Woodrow Gelman (1915 – February 9, 1978) was a publisher, cartoonist, novelist and an artist-writer for both animation and comic books. As the publisher of Nostalgia Press, he pioneered the reprinting of vintage comic strips in quality hardcovers and trade paperbacks. As an editor and art director for two-and-a-half decades at Topps Chewing Gum, he introduced many innovations in trading cards and humor products. Gelman was the co-creator of Popsicle Pete and the co-creator of Bazooka Joe for Topps.Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession, p.117, Dave Jamieson, 2010, Atlantic Monthly Press, imprint of Grove/Atlantic Inc., New York, NY, He was also a co-creator of ''

Mars Attacks ''Mars Attacks'' is a science fiction-themed trading card series released in 1962 by Topps. The cards feature artwork by science fiction artists Wally Wood and Norman Saunders. The cards form a story arc, which tells of the invasion of Earth by ...

'', adapted into the 1996 film by

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as '' Beetlejuice'' (1988), '' Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), '' The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993 ...

.IMDb
/ref> Born in Brooklyn, Gelman attended City College of New York, Cooper Union and Pratt Institute before signing on as an assistant animator, in-betweener and scripter with Fleischer Studios in 1939, continuing to write for Famous Studios in 1946. He is the uncle of the psychologist Susan Gelman and the statistician

Andrew Gelman Andrew Eric Gelman (born February 11, 1965) is an American statistician and professor of statistics and political science at Columbia University. Gelman received bachelor of science degrees in mathematics and in physics from MIT, where he was ...

Comic books and advertising

Gelman was the creator and writer of

talking animal A talking animal or speaking animal is any non-human animal that can produce sounds or gestures resembling those of a human language. Several species or groups of animals have developed forms of communication which superficially resemble verbal ...

feature "The Dodo and the Frog" for

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

. His comic book work from 1944 to 1954 included ''Nutsy Squirrel'' and other talking animal comic books of the 1940s, including ''Funny Stuff'' and ''

Comic Cavalcade ''Comic Cavalcade'' was an anthology comic book published by DC Comics from 1942 to 1954. Most American comic book publishers in the 1930s and 1940s Golden Age of comic books published anthology titles that showcased a variety of characters, us ...

''. He also wrote and drew the crime story, "The Kid from Brooklyn!", for ''Heroic Comics'' #32 (Sept. 1945). In 1945, Gelman teamed with Ben Solomon to form a New York advertising art service, Solomon & Gelman, to create advertising campaigns involving cartoon characters, such as their '' Popsicle Pete'' magazine and ads for the Popsicle company. Topps writer-editor

Len Brown Leonard Charles Brown (born 1 October 1956)) is a former mayor of Auckland, New Zealand, and former head of the Auckland Council. He won the 2010 Auckland mayoral election on 9 October 2010 and was sworn in as Mayor of Auckland on 1 Novembe ...

recalled how the partnership led to Solomon and Gelman to sign on full-time with Topps:

Topps

In the autumn of 1951, Gelman and Sy Berger, then a 28-year-old

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

veteran, designed the 1952

Topps The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures chewing gum, candy, and collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of American football, baseball, basketball, ice hockey, soccer, a ...

baseball card A baseball card is a type of trading card relating to baseball, usually printed on cardboard, silk, or plastic. In the 1950s they came with a stick of gum and a limited number of cards. These cards feature one or more baseball players, teams, stad ...

set on the kitchen table of Berger's apartment on Alabama Avenue in the Broadway Junction section of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. From 1953 to the late 1970s, Gelman headed Topps's Product Development Department, working with a staff that included associate creative director Len Brown, gagwriter

Stan Hart Stan Hart (September 12, 1928 – July 27, 2017
) was an American comedy writer with many television ...

, visual concept creator Larry Reilly, writer-cartoonists

Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel '' Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines ''Arcade'' and '' Ra ...

and

Bhob Stewart Robert Marion Stewart, known as Bhob Stewart (November 12, 1937 – February 24, 2014) was an American writer, editor, cartoonist, filmmaker, and active fan who contributed to a variety of publications over a span of five decades. His articles a ...

