{{Short description|American caricaturist (1909–1988)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2026}} {{Use American English|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Cal Bailey | birth_name = Calvin Cornelius Bailey | birth_date = June 14, 1909 | birth_place = Norfolk, Virginia, U.S. | death_date = December 10, 1988 | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | burial_place = Inglewood Park Cemetery | education = New Jersey Vocational School, Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art, Ohio State University | occupation = Caricaturist, cartoonist, illustrator, painter, pastelist | spouse = Cuma McNeal (m. 1935–?) Suzette Harbin (m. 1954–1977; div.) | children = 2 }}
'''Calvin Cornelius Bailey''' '''Sr.''' (June 14, 1909 – December 10, 1988), more commonly known as '''Cal Bailey''', was an American caricaturist, cartoonist, and illustrator. His work was nationally popular in the 1930s–1950s, and he had his own television program in San Francisco.
== Early life and education == Calvin Cornelius Bailey was born on June 14, 1909, in Norfolk, Virginia, United States.<ref name="Who's Who Among Black Americans, Inc-1994" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=1920 |title=United States, Census, 1920, Entry for R S Bailey and Ella Bailey, 1920 |url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4P6-GBG?lang=en |website=FamilySearch.org |publisher=U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)}}</ref> He was African American.<ref name="Who's Who Among Black Americans, Inc-1994">{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PUUOAQAAMAAJ&q=calvin+bailey+caricaturist&dq=calvin+bailey+caricaturist&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj-punk9cSTAxXPRzABHdprJsY4ChDoAXoECAYQAw#calvin+bailey+caricaturist|title=Who's Who Among Black Americans|date=March 30, 1994|publisher=Who's Who Among Black Americans, Incorporated, Publishing Company|via=Google Books|page=57|quote=Bailey, Calvin, Artist, Personal: Born June 14, 1909, Norfolk, VA}}</ref> Some sources incorrectly state his year of birth as 1915,<ref name="Cederholm-1973" /> or 1918.<ref name="California Eagle-1944">{{Cite news |date=April 13, 1944 |title=Calvin Bailey Art Exhibit To Open At Vernon Branch Library on 16th |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/california-eagle-calvin-bailey-art-exhib/194554051/ |access-date=2026-03-31 |work=The California Eagle |pages=11 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Bailey studied at the New Jersey Vocational School and Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art (class of 1932).<ref name="Cederholm-1973">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/afroamericanarti00cede_0/page/12/mode/2up|title=Afro-American Artists; a Bio-bibliographical Directory|first=Theresa Dickason|last=Cederholm|date=March 30, 1973|publisher=Trustees of the Boston Public Library|via=Internet Archive|page=12|chapter=Bailey, Calvin}}</ref> He continued his studies in 1935 at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.<ref name="California Eagle-1944" />
== Career == Bailey worked as an artist for the ''New York Amsterdam News'', an African-American newspaper from Harlem.<ref name="Who's Who Among Black Americans, Inc-1994" />
In his early career in the 1930s he focused on caricatures of sports figures.<ref name="California Eagle-1934">{{Cite news |date=June 8, 1934 |title=Youthful Artists To Return To World's Fair |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/california-eagle-youthful-artists-to-ret/194566752/ |access-date=2026-03-31 |work=California Eagle |pages=8 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> He set up an easel during the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 21, 1933 |title=Artist Bailey Sketching At World's Fair |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/california-eagle-artist-bailey-sketching/194566890/ |access-date=2026-03-31 |work=California Eagle |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=June 18, 1933 |title=Our Gay Way: Central Ave (continued) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-1933-june-18-193/155324927/ |access-date=2026-03-31 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=86 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> He also was an artist for two world's fairs; the 1933–1934 Chicago's World Fair Century of Progress International Exposition, and the 1939 New York World's Fair.<ref name="California Eagle-1944" /><ref name="California Eagle-1934" /> His art was shown as early as the 1930s in the United States to both White and Black audiences.<ref name="California Eagle-1936">{{Cite news |date=March 13, 1936 |title=Work of Calvin Bailey Exhibited |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/california-eagle-work-of-calvin-bailey-e/194567362/ |access-date=2026-03-31 |work=The California Eagle |pages=2 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
Bailey created a cover in 1942 for ''Los Angeles School Journal'', during Negro Education Week.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4t8cAQAAIAAJ&q=calvin+bailey+caricaturist&dq=calvin+bailey+caricaturist&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj-punk9cSTAxXPRzABHdprJsY4ChDoAXoECAwQAw|title=Los Angeles School Journal|date=March 30, 1942|via=Google Books}}</ref>
He was hired in 1952 to work for NBC-TV to do caricatures for its shows in Hollywood.<ref name="New Journal and Guide-1952">{{Cite news |date=August 2, 1952 |title=Cal Bailey, Caricature Artist Joins NBC Staff |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-journal-and-guide-cal-bailey-carica/194567724/ |access-date=2026-03-31 |work=New Journal and Guide |pages=13 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name="Jet-1952" /> He had many notable caricature subjects from this role, including Donald O'Connor,<ref name="Jet-1952">{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SEMDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA63&dq=calvin+bailey+caricaturist&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiZ1Oie8MSTAxUIZDABHT6ZMfIQ6AF6BAgOEAM|title=Calvin Bailey Joins NBC-TV Art Staff|first=|last=|date=May 29, 1952|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company|via=Google Books|page=63|website=Jet}}</ref> Bob Hope,<ref name="New Journal and Guide-1952" /> the Ritz Brothers,<ref name="New Journal and Guide-1952" /> Ben Blue,<ref name="New Journal and Guide-1952" /> and Dennis Day.<ref name="New Journal and Guide-1952" />
