Sam Gross (born August 7, 1933) is an American cartoonist, specializing in single-panel cartoons.

History

Born in

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, Gross was the son of Max and Sophie, who were Jewish immigrants to America. His mother was born in Iași,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

and his father was born in Lithuania. His parents came to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

as children around 1905. Gross' ability to draw came from his mother's artistic side of the family. His father was a CPA, which is why Gross is so well-organized. Gross attended

DeWitt Clinton High School , motto_translation = Without Work Nothing Is Accomplished , image = DeWitt Clinton High School front entrance IMG 7441 HLG.jpg , seal_image = File:Clinton News.JPG , seal_size = 124px , ...

, which at the time was an all-boys school. After he graduated, Gross went to City College. He started as a business major, then he wanted to be an accounting major, and finally an advertising major. Gross ended up taking a lot of art and history courses. Sam Gross began cartooning in 1962 and has continued ever since. His cartoons have appeared in numerous magazines, including ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

'', '' Esquire'', ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good Hous ...

'', ''

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Ma ...

'' and ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''. He was cartoon editor for '' National Lampoon'' and ''

Parents Magazine ''Parents'' was an American monthly magazine founded in 1926 that featured scientific information on child development geared to help parents in raising their children. Subscribers were notified of the magazine’s dissolution via a postcard maili ...

''. Gross also became involved in electronic publishing ventures with cartoons playing an important role.

Work habits

Every Wednesday Gross sits down to draw and, what he calls, "trip". He claims that he does not draw for magazines or newspapers, he just draws. Gross averages 16–17 drawings a week, and numbers and dates every one. Once finished, he photocopies the drawings on forty-four-pound stock paper, then punches three holes and puts them into loose-leaf books; Gross is afraid of losing his original copy and idea. In 2012, Sam Gross had a total of about 27,592 cartoons.

Comic strips

Gross created the comic strip '' Cigarman''.

Collections

Published collections of cartoons by Sam Gross include: *''How Gross! : The Collected Craziness of S. Gross'' (1973) *''I Am Blind and My Dog Is Dead'' (1978) *''An Elephant Is Soft and Mushy'' (1982) *''More Gross'' (1982) *''Totally Gross'' (1984) *''Love Me, Love My Teddy Bear'' (1986) *''No More Mr. Nice Guy'' (1987) *''Your Mother Is a Remarkable Woman'' (1992) *''Catss by Gross'' (1995) *''We Have Ways of Making You Laugh: 120 Funny Swastika Cartoons'' (2008)

References

External links

''The Comics Journal'': Sam Gross interviewCartoonBank: Sam Gross
1933 births American cartoonists Living people The New Yorker cartoonists American people of Romanian-Jewish descent American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Inkpot Award winners Jewish American artists National Lampoon people DeWitt Clinton High School alumni City College of New York alumni 21st-century American Jews {{US-cartoonist-stub