This Day in Arf History: Happy Birthday to the Great Jules Feiffer!
On this day in 1929, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer was born. This man has accomplished so much in his 79 years — we’ll just try and name as many as we can. In the 1940s, Feiffer began his career as an assistant to Will Eisner. His editorial cartoons ran in the Village Voice for 42 years, and in 2004, he was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame. Kids might recognize his work from his illustrations in The Phantom Tollboth. In 1961, he earned an Oscar for his short animation, “Munro.” Feiffer is also a screenwriter, memorably penning the script for Robert Altman’s Popeye. Career hightlight? An original piece has just been accepted for the next Arf book, Comic Arf. Surely being in Arf will make all those previous accomplishments pale. Happy Birthday Jules!
— C. Yoe (in the funny papers)
Happy birthday, indeed. His work has given me both joy and sorrow — rare for a cartoonist, but Feiffer is no ordinary cartoonist.
Happy birthday, Jules, with wishes for many more.
Let us not forget that Jules wrote the script for Carnal Knowledge, one of my favorite films and one that should be on everybody’s must-see list.
DJ David B, are you saying that’s more important than being in being in Comic Arf?!?!? Hmpf!
Not more important, but almost as important. We have to keep our priorities straight!