Life was anything but colorful in the 1930’s, when 5 year old Hy Eisman first developed his love of the full color Sunday comics supplements. In that pre-Technicolor era, the funnies lit up dreary days in a Paterson orphanage and showed him what direction his life would take. Hy Eisman is one of those rare individuals who found out early what he wanted to do, learned what he needed to do it, and then had the pleasure of being able to do it all his life. Characterized by a quest for color and laughter, his days are currently filled doing the drawing and writing of some of the King Features’ most enduring comic strips—including the 107-year-old “Katzenjammer Kids,” and the spinach-eating sailor, “Popeye.”

About Hy Eisman

Glen Rock Resident Hy Eisman is a strong advocate for the healing power of laughter, and a two time winner of the “Comic Book Humor Award” from the National Cartoonists Society. After a stint in the army in World War II, Eisman knew formal training was necessary, so he found what he needed at The Art Career School in New York City’s Flatiron Building. After studying cartoon illustration for three years, he created “It Happened in New Jersey,” in the 1950’s. The series was patterned after Ripley’s “Believe It or Not,” and the Newark News bought it and ran it for three years. That set the stage for his “ghosting” for other cartoonists, so comic strips could essentially ‘outlive their originators.’ He agrees with Preston Sturges (“Sullivan’s Travels, 1942), “You know, there’s a lot to be said for just making people laugh.”

Where:

The NJ Creatives Network meeting will be held in Paramus, NJ at the Bergen Museum of Art and Science, located on the lower level (Route 4 East, between Forest Avenue and Spring Valley Avenue exits). For more detailed directions, see link below.

If you would like a digital photo and/or illustration to accompany this media advisory, see links below, or please contact Stan Cohen at 201-384-9784.

Artwork can be found here: http://njcreatives.org/meetings/2006-2007/Sep-2006/Eisman.pdf
Photo can be found here: hy-eisman.tif;
Credit: © 2005 North Jersey Media Group.