Tenth Letter of the Alphabet

Monday, August 8, 2016

Calligraphy: Edward Gentile

Edward Gentile
born July 20, 1890, Chicago, Illinois; also known as Edward Gentle

Art Institute of Chicago
Student from 1911–1912

North American Newspaper, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Commercial artist, 1914

Studio of Design and Lettering, New York City
1914–1917

Freelance Artist

1919–1930

World War I Draft Card
Name: Edward Gentle
Address: Shiller Park, Cook County, lllinois
Occupation: Artist, Ethridge Company, 200 South State, Chicago
Height/Build: Short/Slender
Color of Eyes/Hair: Brown/Brown
Signature: June 5, 1917

Balloon Corps, American Expeditionary Forces
Panoramic draftsman, 1918–1919

Cook County, Illinois, Marriage Index
Name: Edward Gentle
Age: 29
Marriage Date: December 16, 1919
Marriage Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois
Spouse Name: Ruth R. Running
Spouse Age: 22

1923 Chicago, Illinois, City Directory
Name: Edward Gentle
Occupation: Artist
Street address: 140 S Dearborn
Telephone: Sta 6561

The Inland Printer
April 1925
“Decorative Design and Lettering”
Eight-page feature of Gentile’s work

The Inland Printer
October 1925
page 114: Our Cover Designer
We asked Edward Gentle, designer of the cover for this volume of The Inland Printer, where he found the material for his design and just what style or period it represented. Mr. Gentle told us that back in 1914 he was browsing around in an old book store in New York, in search of material, when the old bookseller said to him: “Mr. Gentle, I have an old book lying around here that maybe you can get something out of.” with that he brought forth an old book, printed in Paris in the early nineteenth century. The book appears to be of the nature of a private edition, the title page containing the following:

Recueil

de Meubles

dans le Style du 16 Siecle

dedie a

son Altesse Royale

la Princesse Clementine

d’Orleans

—

a Paria

Cher. Deflorenne Editeur

Quai de l’ Ecole, No.

In this book are illustrations of friezes, facades and various ornamentation of the French Renaissance period. It is from this rare old book that Mr. Gentle obtained his ideas. Mr. Gentle is a well known decorative illustrator of Chicago. Examples of his work appeared in the April issue of The Inland Printer.

Eastern Edition of Advertising Arts and Crafts
Lee & Kirby, 127
page 244: Gentle, Edward, 10 East Huron, Del 3475 Chicago, Ill. Allegorical, Animals, Arch. Rendering, Borders, Decoration, Decorative Wash, Design, Direct by Mail Art, Figure, Historical Subjects, Interiors, Landscapes, Layout...

The Italians in Chicago: A Study in Americanization
Giovanni Ermenegildo Schiavo
Italian American Publishing Company, 1928
page 97: Thirty-first Annual Exhibition by artists of Chicago and vicinity at the Art Institute of Chicago, February 5, to March 8, 1927:
…Edward Gentile, The Spirit of Culver.

American Art Directory
Volume 27
R.R. Bowker, 1930
page 529: Gentle, Edward, 3 East Ontario St.; Chicago, Ill.; h. Grand Ave. and Ruby St., Franklin Park, Ill.
Des., illumination—Born Chicago, July 20, 1890. Pupil of AIC.

American Art Annual
Volume 28
MacMillan Company, 1931
page 547: Gentle, Edward, 224 West Superior St., Chicago; 339 Harrison St., Oak Park, Ill. P., I., C, T.—Born Chicago, Ill., July 20, 1890. Self-taught. Works: Cover designs for “Compton’s Pictured Encyclopedia” and “Our Wonder World,” and coat of arms. Specialty, illuminated manuscripts.

American Art Annual
Volume 29
MacMillan Company, 1932
page 455: Gentle, Edward, 224 West Superior St., Chicago; 339 Harrison St., Oak Park, Ill. P., I., C, T.—Born Chicago, Ill., July 20, 1890. Self-taught. Works: Cover designs for “Compton’s Pictured Encyclopedia” and “Our Wonder World,” and coat of arms. Specialty, illuminated manuscripts.

p496: Gentle, Edward, 224 West Superior St., Chicago, Ill.
Illumination—See biog. notes in Directory of Graphic Artists.

Who’s Who in American Art
Volume 1
R. R. Bowker, 1935
page 203: Gentle, Edward, 109 North Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, Ill.
Des., Dr.—Born Chicago, Ill., July 20, 1890. Self-taught. Works: Cover designs for “Compton’s Pictured Encyclopedia” and “Our Wonder World,” and coat of arms. Specialty, illuminated manuscripts.

