Creator: A Few Details About John Alcorn, Illustrator and Designer

John Earle Alcorn was born on February 10, 1935 in Corona, New York. His parents were Herbert Melville Alcorn (1908–1992) and Mabel A. Comotto (1912–1996), who married on April 14, 1934 in Corona. Alcorn’s middle name was the first name of his paternal grandfather.

The 1940 United States Census counted Alcorn, his parents and maternal grandmother, Mary Comotto, in Corona at 35-14 98th Street. Alcorn’s father was a statistician with an insurance company. Alcorn’s father signed his World War II draft draft on October 16, 1940. His Corona address was the same. He was employed by the New York Life Insurance Company. Two years later, he enlisted in the National Guard on October 13, 1942. His address was 84 Lakeville Road in Great Neck, New York.
 

In the 1950 census, fifteen-year-old Alcorn, his parents, two brothers, Richard and Robert, and grandmother resided in North Hempstead, New York at 84 Bates Road. Alcorn was a student at Great Neck North High School where he was on the soccer team.

Alcorn in front row, second from left; 1951 Arista yearbook

Alcorn continued his education at Cooper Union. Illustrators of Children’s Books, 1957–1966 said his instructors included Philip Grushkin, George Salter and Jerome Kuhl. Alcorn was on the art staff of the 1954–1955 Cable yearbook which said

Beneath John’s quiet and clean cut exterior breathes a creative spirit. He is lasting proof that a lad with a Coca-Cola facade can be more than a stereotyped artist. His designs as well as his personality contain a freshness and exuberance that have won him Phyllis as well as a good future.

Alcorn graduated in 1955. According to the Daily Times (Mamaroneck, New York), January 30, 1992, Alcorn married Phyllis Crescenzi on June 25, 1955 in New York City where three sons, Thomas, John and Stephen, were born; the fourth, Kenneth, in New York state. The newspaper said

... Mr. Alcorn was a member of the Push Pin Studio in Manhattan from 1955 to 1956. From 1957 to 1962, he was art director with CBS radio and television. ...

... He lived in New York City from 1955 to 1958, in Dobbs Ferry from 1958 to 1961, in Ossining from 1961 to 1971, in Florence, Italy, from 1971 to 1977 and in Cold Spring from 1977 to 1983, when he moved to Lyme, Conn[ecticut].

American Artist, September 1958, “The Push Pin Studios”

 

Books! (1962)

Wood (circa 1964)

 

Writing! (1964)

The 44th Annual of Advertising & Editorial Art & Design (1965)

A Letter to Anywhere (1965)

 

Wonderful Time (1966)

 

Citizen Register (Ossining, New York), April 15, 1967

 

Art Direction, October 1967

The Citizen Register, February 10, 1970, reported Alcorn’s medal from the Cooper Union Alumni Association.

Jerome Snyder profiled Alcorn for the graphic design publication, Graphis, number 153, 1971.

CBS

 

Wood 2 (circa 1970)

It’s Hard to Be Hip Over Thirty and

Other Tragedies of Married Life (1970)

People & Other Aggravations (1971

 

People & Other Aggravations (1972)

 

How Did I Get to Be 40 & Other Atrocities (1976)

 

Love & Guilt & The Meaning of Life, Etc. (1979)

 

Alcorn’s love stamp was reported in The Day (New London, Connecticut), January 15, 1987.

Alcorn passed away on January 27, 1992. An obituary appeared in The Day, January 29.

John Alcorn
Lyme—John Earle Alcorn, 56, of 243 Hamburg Cove, died Monday at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London.

He was born Feb. 10, 1935, in New York City, the son of Herbert and Mabel Comotto Alcorn of Essex.

Mr. Alcorn was a self-employed graphic artist.

He married the former Phyllis Crescenzi in 1955 in New York.

Besides his parents and his wife, he is survived by three sons, John H. Alcorn of Palermo, Italy, Stephen J. Alcorn of Cambridge, N.Y., and Kenneth E. Alcorn of Greenwich; two brothers, Richard Alcorn of New York City and Robert Alcorn of Wading River, Long Island, N.Y.; and four grandchildren.

He was predeceased by one son, Thomas J. Alcorn.

The funeral service and burial will be private. There are no calling hours.

Byles Memorial Home, 99 Huntington St., New London, is in charge of arrangements.

Donations in his memory may be directed to a charity of the donor’s choice.

Reports of his passing appeared in The New York Times, February 2, 1992 and The Hartford Courant, February 3, 1992.

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Larry Ottino, Lettering Artist

 

 

Further Reading and Viewing
The Alcorn Studio & Gallery
John Alcorn: Evolution by Design, website and book
The Cooper Union Alumni Association
The Cooper Union, Coopermade: Fellini Film Titles

Print, The Daily Heller
1F mediaproject
Melt
Lubalin 100, Lubalin in Paris
Typography 35: The Annual of the Type Directors Club (2014)
The Push Pin Graphic: A Quarter Century of Innovative Design and Illustration (2004)
Third Book of Junior Authors
Something About the Author Volume 31; errata: Alcorn was not the subject in Newsweek, June 10, 1963. The article was about the painter, John Wagner Alcorn.
Wikipedia


(Next post on Monday: Delores Heilman, Letterer and Colorist)

Comics: Al Allard, Art Director

 

 

Albert Pierre “Al” Allard was born on May 24, 1904, in Minneapolis, Minnesota according to the Minnesota Births Index, at Ancestry.com, and his World War II draft card. His parents were Edward George Allard and Isabella Mary La Fore.