, and designer-cartoonist Rick Varesi. Gelman assigned work to numerous freelance cartoonists, including Jack Davis,

Mort Drucker Morris "Mort" Drucker (March 22, 1929 – April 9, 2020) was an American caricaturist and comics artist best known as a contributor for over five decades in '' Mad'', where he specialized in satires on the leading feature films and televisio ...

Jay Lynch Jay Patrick Lynch (January 7, 1945 – March 5, 2017) was an American cartoonist who played a key role in the underground comix movement with his ''Bijou Funnies'' and other titles. He is best known for his comic strip ''Nard n' Pat'' and the ...

Bob Powell Bob Powell (né Stanley Robert Pawlowski; While gives Stanislav Pavlowsky, and gives Stanislav Pavlowsky, Bails and Ware note: "family name corrected by his son, Seth R. Powell July 2006." October 2, 1916

John Severin John Powers Severin (; December 26, 1921 – February 12, 2012) was an American comics artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics ''Two-Fisted Tales'' and ''Frontline Combat''; for Marvel Comics, ...

Tom Sutton Thomas F. Sutton (April 15, 1937 – May 1, 2002) He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force after graduating from high school in 1955, and worked on art projects while stationed at Fort Francis E. Warren, near Laramie, Wyoming. Later, stationed at It ...

Basil Wolverton Basil Wolverton (July 9, 1909 – December 31, 1978)
at the

Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as '' Weird Science'', '' Weird Fantasy'', and ''MAD Magazine'' fr ...

. Beginning in 1967, Gelman supervised ''

Wacky Packages ''Wacky Packages'' are a series of humorous trading cards featuring parodies of consumer products. The cards were produced by Topps beginning in 1967, first in die-cut, then in peel-and-stick sticker format. There were 16 series produced betwee ...

'', one of the biggest fads of the 1970s, and he was responsible for devising many other Topps cards, stickers, posters and humor products over decades.''Wacky Packages'', Abrams, 2008.

Triple Nickel Books

In 1955, the firm of Solomon & Gelman published a series of 64-page juvenile novelettes. Because they retailed for 15 cents, the line was called Triple Nickel Books. The first Triple Nickel Book was very successful, as it was based on the life of Davy Crockett when Crockett was a national fad. At the same time, they published two other Triple Nickel Books about the adventures of the Power Boys, juvenile fiction in the tradition of the Hardy Boys. At least eight Power Boys adventures were published under the pseudonym Arthur Benwood, a name created by combining the first names of Ben Solomon and Woody Gelman. The line includes ''The Secret of Crazy Cavern'' (1955), ''Riddle of the Sunken Ship'' (1955), ''Castle of Curious Creatures'' (1956) and ''Mystery of the Marble Face'' (1956). These books are included in the University of South Florida's Special Collections: Tampa Children's Literature Collection. (The Triple Nickel titles are apparently unrelated to Mel Lyle's later and slightly better-known Power Boys series from the mid-1960s.)

Nostalgia Press

After doing a facsimile reprint of the 1945 ''Little Nemo in Slumberland'' softcover, with an

August Derleth August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and for his own contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and th ...

introduction, Gelman began Nostalgia Press in the early 1960s. One of the earliest Nostalgia Press books was ''The Picture History of Charlie Chaplin'' (1965), designed by Gelman and showcasing a large collection of rare Chaplin memorabilia. In 1960, he was an associate editor of '' The American Card Catalog''. The first Nostalgia Press hardcover was ''Flash Gordon'' (1967), a reprint of

Alex Raymond Alexander Gillespie Raymond Jr. (October 2, 1909 – September 6, 1956) was an American cartoonist who was best known for creating the ''Flash Gordon'' comic strip for King Features Syndicate in 1934. The strip was subsequently adapted into many ...

comic strips, and this book had a follow-up utilizing ''Flash Gordon'' proof sheets supplied to Gelman by the artist

Al Williamson Alfonso Williamson (March 21, 1931 – June 12, 2010) was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western, science fiction and fantasy. Born in New York City, he spent much of his early childhood in ...