1940 United States Federal Census
Name: Edward Gentle
Age: 49
Birthplace: Illinois
Home in 1940: Oak Park, Cook, Illinois
Street: 109 North Oak Park Avenue
Residence in 1935: Same Place
Occupation: Art Supervisor
House Owned or Rented: Rented
Value of Home or Monthly Rental if Rented: 30
Attended School or College: No
Highest Grade Completed: High School, 1st year
Duration of Unemployment: 6
Class of Worker: Wage or salary worker in Government work
Weeks Worked in 1939: 52
Income: 1128
Income Other Sources: Yes
Household Members:
Name / Age
Edward Gentle, 49
Ruth R Gentle, 43
Amadeus Gentle, 19
Urania Gentle, 16

World War II Draft Registration Card
Name: Edward Gentle
Age: 52
Birth Date: 20 Jul 1890
Birth Place: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Residence: Oak Park, Illinois, USA
Address: 109 North Oak Park Avenue
Employer: Illinois Art and Craft Project, 679 North Wells, Chicago
Height/Weight: 5’ 3.5” / 120 lbs
Eyes/Hair: Brown/Black
Signature: April 27, 1942

The Christian Science Monitor
February 16, 1946
“All-But-Lost Art Revived”

Buffalo Courier-Express
(New York)
March 27, 1946
“Revives Medieval Art”

The Boston Herald
(Massachusetts)
September 8, 1946
“Revives Medieval Art”

The World-Herald
(Omaha, Nebraska)
September 26, 1946
“Ex-WPA Artist Spurns $35,000”

The Medieval Art of Illumination as Applied to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
Fine Arts Print Guild, 1946
Promotional brochure

Who’s Who in America

Volume 34 (1966–1967)
Marquis Who's Who, 1967
page 763: Gentile, Edward, designer, illuminator; b. Chicago, Ill., July 20, 1890; a. Joseph and Mary (Tise) G.; student Art Inst., Chicago, 1911–12; m Ruth R. Running, Dec. 16, 1919; children—Amadeus Edward, Urania Ruth. Commercial artist North American Newspaper, Phila., Pa., 1914; with Studio of Design and Lettering, N.Y. City, 1914–17; free lance artist, 1919–30; manuscript illuminator from 1930. Served as panoramic draftsman Balloon Corps, A.E.F., 1918–19. Paintings extensively displayed in Chicago by U.S. Treasury Dept. in war bond sales. Designs reproduced by The Inland Printer, 1925. Exhibitor at Art Inst. Chicago, Marshall Field Galleries, All-Ill. Soc., one-man show Chicago Galleries, one man exhibit, Town Club. Address: 832 Wisconsin, Oak Park Ill.

Who Was Who in America, 1969–1973
Marquis Who's Who, 1973
page 265: same as above except address, “Oak Park IL” and addition of death date, “Died Aug. 4, 1968”

Kankakee County, Illinois Death Index
Name: Edward Gentle
Death Date: August 4, 1968

Social Security Death Index
Name: Edward Gentle
Last Residence: 60202 Evanston, Cook, Illinois, USA
Born: 20 Jul 1890
Died: Aug 1968

(Next post on Monday: X-Force Logo)

Monday, August 1, 2016

Street Scene: Diamond Building

• N E W Y O R K C I T Y •

137–141 Duane Street, Manhattan

(New post on Monday: Edward Gentile)

Monday, July 25, 2016

Comics: Searching for Gary Keller, Part 1

This profile has been updated here. The biographical information in “The Search Begins” is about a different person.

Here is what is known about Gary Keller, Timely Comics letterer and production artist.

Heritage Auctions

Timely Comics Staff, Hotel Astor, New York City.
Stan Lee recalls, “On August 14, 1942 Martin Goodman, owner and publisher of Timely Comics, together with Lloyd Jacquet, owner of Funnies Incorporated, took their staffs to see Walt Disney’s new animated feature “Bambi,” because they were producing comics at the time which featured animated cartoon characters, and because those comics were proving to be very profitable. After the movie, Martin and Lloyd took some of their staffs to dinner at New York’s Hotel Astor to celebrate the occasion. (Note: Lloyd Jacquet’s Funnies Incorporated was a studio whose artists provided stories and artwork to various comic book publishers, including Martin Goodman.) While I can’t remember all the names, the ones I can identify are —Left side (from the bottom moving up), all Timely unless otherwise labeled: Ernie Hart, editor, writer, and artist; Vince Alascia, inker of adventure strips; Mario Acquaviva, letterer; unknown; Moe Worth, animation artist; Dick LaScalzo; Ray Gill, writer and Funnies Inc. executive; Stan Lee; Jim Fitzsimmons, Funnies Inc. business executive; Frank Torpey, Martin Goodman's friend and “man Friday”; Lloyd Jacquet, Funnies Inc. owner; Center: Martin Goodman, Timely publisher and owner; Right side (from the top moving down): George Klein, penciler and inker; Don Rico, editor, writer, and artist; Ed Winiarski, penciler; Mike Sekowsky, penciler; Syd Shores, penciler and inker; Bill King, layout artist; Dennis Neville, penciler; Jim Mooney, penciler and inker; and Gary Keller, letterer and Head of Production.”

The photograph was published in Gentleman Jim Mooney (2011).

Alter Ego

#11, November 2001
“A Conversation with Vince Fago”
Interview conducted by Jim Amash
II. A Timely Change

JA: Who worked on staff then?
Fago: Mike Sekowsky. Ed Winiarski. Gary Keller was a production assistant and letterer. Ernest Hart and Kin Platt were writers, but they worked freelance; Hart also drew. George Klein, Syd Shores, Vince Alascia, Dave Gantz, and Chris Rule were there, too.

