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scans_dailyMark Evanier has reported the passing of one of THE Golden Age Batman artists, Mr Lew Sayre Schwartz, at the age of 85.
Chances are you might not even have heard of Mr Schwartz, but if you have any love for stories with titles like "The Gorilla Boss of Gotham City", "The Parasols of Plunder", "The Man Behind the Red Hood" (The first ever attempt at an origin for the Joker), then you knew he work whether you realised it or not.
Along with Shelley Moldoff, Jerry Robinson and Dick Sprang (amongst others), Lew Schwartz did the majority of the actual art chores that Bob Kane was credited with; as part of the deal he negotiated with DC at the time, Bob Kane was paid for delivering a set number of pages per month, there was nothing to say that HE had to be the actual artist, though he normally (but not always) did figure work on Batman and Robin so they'd be recognisable in his style.
As Evanier notes
Schwartz was working for King Features Syndicate as a production artist when Kane first tapped him to ghost some Batman material for him in 1946. By 1948, he was doing almost all of it, a situation which persisted until 1953 when Schwartz, as he put it, "just got tired of the arrangement." He went on to do more work for King Features and segued into advertising, where he was involved with commercials that won numerous Emmy and Clio awards. He was also a teacher at the School of Visual Arts in New York and largely responsible for the founding of their film department.
There are precious few of these stalwarts left nowadays; Jerry Robinson is now 89 (and going strong), and Shelly Moldoff is still with us at the grand old age of 91.
For legality a few pages of Mr Schwartz's work;
Given what Tim will be wearing shortly, this seems apt!
and with no disrespect to Mr Schwartz, a panel whose dialogue has not stood the test of time, and which is now rather hilarious.
Chances are you might not even have heard of Mr Schwartz, but if you have any love for stories with titles like "The Gorilla Boss of Gotham City", "The Parasols of Plunder", "The Man Behind the Red Hood" (The first ever attempt at an origin for the Joker), then you knew he work whether you realised it or not.
Along with Shelley Moldoff, Jerry Robinson and Dick Sprang (amongst others), Lew Schwartz did the majority of the actual art chores that Bob Kane was credited with; as part of the deal he negotiated with DC at the time, Bob Kane was paid for delivering a set number of pages per month, there was nothing to say that HE had to be the actual artist, though he normally (but not always) did figure work on Batman and Robin so they'd be recognisable in his style.
As Evanier notes
Schwartz was working for King Features Syndicate as a production artist when Kane first tapped him to ghost some Batman material for him in 1946. By 1948, he was doing almost all of it, a situation which persisted until 1953 when Schwartz, as he put it, "just got tired of the arrangement." He went on to do more work for King Features and segued into advertising, where he was involved with commercials that won numerous Emmy and Clio awards. He was also a teacher at the School of Visual Arts in New York and largely responsible for the founding of their film department.
There are precious few of these stalwarts left nowadays; Jerry Robinson is now 89 (and going strong), and Shelly Moldoff is still with us at the grand old age of 91.
For legality a few pages of Mr Schwartz's work;
Given what Tim will be wearing shortly, this seems apt!
and with no disrespect to Mr Schwartz, a panel whose dialogue has not stood the test of time, and which is now rather hilarious.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-20 11:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-20 11:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-20 11:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-21 01:02 am (UTC)*giggle*
Those were the true classics ): RIP.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-21 01:56 am (UTC)Thanks for posting this; I didn't know anything about Schwartz, just Robinson and Sprang.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-21 12:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-21 09:37 am (UTC)Oh-ho!
DUUN DUUN DUUUUN~