Milt Gross (; March 4, 1895 – November 29, 1953) was an American cartoonist and animator. His work is noted for its exaggerated cartoon style and
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
-inflected English dialogue. He originated the non-sequitur "Banana Oil!" as a phrase deflating pomposity and posing. His character
Count Screwloose
Count Screwloose is a character in the comic strip ''Count Screwloose from Tooloose'' by Milt Gross, introduced on February 17, 1929. The count is portrayed as a mentally ill man who frequently leaves Nuttycrest Sanitarium, the insane asylum where ...
's admonition, "Iggy, keep an eye on me!", became a national
catchphrase
A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...
. The
National Cartoonists Society
The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) 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 ...
fund to aid indigent cartoonists and their families for many years was known as the Milt Gross Fund. In 2005, it was absorbed by the Society's Foundation, which continues the charitable work of the Fund.
Comic strips and books
Gross was born in
the 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 ...
and served as a soldier in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
After apprenticing as a teenage assistant to
Tad Dorgan
Thomas Aloysius Dorgan (April 29, 1877 – May 2, 1929), also known as Tad Dorgan, was an American cartoonist who signed his drawings as Tad. He is known for his cartoon panel ''Indoor Sports'' and comic strip '' Judge Rummy'', as well as the ma ...
, Gross's first comic strip was ''Phool Phan Phables'' for the ''
New York Journal
:''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal''
The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 t ...
'', begun when he was 20, featuring a rabid sports fan named George Phan. It was one of several short-lived comic strips (and other undertakings, including his first
animated film
Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...
) before his first success, ''Gross Exaggerations'', which began as an illustrated column, "Gross Exaggerations in the Dumbwaiter", in the ''
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. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publi ...
''.
Originally titled ''Banana Oil'' until 1925, the comic strip was retitled ''Gross Exaggerations'' until becoming ''The Feitelbaum Family'' on June 1, 1926, and finally ''Looy Dot Dope'' on January 7, 1927.
Its
Yinglish
Yiddish words used in the English language include both words that have been assimilated into Englishused by both Yiddish and English speakersand many that have not. An English sentence that uses either may be described by some as Yinglish (or H ...
vocabulary would set the tone for much of Gross' work, as would its reworkings of well-known tales, as in "Nize Ferry-tail from
Elledin witt de Wanderful Lemp" and "
Jack witt de Binn Stuck". These were gathered in a 1926 book ''Nize Baby'', which evolved into a
Sunday newspaper color comic strip.
[
Also in 1926, he published ''Hiawatta witt No Odder Poems'', a 40-page parody of ]Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...
's ''The Song of Hiawatha
''The Song of Hiawatha'' is an 1855 epic poem in trochaic tetrameter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which features Native American characters. The epic relates the fictional adventures of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and the tragedy of his l ...
'', each of its pages, in the words of Jim Vadeboncoeur, Jr., "with a barely decipherable stanza and a drawing which only sometimes helped".[ In subsequent years, Gross followed with '' De Night in de Front from Chreesmas'', ''Dunt Esk'' (1927) and ''Famous Fimmales witt Odder Ewents from Heestory'' (1928).
In 1930, Gross published what many consider his masterpiece, the pantomime tale '']He Done Her Wrong
''He Done Her Wrong'' is a wordless novel written by American cartoonist Milt Gross and published in 1930. It was not as successful as some of Gross's earlier works, notably his book ''Nize Baby'' (1926) based on his newspaper comic strips. ''He ...
: The Great American Novel and Not a Word in It — No Music, Too''. Minus words, this "novel" is composed entirely of pen-and-ink cartoons, nearly 300 pages long, and is comparable to such silent films serials as '' The Perils of Pauline.'' It resembled (and parodied) Lynd Ward
Lynd Kendall Ward (June 26, 1905 – June 28, 1985) was an American artist and novelist, known for his series of wordless novels using wood engraving, and his illustrations for juvenile and adult books. His wordless novels have influenced ...
's ''Gods' Man
' is a wordless novel by American artist Lynd Ward (1905–1985) published in 1929. In 139 captionless Woodblock printing, woodblock prints, it tells the Faustian story of an artist who signs away his soul for a magic paintbrush. was the very ...
'', the first American wordless novel
The wordless novel is a narrative genre that uses sequences of captionless pictures to tell a story. As artists have often made such books using woodcut and other relief printing techniques, the terms woodcut novel or novel in woodcuts are ...
, published the previous year.. It has been reprinted several times, including an abridged version in 1983 (retitled ''Hearts of Gold'') and in 2005 by Fantagraphics
Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and the erotic Eros Comix imprint.
History
Founding
Fantagraphics was found ...
, under its original title.[
Starting in 1931, Gross worked for the Hearst chain, doing various syndicated comic strips and Sunday topper strips, including ''Dave's Delicatessen'', ''Banana Oil'', ''Pete the Pooch'', '' Count Screwloose from Tooloose'', ''Babbling Brooks'', ''Otto and Blotto'', ''The Meanest Man'', ''Draw Your Own Conclusion'', ''I Did It and I'm Glad!'' and ''That's My Pop!'' (which later became a radio show). While his strips' vocabulary moved closer to standard English over time, his work always maintained Yiddish touches. In 1936, he illustrated two books in collaboration, ''Pasha the Persian'' (by Margaret Linden) and ''What's This?'' (with Robert M. Low and Lou Wedemar).][
In 1945, the year of his book ''Dear Dollink'', he suffered a heart attack and went into semi-retirement. His last book was ''I Shouda Ate the Eclair'' (published 1946), in which one Mr. Figgits nearly starts World War III because he refuses to eat a chocolate ]éclair
An éclair is a pastry made with choux dough filled with a cream and topped with chocolate icing. The dough, which is the same as that used for profiterole, is typically piped into an oblong shape with a pastry bag and baked until it is crisp ...