Alter Ego

#32, May 2004
“A Timely Talk With Allen Bellman”
Allen Bellman interviewed by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo

MV: Do you remember Gary Keller?
AB: Yes. Gary was a manager of some sort. He had glasses and walked around. My goodness, I haven’t thought about him in 60 years! This really takes me way back. While I can’t really put a finger on exactly what Gary did I do recall that he was a very nice man.

Alter Ego

#90, December 2009“I Wrote Over 800 comic Book Stories”

Leon Lazarus interviewed by Jim Amash

JA: Who hired you to be a letterer?
Leon: Gary Keller. He was in charge of the production department; gray haired…he was an old guy….

Grand Comics Database

List of credits

Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999

Comics career; pen name: Gary Kay

THE SEARCH BEGINS

Using Ancestry.com, I found a long list of Gary Kellers but none were artists or designers. Perhaps the name Gary was a middle name or nickname. So I removed the first name from the search box then added “artist” in the keyword box. A much shorter list of names appeared and one name stood out: Theodore Keller. I’m not saying this person is Gary Keller but his occupation and location make him the leading candidate. Here is what I found at Ancestry.com.

Theodore Keller was born in Lake View, Cook County, Illinois, on January 19, 1888. His parents were Georg Fred Keller, 41, and Lina Franke, 35, both German emigrants.

The 1900 U.S. Federal Census recorded Keller and his older brother, George, 13, in the household of Gustav Huth who was married and had two daughters. There appears to be no relation between the Kellers and Huths. The status and whereabouts of Keller’s parents is not known.

Keller and his brother have not yet been found in the 1910 census.

A 1916 New York, New York city directory had two listings for Keller. He was in the residential section and in the business section under the artists category. His address was 5 West 36th Street in Manhattan. In the 1917 directory Keller’s address was 106 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.

On June 5, 1917, Keller signed his World War I draft card. He and his unnamed wife resided at 349 East 19 Street in Manhattan. His occupation was self-employed commercial artist. Keller said he had some military service in Illinois as a private in the 1st Infantry. His description was medium height, stout build with brown eyes and hair.

According to the 1920 census, Keller lived with his wife, Mary, and fifteen-year-old son, George, in Manhattan at 129 East 23rd Street. Keller was a self-employed artist.

The Kellers’ Manhattan address was 39 1/2 Washington Square South in the 1930 census. Keller was a freelance artist working in the magazine industry. Keller illustrated Alice Dinsmoor’s book, The Goodwins, which was published in 1931.

In the 1940 census, Manhattanite Keller and family were at 407 West 22nd Street. Keller worked as a self-employed commercial artist. His highest level of education was the eight grade.

Keller signed his World War II draft card on April 26, 1942. He made his home in Whitestone, Queens County, New York, at 12-58 150th Street. His height was five feet seven inches and weight 145 pounds. On the lines for the name and address of employer, and place of emplyment, was written “None”.

Timely artist Bob Deschamps was interviewed by Jim Amash in Alter Ego #20, January 2003. Deschamps said

Well, I started at Timely Comics as a messenger/office boy. Gary Keller lived on my block in Forest Hills and I showed him some of my work. He said there was an opening for an office boy at Timely Comics. I said I’d be interested in that, and that’s how I got started at Timely….Eventually, I took some stuff to Stan Lee, who liked it and said, “Okay, Monday morning you start here as a staff inker.”…

This was shortly after World War II, in 1945.…I learned to do thick and thin lines with a brush. People like Al Sulman and Gary Keller helped teach me….

In Alter Ego #104, August 2011, Jim Amash interviewed Al Sulman.

Jim Amash: There was another guy—I guess he worked in the production department. His name was Gary Keller.

Al Sulman: I didn’t [have much contact with him]. I think he was in charge of the letterers. He used to assign artwork to certain letterers to ink and letter. The artists would put in the lettering in pencil, of course, and the letterers would ink it over. And Gary sort of supervised that.

What became of Keller is not known. He has not been found in the Social Security Death Index.

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, Mel Millar, Jim Novak, 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

(Updated September 19, 2017; next post on Monday: Diamond Building)

Monday, July 18, 2016

Anatomy of a Logo: Spyke

On Monday, January 4, 1993, Epic Comics editor Marie Javins contacted me about doing a new version of the logo, Spike, which would be spelled Spyke. She sent a two-page fax of the logo and cover. I don’t know who designed the logo.

I sketched out three designs. Below are two variations of one letterform: pointed-bottoms and a horizontal spike.

This sketch developed into a symmetrical design with points on the ends and in the middle.

These three designs were faxed to Marie on Tuesday, January 5th.

Marie called Wednesday, January 6th. She chose the first design and suggested simplifying the horizontal bars under the letters. Below are the enlarged photocopy of the grid, the tight pencil drawing and the finished art. The logo measures 3.5625 x 12.5625 inches / 9.05 x 31.91 centimeters. The logo was delivered Monday, January 11, 1993.