Tuesday, November 21, 2017

 

Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: John Jarvis


John W. Jarvis was born in Geneva, Illinois, on July 3, 1918. Jarvis’s birth date is from a family tree at Ancestry.com, and his birthplace is based on his father’s World War I draft card which said he resided n Geneva.

The 1920 U.S. Federal Census recorded Jarvis as the only child of Frank and Estella. His father was an agent for a tea company. The trio lived in Geneva at 1030 First Street.

The address was the same and Jarvis had a brother, Francis, in the 1930 census.

A profile at Syracuse University Library (SUL) said Jarvis “sold his first cartoon while still in high school for five dollars to Health and Strength magazine. After graduating high school in 1936, Jarvis studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and the Chicago School of Professional Art. Javis taught at the Chicago School of Professional Art before serving over three years with the Air Force during World War II. While in the military, several of his cartoons were published in Yank magazine.”

During World War II, Jarvis enlisted on June 2, 1942.

According to the Kane County Chronicle (St. Charles, Illinois), November 21, 2015, after the war Jarvis “worked for the Western Newspaper Union (WNU) in Frankfort, Kentucky where he met his wife, Thelma Lee.”

American Newspaper Comics (2012) said Jarvis drew Inklings for WNU from December 25, 1947 to February 23, 1950. He also produced Mayor McGup, from 1948 to 1955, for the National Weekly Newspaper Service.

SUL said Jarvis was laid off and he returned to Geneva. In 1953 Jarvis went to work at the Aurora Beacon News where he drew editorial cartoons and advertisements. The Chronicle said Jarvis retired thirty years later.

The 1956 and 1958 St. Charles, Illinois city directories listed Jarvis as a cartoonist at “29 Oak G”.

Jarvis’s cartoons appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, Colliers, Parade, Look, Esquire and others.

The Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois), May 7, 2006, said Jarvis and artist Al Ochsner held a cartooning workshop “Geneva Toons” for children in grades sixth through 12. His art was shown at the Geneva History Center as part of the “Art and Artists in Geneva’s History” exhibit.

Jarvis passed away October 30, 2015, in Geneva, according to the Chronicle.



—Alex Jay

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Comments:
another mystery:

what if anything can you say about Fred Zumwalt?
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Cartoons_by_Fred_Zumwalt

- some wikipedia person
 
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