley,

Jon D’Agostino, James Daleo, Martin DeMuth, Shel Dorf, Marty Epp, Howard Ferguson, Herb Field,

Gerda Gattel, Selma Meyers Gleit, Louis L. Goldklang, Angelo Grasso, Anita Greene, Al Grenet, Ed Hamilton, Delores Heilman, Ray Holloway, IBM Directory, Alex Jay, Albert and Charlotte Jetter,

Abe Kanegson, George Kapitan, Anna Kaufman, Gary Keller, Rick Keller, Nadine French King, Ralph Komisarow, Grace Kremer, Morrie Kuramoto, Al Kurzrok,

Bob Lander, Bob Laughlin, Bob Leatherbarrow, Shelly Leferman, Len Leone, Joe Letterese, Veda Lufkin,

Robert N. MacLeod/Leroy Lettering, Lee Maroshek, Larry Mayer, Ed McLean, Jack Meltzer, Jim Novak, Mel Millar, Bill Oakley, Ben Oda,

Walter Palais, Stephen Palmisano, Charles Paris, Otto Pirkola, Fred Proctor, Jerry Robinson, Joe and Sam Rosen, George Roussos,

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,

Richard Deane Taylor, Alberta Tews, Matthew Tweedy, Frank Vina, George Ward, Irv Watanabe, Irving Werstein, Leo Wurtzel, John Yakata, Bill Yoshida, Bernie Zuber

(Next post on Monday: Rich Chidlaw, Cartoonist)

Monday, November 3, 2025

Interrobang, Part 5: Clarence Noel Johnson, Art Director

Clarence Noel Johnson was born on December 25, 1897 in Chicago, Illinois according to his World War I and II draft cards. In the 1900 United States Census, he was the youngest of two sons born to David, a music teacher, and Mamie. The family’s Chicago address was 2239 Ashland Avenue.

The 1910 census counted a third son in the Johnson family who resided at 4626 North Ashland Avenue in Chicago.

The name of Johnson’s high school is not known. There were two students named Clarence N. Johnson who attended Waller High School. The Chicago Daily Tribune, January 29, 1915, said one graduated the two-year vocational course. The Tribune, June 23, 1916, listed the same name under the four-year commercial course.

On September 12, 1918, twenty-year-old Johnson signed his draft card. He was a printer at R. R. Donnelly. Johnson’s description was medium height, slender build, blue eyes and brown hair.

The 1920 census said Johnson lived with his parents at the same address. He was a printer.

Johnson married Marjorie May Stewart on April 9, 1927 in Evanston, Illinois. The Chicago Tribune, April 11, published a photograph of the bride. The 1927 Evanston city directory listed the couple at 911 Elmwood Avenue. Johnson worked in advertising.

Johnson has not yet been found in the 1930 census. He was not listed in the 1931 Evanston directory.

Art Director Johnson and his wife were Chicago residents at 25 East Bellevue Place. The 1940 census said he was in the advertising industry and earned $3,900 in 1939.

On February 16, 1942, Johnson signed his draft card. His address was unchanged. Johnson’s description was five feet eleven inches, 168 pounds, hazel eyes and brown hair.

The Art Directors Club of Chicago published their ADCC Record of Advertising Art in 1944. Johnson, art director at Reincke-Ellis-Younggreen & Finn, had four advertisements represented in the book. (The New York Times, December 25, 1945, said the agency’s name would change, effective on January 1, to Reincke, Meyer & Finn.)

Fifty-two-year-old Johnson had the same address in the 1950 census. (On the same enumeration sheet was cartoonist Dick Fletcher who lived a block south on Oak Street.)

Johnson had letters published in numerous publications including the Congressional Record of the Senate on July 25, 1950.

I am, and have been for the last 24 years, art director for Reincke, Meyer & Finn, advertising, 520 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Ill. I am a veteran of the First World War and during World War II was sponsor for a Japanese alien for the United States Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization.

Martin K. Speckter wrote about creating the interrobang in Type Talks, March-April 1962. The article included three interpretations by Martin K. Speckter Associates, Inc. art director, Jack Lipton. Johnson’s three designs appeared in the October 1967 issue of Art Direction.

Johnson passed away on April 6, 1975 and laid to rest at Windsor Congregational Cemetery. The Chicago Sun-Times, April 8, 1975, published an obituary.

