Amelia Ross Opdyke Jones ( – ) was an American cartoonist who sometimes signed her work with the name "Oppy". She is best known for her series of cartoons in the 1940s and 50s called ''The Subway Sun'' which promoted positive behavior and an anti-littering campaign on the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...

. Amelia Ross Opdyke was born on in

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat, seat of government of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.asthma as a child, during periods of seclusion she took up drawing. She graduated from the Dearborn Morgan School in

East Orange, New Jersey East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 69,612. The city was List of municipalities in ...

and went on to the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

, where she balked at learning to draw anatomy by observing a corpse dissection. In the 1930s, she published illustrations in '' Life'' magazine and drew a one-panel

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

for United Feature Syndicate called ''The Young Idear''. In 1934, she married Colonel William J. Jones. She worked for commercial artist Fred Cooper, who drew ''The Subway Sun,'' a comic strip in the form of a poster hung in subway cars. Opdyke took over ''The Subway Sun'' in 1946 and continued drawing it until 1966. ''The Subway Sun'' promoted good behavior amongst subway riders and discouraged such behavior as door blocking, and littering. She claimed credit for introducing the word "litterbug" (a play on the word " jitterbug") as a slang term for litterers during this campaign. Aqueduct Racetrack poster

Opdyke retired in 1968. She later said "I'm not doing a darn thing now, and I love it." Amelia Opdyke Jones died on 30 December 1993 in Sea Girt, New Jersey.

References

External links

* https://forgotten-ny.com/2013/12/remembering-oppy-on-the-nyc-holiday-train/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Opdyke, Amelia Created via preloaddraft 1913 births 1993 deaths American women cartoonists