Dick Cavalli
{{Short description|American cartoonist (1923–1997)}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| image =
| imagesize =
| caption =
| birth_name = Richard A. Cavalli
| birth_place = New York City, US
| death_place = New Canaan, Connecticut, US
| pencil = y
| ink = y
| alias =
| notable works = Morty Meekle, Winthrop
| awards =
| subcat =
| birth_date={{Birth date|1923|9|23}}
| death_date={{Death date and age|1997|10|16|1923|9|23}}
}}
Richard A. Cavalli (September 28, 1923 – October 16, 1997)[https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JKPR-M2H Richard A. Cavalli] at the U.S. Social Security Death Index via FamilySearch.og. Retrieved on October 15, 2015. [https://web.archive.org/web/20151208065831/https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JKPR-M2H Archived] from the original on December 8, 2015. was an American commercial illustrator and cartoonist best known for the comic strips Morty Meekle and its successor, Winthrop, which consecutively were syndicated to newspapers from 1956 to 1994.
Biography
Cavalli was born and educated in New York City.{{cite web |url=http://www.reuben.org/ncs/members/memorium/cavalli.jpg |title=Dick Cavalli |publisher=National Cartoonists Society |accessdate=October 13, 2015 |archivedate=March 4, 2016 |first=Dick |last=Cavalli |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060748/http://www.reuben.org/ncs/members/memorium/cavalli.jpg |url-status=live }} He did military service in World War II, seeing combat with the Air Force Ground Groups and the infantry in France, Luxembourg and Germany.[https://www.lambiek.net/artists/c/cavalli_dick.htm Dick Cavalli] at the Lambiek Comiclopedia. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150922134329/https://www.lambiek.net/artists/c/cavalli_dick.htm Archived] from the original on October 13, 2015. On his return to the U.S., he did pen and ink drawing of fossilized specimens for the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, and studied cartooning at the Cartoonists & Illustrators School, where he was in the first graduating class.{{cite web |url=http://www.svaarchives.org/timeline.html |title=Archives |publisher=School of Visual Arts |accessdate=October 14, 2015 |archivedate=September 18, 2015 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150918080634/http://www.svaarchives.org/timeline.html |url-status=live }}
File:Winthrop comic-strip example 1972.jpg
His gag cartoons in magazines including The Saturday Evening Post and Collier's,
Ms., Working Woman, and The Atlantic Monthly. had achieved such popularity by 1956 that Writer's Digest observed he had "risen to the top faster than any other cartoonist in the business."Wepman, Dennis, in {{cite book | editor-last=Horn|editor-first=Maurice|editor-link=Maurice Horn|title= 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics|publisher=Gramercy Books|location= New York City; Avenel, New Jersey|year= 1996|isbn=978-0-517-12447-5|pages= 395–396, Winthrop (entry)}} That year he became one of the founding 10 cartoonists, alongside Al Capp, Milton Caniff, and others, to be affiliated with the Famous Artists Cartoon Course correspondence course, a spinoff of the Famous Artists School.{{cite news| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=a-EDAAAAMBAJ&q=Famous+Artists+Cartoon+Course+cavalli&pg=PA23 | title= Send in your best cartoon for Free evaluation! | publisher= Famous Artists Cartoon Course advertisement, Popular Mechanics | date= May 1956|page =23}}
On January 9, 1956, Cavalli launched Newspaper Enterprise Association's syndicated comic strip Morty Meekle, featuring the courtship of the title character and his girlfriend, Jill Wortle.[http://toonopedia.com/meekle.htm Morty Meekle (Winthrop)] at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. [https://archive.today/20150310011035/http://toonopedia.com/meekle.htm Archived] from the original on March 10, 2015. The strip gradually began emphasizing what comics historian Maurice Horn called its "background chorus of snide youngsters with a perceptive take on the human condition." On February 27, 1966, Cavalli removed the adult characters and renamed the strip Winthrop, after Jill's kid brother, the most prominent of the young social critics. The strip ended on May 14, 1994.
Additionally, from 1982 to 1983, he was the successor cartoonist on the comic strip Norbert, taking over from creator George Fett.
Personal life
Cavalli and his wife, Helen, had two daughters, Tory and Cassie. He died October 16, 1997 of a heart attack, having suffered at least two previously.{{cite news|url=http://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/Dumas-A-friend-who-could-write-and-letter-with-338522.php |title=A friend who could write, and letter, with style |first=Jerry |last=Dumas |authorlink=Jerry Dumas |work=Greenwich Time |location=Connecticut |date=January 27, 2010 |accessdate=October 15, 2015 |archivedate=October 15, 2015 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015220003/http://www.greenwichtime.com/local/article/Dumas-A-friend-who-could-write-and-letter-with-338522.php |url-status=bot: unknown }} Additional . He was living in New Canaan, Connecticut, at the time of his death.
Bibliography
- Winthrop: A Strip Coloring Book (Saalfield Publishing Company, Book # 2915 : Akron, Ohio, 1968).{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CCshAQAAIAAJ&q=%22winthrop+coloring+book%22+%22cavalli%2C+dick%22+authorized&pg=PA2500 | page= 1805| title= Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1968: July-December| year= 1971| publisher= US Copyright Office, Library of Congress}} Reprints daily strips originally published 1966–1968.{{cite web |url=http://comics.lib.msu.edu/rri/crri/cav.htm |title=Cavalli, Dick, 1923- > Winthrop : a strip coloring book |publisher=Michigan State University Libraries Special Collections Division: Reading Room Index to the Comic Art Collection: "Cavagnoli" to "Cavco" |accessdate=October 13, 2015 |archivedate=March 5, 2016 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305145842/http://comics.lib.msu.edu/rri/crri/cav.htm |url-status=live }}
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite news| title= Dick Cavalli and Winthrop| work=Cartoonews | issue=10|date= 1976|pages=23–24}}
External links
- [https://osucartoons.pastperfectonline.com/vocabulary?keyword=Cavalli%2C+Richard+%28Dick%29%2C+1923-1997&letter=C&searchtype=creator&showsearch=true Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Art Database]
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Category:American comics artists
Category:American comic strip cartoonists