With a reputation as a funny guy, Ernie briefly took on the task of writing movie gags in 1931, with his work part of the cinematic "Movie Crazy" with comedian Harold Lloyd. *(4)
The National Cartoonists Society honoured Ernie (who was one of the NCS founding members in the 1940s) with the Reuben Award in 1976 for Cartoonist of the Year. They considered that the award given "wasn't a nostalgic tribute to a creator of another era; rather it was acknowledgment of a dynamic artist who had helped shape the contemporary comic page." *(2)
Over the years, Ernie used several assistants to craft the comic strip. Cartoonists Al Plastino, best known for his early work on Superman and Ferd'nand, Will Johnson and Mark Lansky (after Ernie died) all made their marks on Nancy.
Mark Lansky died in 1983, a year after he took on the comic strip, then Jerry Scott, of "Baby Blues" fame, took over the Nancy cartooning pen. (Jerry updated the strip, which was getting a stale feel about it, but was met with derision for his attempts. Readers insisted that Nancy keep its classic feel.) When Jerry left to create "Baby Blues" with fellow cartoonist Rick Kirkman in 1995, the Gilchrist brothers, Guy and Brad, now continue the production of Nancy, bringing back the art form and style of humour of Ernie Bushmiller.
Nancy hit the big time in 1995. "Nancy and Sluggo" were promoted as part of a United States Postal Service special series of postage stamps celebrating the comics.
Part of an artistic household, Ernest Paul Bushmiller was born in the Bronx in 1905. His father was an artist. Ernie married Abby Bohnet in 1930; they had no children. (Ernie used Abby as his model for his Fritzi sketches.) The Bushmillers made Stamford, Connecticut their permanent home in the 1950s. Ernie developed Parkinson's Disease in 1979 and died of a heart attack in 1982 at age 77. *(4)
Ernie Bushmiller lived a long, creative life, but the master of humour was publicity-shy. He did not receive the accolades he deserved for his important work, the creation of a classic comic strip that even yet has an influence on artists and millions of readers.
Get a daily laugh with Nancy: http://www.comics.com/comics/nancy/index...
*(1) The Encyclopedia of American Comics, From 1897 to Present, Edited by Ron Goulart, Published by Promised Land Productions, 1990. Pages 60-61, 272.
More about the dedicated cartoonist Ernie Bushmiller from these fascinating sites:
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