Ernie Bushmiller
Encyclopedia
Ernest Paul Bushmiller, Jr. (23 August 1905 - 15 August 1982) was an American cartoonist, best known for creating the long-running daily comic strip
Nancy
.
Born in The Bronx
, New York
, Bushmiller was the son of immigrant parents, and his father was an artist. Bushmiller quit school at 14 to work as a copy boy at the New York World
newspaper. At night, he took art classes at the National Academy of Design
.
Bushmiller introduced Nancy, Fritzi's niece, to the strip on January 2, 1933. The character proved popular, so she appeared more often. As Aunt Fritzi was seen less frequently, the strip was eventually retitled Nancy
in 1938. The popular strip was translated into various languages, including Italian, German, Swedish and Norwegian. Phil Fumble was a Bushmiller strip which ran from 1932 through 1938. Bushmiller worked briefly for film comedian Harold Lloyd
in 1931, writing gags for Lloyd's film, Movie Crazy
.
Bushmiller started working each day about 2pm, and he often sat at his drawing table well into the early morning hours of the next day. He usually began a strip with the last panel and then worked back toward the first panel. The simplicity of his style brought praise from Art Spiegelman
and other artists. Tom Smucker, writing in The Village Voice
, observed:
As Paul Karasik
and Mark Newgarden
noted in their essay, "How to Read Nancy
":
Comics theorist Scott McCloud described the essence of Bushmiller and his creation:
In 1979, Bushmiller was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease
, but he continued to produce the strip with the help of assistants Will Johnson and Al Plastino
. He lived in Stamford, Connecticut
, where he died in 1982.
, received its Humor Comic Strip Award and its Reuben Award in 1976 for his work on Nancy. In 2011, Bushmiller was listed as a Judges' Choice for The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame.
made a 1961 painting based on Nancy and Joe Brainard
made numerous works based on Nancy. Many cartoonists have produced work directly inspired by or commenting on Bushmiller's art, including Art Spiegelman
, Mark Newgarden
, Chris Ware
and Zippy
cartoonist Bill Griffith, who has also written an essay on Bushmiller.
The American Heritage Dictionary uses a Bushmiller Nancy strip to illustrate its entry on "comic strip."
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
Nancy
Nancy (comic strip)
Nancy is an American daily and Sunday comic strip, originally written and drawn by Ernie Bushmiller and distributed by United Feature Syndicate....
.
Born in The Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Bushmiller was the son of immigrant parents, and his father was an artist. Bushmiller quit school at 14 to work as a copy boy at the New York World
New York World
The New York World was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers...
newspaper. At night, he took art classes at the National Academy of Design
National Academy of Design
The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...
.
Comic strips
In 1925, cartoonist Larry Whittington, creator of the comic strip Fritzi Ritz, left to produce another strip, Mazie the Model. Bushmiller then took over Fritzi Ritz, ghostwriting it, before eventually taking over officially. Bushmiller's name did not appear on the strip until May 1926. The character of Fritzi was modeled after Bushmiller's fiance, Abby Bohnet. The couple, who married in 1930, had no children.Bushmiller introduced Nancy, Fritzi's niece, to the strip on January 2, 1933. The character proved popular, so she appeared more often. As Aunt Fritzi was seen less frequently, the strip was eventually retitled Nancy
Nancy (comic strip)
Nancy is an American daily and Sunday comic strip, originally written and drawn by Ernie Bushmiller and distributed by United Feature Syndicate....
in 1938. The popular strip was translated into various languages, including Italian, German, Swedish and Norwegian. Phil Fumble was a Bushmiller strip which ran from 1932 through 1938. Bushmiller worked briefly for film comedian Harold Lloyd
Harold Lloyd
Harold Clayton Lloyd, Sr. was an American film actor and producer, most famous for his silent comedies....
in 1931, writing gags for Lloyd's film, Movie Crazy
Movie Crazy
- Plot :Harold Hall, a young man with little or no acting ability, desperately wants to be in the movies.After a mix-up with his application photograph, he gets an offer to have a screen-test, and goes off to Hollywood. At the studio, he does everything wrong and causes all sorts of trouble...
.
Bushmiller started working each day about 2pm, and he often sat at his drawing table well into the early morning hours of the next day. He usually began a strip with the last panel and then worked back toward the first panel. The simplicity of his style brought praise from Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman is an American comics artist, editor, and advocate for the medium of comics, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book memoir, Maus. His works are published with his name in lowercase: art spiegelman.-Biography:Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to Polish Jews...
and other artists. Tom Smucker, writing in The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, observed:
- Bushmiller's strong point was never the content of his comic strip's jokey plots—a friend once described him as "a moron on an acid trip." In fact, the gags were even simpler than was necessary for a "children's" strip. That's because they were just a vehicle for the controlled and brilliant manipulation of repetition and variety that gave the strip its unique visual rhythm and composition. Bushmiller choreographed his familiar formal elements inside the tightest frame of any major strip, and that helped make it the most beautiful, as a whole, of any in the papers.