Clarence N. (Jim) Johnson, 77, a retired advertising agency official, died Sunday in Grant Hospital.

Until retiring in 1969, Mr. Johnson, of 2247 N. Geneva, was art director of Reincke Meyer & Finn Inc., 625 N. Michigan. He was a director of the Mid-North Assn., a Lincoln Park neighborhood group, and editor of the association’s newsletter.

Surviving are his widow, Marna, and a bother, Raymond H.

There will be no visitation or services.

Further Reading
You Call that a Punctuation Mark?! The Interrobang Celebrates its 50th Birthday

Interrobang, Part 2: Jack Lipton, Designer and Art Director

Interrobang, Part 3: Larry Ottino, Lettering Artist, Designer and Art Director

Interrobang, Part 4: Joe Carter, Lettering Artist and Calligrapher

Interrobang, Part 6, Kenneth Wright, Graphic Designer

Interrobang, Part 7: Richard Isbell, Lettering Artist

(Updated November 17, 2025. Next post on Monday: Interrobang, Part 6, Kenneth Wright, Graphic Designer)

Monday, October 27, 2025

Interrobang, Part 4: Joe Carter, Lettering Artist and Calligrapher

Joseph “Joe” Carter Jr. was born on March 14, 1902 in Maryport, England according to his World War II draft card. On September 8, 1906, four-year-old Carter and his parents, Joseph, a carpenter, and Isabella, were aboard the ship Caledonia when it departed Scotland. They arrived at the Port of New York on September 16.

Carter’s father began the naturalization process on November 30, 1908. He filed his Declaration of Intention in Chicago, Illinois, where his address was 1642 Berenice Avenue. He was naturalized on December 27, 1912.

The 1910 United States Census counted eight-year-old Carter and his parents in Chicago at 4855 Berenice Avenue.

According to the 1920 census, Carter was a commercial artist employed at a directory business. The 1936 publication, 27 Chicago Designers, had a photograph of Carter who was a

graduate of the School for Apprentices and worked in the Art Department of R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company—also under the direction of William A. Kittredge in the Design Department of that concern. He is now associated with Paul Ressinger, having joined him in 1924.

In the 1930 census, Carter had the same occupation and worked in a design studio. He lived with his parents.

Carter was member of the Society of Typographic Arts (STA). His name appeared in an STA announcement reproduced in The Inland Printer, April 1931. Carter was involved in the 1937 A.I.G.A. annual exhibit, Commercial Printing of the Year. He became an STA Fellow in 1939.

The 1940 census said Carter, 38, was a self-employed commercial artist who had one year of college education. The Chicago Design Archive said Carter, for a time, was with Lettering Incorporated which began in 1939.

On February 16, 1942, Carter signed his draft card. He had the same home address. His office address was 75 East Wacker Drive which was the Mather Tower. Carter’s description was five feet eight inches, 165 pounds, blue eyes and blonde hair.

The Inland Printer, November 1944, reproduced one of Carter’s STA citations. Carter was mentioned in Print magazines here, here and here.

Carter’s father died on August 20, 1945, and mother April 8, 1947.

In 1950 Carter lived alone at the same address. He had his own business and worked in advertising.

Martin K. Speckter wrote about the creating the interrobang in Type Talks, March-April 1962. The article included three interpretations by Martin K. Speckter Associates, Inc. art director, Jack Lipton. Carter’s interrobang design was included in the next issue. His design also appeared in the October 1967 issue of Art Direction.

Carter was mentioned in the following books.

Calligraphy & Handwriting in America 1710–1962 (1963)
Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science: Volume 4, Calligraphy to Church Libraries (1970)
With Respect to RFD (1978)
Calligraphy, a Sourcebook (1982)

Carter passed away on November 12, 1979 in Chicago.

Further Reading

You Call that a Punctuation Mark?! The Interrobang Celebrates its 50th Birthday

Interrobang, Part 2: Jack Lipton, Designer and Art Director

Interrobang, Part 3: Larry Ottino, Lettering Artist, Designer and Art Director

Interrobang, Part 5: Clarence Noel Johnson, Art Director

Interrobang, Part 6, Kenneth Wright, Graphic Designer

Interrobang, Part 7: Richard Isbell, Lettering Artist

(Updated November 17, 2025. Next post on Friday: Happy Halloween)