In 1955, Bailey signed to do a four times weekly television show featuring his caricatures,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yLEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA40&dq=calvin+bailey+caricaturist&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiZ1Oie8MSTAxUIZDABHT6ZMfIQ6AF6BAgNEAM|title=People|first=|last=|date=July 28, 1955|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company|via=Google Books|page=40|website=Jet}}</ref> called the, ''Musi-Cal Sketch Book'' (1956) on KSAN (UHF channel 32) in San Francisco.<ref name="Who's Who Among Black Americans, Inc-1994" /> He was a regular artist performer in the 1956 at the popular Papagayo Room in San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 28, 1956 |title=Alexander Bros/ Head Bimbo Revue; Anniversary Show at Forbidden City |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/san-francisco-chronicle-alexander-bros/194532910/ |work=San Francisco Chronicle |pages=7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=February 25, 1956 |title=Article clipped from The San Francisco Call Bulletin |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-call-bulletin/194533507/ |access-date=2026-03-30 |work=The San Francisco Call Bulletin |pages=10}}</ref>
Harry Adams photographed him at work in 1956, in Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digital-collections.csun.edu/digital/collection/Bradley/id/155/|title=Cal Bailey sitting with subjects of his caricatures as he displays his work, Los Angeles, 1956|website=University Library. Special Collections & Archives. Tom & Ethel Bradley Center|publisher=California State University, Northridge (CSUN)}}</ref> His caricature artwork adorned restaurants in New York City,<ref name="California Eagle-1944" /> as well as the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lH2X2o7eDxEC&pg=PA122&dq=calvin+bailey+caricaturist&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiZ1Oie8MSTAxUIZDABHT6ZMfIQ6AF6BAgIEAM#v=onepage&q=calvin+bailey+caricaturist&f=false|title=Harold Jones: The Singer's Drummer|first1=Gil|last1=Jacobs|first2=Joe|last2=Agro|date=March 30, 2011|publisher=AuthorHouse|via=Google Books}}</ref> and Scotty Campbell's Steakhouse in Atherton, California.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1954-09-25 |title=Article clipped from The San Francisco Call Bulletin |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-call-bulletin/194533598/ |access-date=2026-03-30 |work=The San Francisco Call Bulletin |pages=8|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
''Jet'' magazine published in 1958 a photograph of model Alma Allen sitting for a portrait at his studio in Los Angeles.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=37cDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA32&dq=calvin+bailey+caricaturist&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiZ1Oie8MSTAxUIZDABHT6ZMfIQ6AF6BAgJEAM|title=The Weeks Best Photos|first=|last=|date=July 3, 1958|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company|via=Google Books|page=32|website=Jet}}</ref>
== Personal life == His first marriage was to Cuma McNeal in 1935, and together they had two children. Bailey and actress Suzette Harbin married in 1954, in San Francisco, California.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R7IDAAAAMBAJ&dq=Suzette+Harbin&pg=PA17 |title=Actress Suzette Harbin Weds Artist Cal Bailey |date=November 11, 1954 |publisher=Johnson Publishing Company |language=en |chapter=|magazine=Jet}}</ref> In 1977, they divorced in Monterey County, California.<ref>{{Cite web |title=California, Divorce Index, 1966-1984: Entry for Suzette M Harbin and Calvin C Bailey, Feb 1977. |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPYX-M52 |website=FamilySearch.org}}</ref>
== Exhibitions == * 1932, 28th Street YMCA, 1006 East 28th Street, Los Angeles, California<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 4, 1932 |title=Bailey's Art Exhibit Draws Crowd |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/california-eagle-baileys-art-exhibit-dr/194567255/ |access-date=2026-03-31 |work=The California Eagle |pages=7 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=October 21, 1932 |title=Young Artist To Exhibit At The Y |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/california-eagle-young-artist-to-exhibit/194567321/ |access-date=2026-03-31 |work=The California Eagle |pages=7 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=October 26, 1932 |title=Art Exhibition |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-art-exhibition/194567571/ |access-date=2026-03-31 |work=Daily News |pages=6 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> * 1933, 28th Street YMCA, 1006 East 28th Street, Los Angeles, California<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 26, 1933 |title=Young Artist Will Exhibit Work At 28th Street Y.M.C.A. Sunday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/california-eagle-young-artist-will-exhib/194567125/ |access-date=2026-03-31 |work=The California Eagle |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> * 1936, Atlantic City YMCA, Atlantic City, New Jersey<ref name="California Eagle-1936" /> * 1944, Vernon Branch Library, 4505 South Central Avenue, Vernon, California<ref name="California Eagle-1944" /> * 1945, South Side Community Art Center, Chicago, Illinois<ref name="Cederholm-1973" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, Cal}} Category:1909 births Category:1988 deaths Category:20th-century African-American artists Category:20th-century American illustrators Category:American caricaturists Category:Artists from Los Angeles Category:Artists from Newark, New Jersey Category:Artists from San Francisco Category:Burials at Inglewood Park Cemetery Category:Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art alumni Category:Ohio State University alumni