Sam Gross (born August 7, 1933) is an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

, specializing in single-panel cartoons.

History

Born in Bronx, New York City, Gross was the son of Max and Sophie, who were Jewish immigrants to America. His mother was born in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

, Romania and his father was born in

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. His parents came to the United States as children around 1905. Gross' ability to draw came from his mother's artistic side of the family. His father was a CPA, which is why Gross is so well-organized. Gross attended DeWitt Clinton High School, which at the time was an all-boys school. After he graduated, Gross went to

City College City college may refer to: In the United States * Community college, a type of educational institution sometimes called a ''junior college'' or a ''city college'' in the United States * City College of New York ** 137th Street – City College (IR ...

. He started as a business major, then he wanted to be an accounting major, and finally an advertising major. Gross ended up taking a lot of art and history courses. Sam Gross began cartooning in 1962 and has continued ever since. His cartoons have appeared in numerous magazines, including '' Cosmopolitan'', ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

'', '' Good Housekeeping'', '' Harvard Business Review'' and '' The New Yorker''. He was cartoon editor for '' National Lampoon'' and '' Parents Magazine''. Gross also became involved in electronic publishing ventures with cartoons playing an important role.

Work habits

Every Wednesday Gross sits down to draw and, what he calls, "trip". He claims that he does not draw for magazines or newspapers, he just draws. Gross averages 16–17 drawings a week, and numbers and dates every one. Once finished, he photocopies the drawings on forty-four-pound stock paper, then punches three holes and puts them into loose-leaf books; Gross is afraid of losing his original copy and idea. In 2012, Sam Gross had a total of about 27,592 cartoons.

Comic strips

Gross created the

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

Cigarman ''Cigarman'' is the name of both a comic strip and the hero of the strip. It was published on the back page of ''Smoke (magazine), Smoke Magazine'' from 1997 to 1998. ''Cigarman'' was written by Sam Gross, and drawn by Randy Jones. Origin Bitte ...

''.

Collections

Published collections of cartoons by Sam Gross include: *''How Gross! : The Collected Craziness of S. Gross'' (1973) *''I Am Blind and My Dog Is Dead'' (1978) *''An Elephant Is Soft and Mushy'' (1982) *''More Gross'' (1982) *''Totally Gross'' (1984) *''Love Me, Love My Teddy Bear'' (1986) *''No More Mr. Nice Guy'' (1987) *''Your Mother Is a Remarkable Woman'' (1992) *''Catss by Gross'' (1995) *''We Have Ways of Making You Laugh: 120 Funny Swastika Cartoons'' (2008)

References

External links

''The Comics Journal'': Sam Gross interviewCartoonBank: Sam Gross
1933 births American cartoonists Living people The New Yorker cartoonists American people of Romanian-Jewish descent American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Inkpot Award winners Jewish American artists National Lampoon people DeWitt Clinton High School alumni City College of New York alumni 21st-century American Jews {{US-cartoonist-stub