Jeff MacNelly, Creator of Shoe, and Political Cartoonist
A blue sky and leafy green tree branches are not the normal setting for a busy newspaper office. Then again, comic strip characters don't usually perch in a fantasy world built around the Treetops Tattler-Tribune and its grouchy editor, P. Martin Shoemaker. (Aka Shoe.)
Lazy reporters, the dilemmas of Shoe's nerdy nephew Skyler, diners at Roz's Roost, attractive females and their unavailable, homey nests, and dubious politicians: each character adds dimension to Shoe, the creation of multi-award-winning cartoonist Jeff MacNelly. That the cast is a flock of birds of undetermined species only enhances the sharp humour of his unique comic strip.
Shoe is drawn through the perspective of a newspaper-insider. As a student of the University of North Carolina, Jeff MacNelly drew cartoons for the student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel. While still a junior, he cartooned for the Chapel Hill Weekly. His boss was professor and tough bird of an editor, Jim Shumaker. Jeff was paid $15 for his first cartoon. He knew that cartooning was his future.
In 1970, before completing his final year of university, Jeff left his studies behind to take a position with the Richmond News Leader as editorial cartoonist. He earned his first Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1972, when he was just 24 years old.
The comic strip, Shoe, hatched from Jeff MacNelly's imagination and flew into syndication with Tribune Media Services on September 12, 1977. The main character, Shoe, was based on Jim Shumaker, Jeff's editor from the Chapel Hill Weekly.
Just like the cartoon Shoe, the actual Shumaker wore sneakers to the office and smoked cigars. He was a gruff, cynical and irreverent man, but devoted to journalism and to his students. He made the perfect lead for a comic strip. All Jeff had to do was give his character wings and a beak.
MacNelly continued to receive much acclaim for his talent as both political cartoonist and comic strip artist. He was awarded a second Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1978. He joined the Chicago Tribune in 1982, to produce three syndicated political cartoons a week. A third Pulitzer Prize was given for his captivating work in 1985.
His fellow political cartoonists honoured MacNelly with "Best in the Business" in 1987, 1989, 1993. The Sigma Delta Chi National Award was given to Jeff in 1991 for his editorial cartooning. The National Cartoonists Society awarded Jeff the Reuben for Cartoonist of the Year twice in a row for Shoe, in 1978 and 1979. Whew! But...
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