. In 1946–47, his work appeared in the short-lived comic book ''Picture News''.[ His final published work appeared in the pages of comic books published by ]American Comics Group
American Comics Group (ACG) was an American comic book publisher started in 1939 and existing under the ACG name from 1943 to 1967. It published the medium's first ongoing horror-comics title, ''Adventures into the Unknown''. ACG's best-known ch ...
, including two issues of ''Milt Gross Funnies''. In 1950, two of his earlier books were combined as ''Hiawatta and De Night in De Front From Chreesmas''.[
]
Animation
Gross made occasional animated films through the silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
era, including ''The Ups & Downs of Mr. Phool Phan'' (his first), ''Useless Hints by Fuller Prunes'', ''Izzy Able the Detective'' and ''How My Vacation Spent Me''. Most of these were for Bray Productions
Bray Productions was a pioneering American animation studio that produced several popular cartoons during the years of World War I and the early interwar era, becoming a springboard for several key animators of the 20th century, including the ...
, the studio of John R. Bray.[ Other were for Universal.
In 1939, he returned to animation with two MGM cartoons, ''Jitterbug Follies'' and ''Wanted: No Master'', featuring Count Screwloose (voiced by ]Mel Blanc
Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...
).[ According to ]Bill Littlejohn
William Charles Littlejohn (January 27, 1914 – September 17, 2010) was an American animator and union organizer. Littlejohn worked on animated shorts and features in the 1930s through to the 1990s. His notable works include the ''Tom and Jerry ...
they were both extremely funny works. But Fred Quimby
Frederick Clinton Quimby (July 31, 1886 – September 16, 1965) was an American animation producer and journalist best known for producing the ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoon series, for which he won seven Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Films ...
thought them to be too vulgar and had Gross fired.[Cohen (2004), p. 40]
Death
On November 29, 1953, Gross died of a heart attack aboard the Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
liner SS ''Monterey'', while returning from a Hawaiian vacation with his wife. He was buried at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery
The Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary is a Jewish cemetery located at 6001 West Centinela Avenue, in Culver City, California. Many Jews from the entertainment industry are buried here. The cemetery is known for Al Jolson's elaborate tomb (design ...
in Culver City
Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most ...
, California. At the time of his death he was developing a children's TV show starring his character Pete the Pooch, which combined animation with live-action footage of Gross as host. Two pilot episodes were completed but never shown to the public.
Legacy
In 2009 the New York University Press
New York University Press (or NYU Press) is a university press that is part of New York University.
History
NYU Press was founded in 1916 by the then chancellor of NYU, Elmer Ellsworth Brown.
Directors
* Arthur Huntington Nason, 1916–1932 ...
published ''Is Diss a System?: A Milt Gross Comic Reader'', which argues for Gross' importance as a link between the cartooning cultures of the first and second halves of the 20th century, especially as they related to Jewish culture.[Paul Buhle]
"Grossed Out, Or Remembered At Last? A Genius of Comic Confusion"
''The Forward
''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ' ...
'', April 9, 2010.
In August 1971, Dover Publications
Dover Publications, also known as Dover Books, is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward and Blanche Cirker. It primarily reissues books that are out of print from their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books ...
reprinted ''Nize Baby''. In 2010, cartoon historian Craig Yoe
Craig Yoe (born February 23, 1951) is an author, editor, art director, graphic designer, cartoonist and comics historian, best known for his Yoe! Studio creations and his line of Yoe! Books.
Early life
Craig Yoe was born in Des Moines, Iowa. He ...
edited ''The Complete Milt Gross Comic Books and Life Story'', a complete collection of the Gross comic book stories from the 1940s with a lengthy illustrated biography by Yoe and an Al Jaffee
Allan Jaffee (born Abraham Jaffee; March 13, 1921) is an American cartoonist. He is notable for his work in the satirical magazine '' Mad'', including his trademark feature, the ''Mad'' Fold-in. Jaffee was a regular contributor to the magazine ...
introduction.
Bibliography
* ''Banana Oil!'' (1924) M.S. Publishing Co.
* ''Nize Baby'' (1926) George H. Dolan Company
* ''Hiawatta witt No Odder Poems'' (1926) George H. Doran Co.
* ''De Night in de Front from Chreesmas'' (1927) George H. Doran Co.
* ''Dunt Esk!!'' (1927) Grosset & Dunlap
* ''Famous Fimmales witt Odder Ewents from Heestory'' (1928) Doubleday, Doran & Co.
* ''He Done Her Wrong'' (1930) Doubleday, Doran & Co.
* ''What's This?'' (with Robert M. Low and Lou Wedemar) (1936) Simon and Schuster
* ''Pasha the Persian'' by Margaret Linden, illustrated by Milt Gross (1936) Claude Kendall, Inc.
* ''That's My Pop Goes Nuts for Fair: A Cartoon Tour of New York'' (1939) The Bystander Press. Reprinted 2015 as ''Milt Gross’ New York: A Lost Graphic Novel''
References
Sources
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gross, Milt
1895 births
1953 deaths
American animators
American comic strip cartoonists
American comics artists
American comics writers
Jewish American writers
Jewish American artists
People from the Bronx
Bray Productions people
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio people
20th-century American Jews