. Two years later, he compiled art by

Charles Dana Gibson Charles Dana Gibson (September 14, 1867 – December 23, 1944) was an American illustrator. He was best known for his creation of the Gibson Girl, an iconic representation of the beautiful and independent Euro-American woman at the turn of the ...

for ''The Best of Charles Dana Gibson'' (Bounty Books, 1969), with accompanying biographical material and an introduction by Gelman. Nostalgia Press editors Ron Barlow and

, along with EC publisher

Bill Gaines William Maxwell Gaines (; March 1, 1922 – June 3, 1992), was an American publisher and co-editor of EC Comics. Following a shift in EC's direction in 1950, Gaines presided over what became an artistically influential and historically import ...

, selected 23 stories, one previously unpublished, for the full-color ''EC Horror Comics of the 1950s''; with introductions by Stewart and

Larry Stark Larry Stark (born August 4, 1932 in New Brunswick, New Jersey) is an American journalist and reviewer best known for his in-depth coverage of the Boston theater scene at his website, Theater Mirror. In newspapers and online, Stark has written hund ...

, this oversize (10" x 14") hardcover was published by Nostalgia Press in 1971. In 1973, Gelman published a collection of ''Little Nemo'' strips, first published in Italy. Gelman discovered original strips at a cartoon studio where McCay's son worked in 1966. Many of the original drawings that Gelman recovered were displayed at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

under the direction of curator

A. Hyatt Mayor Alpheus Hyatt Mayor (1901–1980) was an American art historian and curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a leading figure in the study of prints, both old master prints and popular prints. A. Hyatt Mayor's father was marine biologist Alfre ...

. In the 1970s, Gelman did two collections of '' Scorchy Smith'', and he moved into yet another area, publishing a magazine, ''Nostalgia Comics'', mainly devoted to reprints of comic strips. The first issue of his earlier magazine, ''Nostalgia Illustrated'', was completed in 1967 as a dummy but was never published. Instead, Gelman sold the title and some material to Magazine Management, which did at least a dozen nationally distributed issues in the early 1970s. During the 1970s, he also published his ''Golden Age of the Comics'' series, reprinting such strips as '' Mandrake the Magician'', '' Terry and the Pirates'' and ''

Thimble Theatre Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Robert Altman's live-action film ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.E. C. Segar Elzie Crisler Segar (; December 8, 1894 – October 13, 1938), known by the pen name E. C. Segar, was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of Popeye, a pop culture character who first appeared in 1929 in Segar's comic strip ''Thimble ...

's ''Thimble Theatre'' comic strip. The screenplay by

Jules Feiffer Jules Ralph Feiffer (born January 26, 1929)''Comics Buyer's Guide'' #1650; February 2009; Page 107 is an American cartoonist and author, who was considered the most widely read satirist in the country. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986 as North- ...

was based directly on ''Thimble Theatre Starring Popeye the Sailor'', a hardcover reprint collection of 1936-37 Segar strips published in 1971 by Nostalgia Press. Tim Burton's film ''Mars Attacks'' (1996) was adapted from Topps 1962 ''

'' trading card series written by Gelman and Len Brown and illustrated by Wally Wood, Bob Powell and

Norman Saunders Norman Blaine Saunders (January 1, 1907 – March 7, 1989) was a prolific 20th-century American commercial artist. He is best known for paintings in pulp magazines, paperbacks, men's adventure magazines, comic books and trading cards. On occasio ...

Awards

In 1971, he was honored by the Academy of Comic Book Arts with Recognition for Preservation and Popularization of Comic Art. Gelman, who lived in Malverne, Long Island, maintained a collection of rare American and European periodicals dating back to the 19th century. His collection of

Winsor McCay Zenas Winsor McCay ( – July 26, 1934) was an American cartoonist and animator. He is best known for the comic strip '' Little Nemo'' (1905–14; 1924–26) and the animated film '' Gertie the Dinosaur'' (1914). For contractual reasons, he w ...

cartoons is housed in the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. He died February 9, 1978 of a stroke at Franklin General Hospital, Valley Stream, Long Island."Woodrow Gelman, 62, Publisher And Collector of Nostalgia Items," ''The New York Times'', February 11, 1978.
/ref> His niece Susan Gelman and nephew

are prominent academics.

References

External links

Lambiek Comiclopedia biography.Wacky Packages Web Pages
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gelman, Woody 1915 births 1978 deaths American art directors American cartoonists American comics writers American comics artists American book publishers (people) Baseball cards People from Malverne, New York 20th-century American businesspeople Fleischer Studios people Famous Studios people