The 1905 Minnesota state census recorded Allard (line 37) and and his parents in Minneapolis. His father was a railroad conductor.

 

In the 1910 Unites States Census, Allard (line 63) and his parents resided at 3311 Fifth Avenue in Minneapolis. 

 

 

Ten years later, the census said Allard (line 48), his parents and brother, Edward, made their home at 4427 Pillsbury Avenue in Minneapolis. 

 

In 1923, Allard graduated from Central High School. He was the art editor of the 1923 yearbook, Centralian, and contributed several illustrations and decorative designs.

On May 1, 1926, Allard married Garnett A. Johnson. In the 1930 census, the couple (lines 12 and 13) were Minneapolis residents at 308 Fremont Avenue South. (The 1930 Minneapolis city directory listed apartment 304.) Allard was an artist working for a publisher. 

 

 

Allard’s employer was Fawcett Publications which moved its offices to New York City and Greenwich, Connecticut in the mid-1930s.

The Star-Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota), August 9, 1994, said

    Allard … graduated from the old Central High School. In the late 1920s he worked in the theater district around Hennepin Av. in downtown Minneapolis. It consisted of 16 live-entertainment theaters. … While attending Central, Allard was a paint boy at a Minneapolis scenery studio. He worked in advertising and promotion at the Orpheum and State theaters for several years before he became art director for Fawcett Publications, started by William Fawcett in Robbinsdale.

    Allard and Vogel Albinson established Fawcett’s art department, which published the magazine “Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang.” It was small enough to fit into a shirt pocket. In 1934 Allard moved with Fawcett to New York …

In a May 2026 email to me, P.C. Hamerlinck (Fawcett Collectors of America) wrote

In the past I had asked a few Fawcett comics creators who was responsible for designing the outstanding title logos for Fawcett’s comics and magazines, and everyone said it was Allard who created them.

According to the 1940 census, Allard (line 28), his wife and son were Greenwich residents at 17 Richmond Drive. In 1935 they lived in Pelham Manor, Westchester County, New York. Allard was an art director.

 

On February 16, 1942, Allard signed his World War II draft card. His address was 16 Richmond Drive, Greenwich, Connecticut. Fawcett Publications was his employer. Allard was described as five feet nine inches, 180 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.

In Alter Ego #2, Autumn 1999, and The Alter Ego Collection Volume 1 (2006), Richard Deane Taylor explained how he met Allard.

    … During my junior year in high school, a Dr. [Alexander] Aposdorf [sic], having seen some of my illustrated and lettered notebooks, suggested I get in touch with Frank Taggart at Fawcett Publications and show him my work. Taggart was a former student of Dr. Aposdorf and a graduate of Brooklyn Technical High School where I attended. I called him a few days later and he invited me to come up and see him at Fawcett’s offices with samples of my work. He looked at my portfolio with great interest, but what caught his eye was my lettering. At Tech we were required to letter all our notebooks and, needless to say, after three years of lettering, I could letter faster than I could write.

    Taggart was so enthused with the quality of my work that he suggested we both go in and meet with Fawcett’s art director, Al Allard. Upon reviewing my lettering samples, he asked if I would be interested in doing some speedball lettering for Fawcett. …

Allard was pictured in the Fawcett Publishing advertisement which ran in Advertising Age, September 14, 1942.

The 1950 census said art director Allard (line 25) and his family lived on Hendric Lane in Greenwich.

 

Allard was mentioned in Art Director & Studio News, November 1953.

Minneapolis starts with exhibit
    The AD Club opened the season with an exhibit of layouts and finished art for True Magazine. Al Allard, AD of True furnished the art work shown.

    Besides plans for future meetings, a committee was formed to entertain and paint murals in children’s hospitals.

Art Direction, March 1957, profiled Allard.

Allard’s art direction covered Fawcett’s numerous magazines including Modern Mechanix (retitled Mechanix Illustrated, June 1938), Battle Stories, Cavalier, Daring Detective, Dynamic Detective, Hollywood, Motion Picture, Movie Story, Rudder, Screen Secrets, Secrets, Triple-X Western, True, and Woman’s Day, and the mass market paperback line Gold Medal Books.

After 36 years at Fawcett, Allard returned to Minnesota where he retired in 1970.

Allard passed away on August 4, 1994, in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. He was laid to rest at Lakewood Cemetery.

Further Reading

Todd’s Blog, Al Allard and the Fawcett Logos Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

 

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(Next post on Monday: Morgan Press Wood Type Supplement Number One)