As Paul Karasik
Paul Karasik
Paul Karasik is an American cartoonist, editor, and teacher, notable for his contributions to such works as City of Glass: The Graphic Novel, The Ride Together: A Memoir of Autism in the Family, and I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets.- Biography :In the early 1980s, after having graduated...
and Mark Newgarden
Mark Newgarden
Mark Newgarden is an American underground cartoonist. His work has appeared widely, and his influential shape-shifting weekly feature Newgarden, which appeared in alternative weekly newspapers like New York Press, created a cult following for the artist.Newgarden's work has appeared in a diverse...
noted in their essay, "How to Read Nancy
How to Read Nancy
"How to Read Nancy" is an influential essay by Mark Newgarden and Paul Karasik, originally published in The Best of Ernie Bushmiller’s Nancy by Brian Walker . The piece examines the comic strip Nancy, focusing on Bushmiller’s precise and exacting use of the comics language in its essential form to...
":
- Ernie Bushmiller had the hand of an architect, the mind of a silent film comedian, and the soul of an accountant. His formulaic approach to humor beautifully revealed the essence of what a perfect gag is all about – balance, symmetry, economy. His gags have the abstract feel of math and Nancy was, in fact, a mini-algebra equation masquerading as a comic strip for close to 50 years.
Comics theorist Scott McCloud described the essence of Bushmiller and his creation:
- Ernie Bushmiller's comic strip Nancy is a landmark achievement: A comic so simply drawn it can be reduced to the size of a postage stamp and still be legible; an approach so formulaic as to become the very definition of the "gag-strip"; a sense of humor so obscure, so mute, so without malice as to allow faithful readers to march through whole decades of art and story without ever once cracking a smile. Nancy is Plato's playground. Ernie Bushmiller didn't draw A tree, A house, A car. Oh, no. Ernie Bushmiller drew the tree, the house, the car. Much has been made of the "three rocks." Art Spiegelman explains how a drawing of three rocks in a background scene was Ernie's way of showing us there were some rocks in the background. It was always three. Why? Because two rocks wouldn't be "some rocks." Two rocks would be a pair of rocks. And four rocks was unacceptable because four rocks would indicate "some rocks" but it would be one rock more than was necessary to convey the idea of "some rocks." A Nancy panel is an irreduceable concept, an atom, and the comic strip is a molecule.
In 1979, Bushmiller was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
, but he continued to produce the strip with the help of assistants Will Johnson and Al Plastino
Al Plastino
Al Plastino is an American comic book artist best known as one of the most prolific Superman artists of the 1950s, along with his DC Comics colleague Wayne Boring...
. He lived in Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
, where he died in 1982.
Awards
Bushmiller, one of the founding members of the National Cartoonists SocietyNational Cartoonists Society
The National Cartoonists Society is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the troops...
, received its Humor Comic Strip Award and its Reuben Award in 1976 for his work on Nancy. In 2011, Bushmiller was listed as a Judges' Choice for The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame.
Legacy
Bushmiller's work has been repeatedly addressed by other artists: Andy WarholAndy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
made a 1961 painting based on Nancy and Joe Brainard
Joe Brainard
Joe Brainard was an American artist and writer associated with the New York School. His prodigious and innovative body of work included assemblages, collages, drawing, and painting, as well as designs for book and album covers, theatrical sets and costumes...
made numerous works based on Nancy. Many cartoonists have produced work directly inspired by or commenting on Bushmiller's art, including Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman
Art Spiegelman is an American comics artist, editor, and advocate for the medium of comics, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book memoir, Maus. His works are published with his name in lowercase: art spiegelman.-Biography:Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to Polish Jews...
, Mark Newgarden
Mark Newgarden
Mark Newgarden is an American underground cartoonist. His work has appeared widely, and his influential shape-shifting weekly feature Newgarden, which appeared in alternative weekly newspapers like New York Press, created a cult following for the artist.Newgarden's work has appeared in a diverse...
, Chris Ware
Chris Ware
Franklin Christenson Ware , is an American comic book artist and cartoonist, widely known for his Acme Novelty Library series and the graphic novel Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he resides in the Chicago area, Illinois...
and Zippy
Zippy the Pinhead
Zippy is an American comic strip created by Bill Griffith. The character of Zippy the Pinhead initially appeared in underground publications during the 1970s...
cartoonist Bill Griffith, who has also written an essay on Bushmiller.
The American Heritage Dictionary uses a Bushmiller Nancy strip to illustrate its entry on "comic strip."
Further reading
- Strickler, DaveDave StricklerDave Strickler is a reference librarian noted for his compilation of Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924–1995: The Complete Index, regarded as a major reference work by researchers and historians of newspaper comic strips....
. Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index. Cambria, California: Comics Access, 1995. ISBN 0-9700077-0-1