John Fischetti

{{More citations needed|date=June 2007}} {{Infobox comics creator

| image = | imagesize = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1916|09|27|mf=y}} | birth_place = [[Brooklyn]], [[New York (state)|New York]], United States | death_date = {{Death date and age|1980|11|18|1916|09|27|mf=y}} | death_place = United States | area = Cartoonist | alias = | notable works = Editorial cartoons | awards = [[Pulitzer Prize]] for [[Cartoon|Editorial Cartooning]], 1969<br />[[National Cartoonists Society]] Editorial Cartoon Award, 1962–1965 }} '''John R. Fischetti''' (September 27, 1916 – November 18, 1980) was an editorial cartoonist for the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'' and the ''[[Chicago Daily News]]''. He received a [[Pulitzer Prize]] for [[Cartoon|Editorial Cartooning]] in 1969 and numerous awards from the [[National Cartoonists Society]].

The Fischetti Editorial Cartoon Competition Award, also known as the John Fischetti Award, is named after him.

== Biography == Fischetti was born in [[Brooklyn]], [[New York (state)|New York]], where his Italian father was a barber. As a teenager during the Great Depression, he worked various jobs, including one at a hotel where Rollin Kirby, one of his influences, lived. At 19, Fischetti began studying commercial art at the [[Pratt Institute]] in Brooklyn, where he continued his education for three years (1937–1940).<ref name="syracuse 2009 ret 2010">{{cite web |url=http://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/f/fischetti_j.htm#d0e84 |title=John Fischetti Cartoons: An inventory of his cartoons at Syracuse University |publisher=Syracuse University |accessdate=September 16, 2010}}</ref>

Then he moved to California, where he worked for the [[Walt Disney Studios (Burbank)|Walt Disney Studio]] in Burbank. Fischetti's job with Disney lasted only nine months, due to the work's strain on his eyes.<ref name="syracuse 2009 ret 2010"/>

While pursuing freelance work, Fischetti began his career as an editorial cartoonist at the ''[[Chicago Sun]]'' in 1941. Some of his freelance work appeared in such publications as ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'', ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'' and ''[[Collier's Weekly|Collier's]]''.<ref name="syracuse 2009 ret 2010"/>

Fischetti served 1942–1945 as a radio operator and army sergeant during [[World War II]].<ref name="syracuse 2009 ret 2010"/> In 1945 he joined the staff of ''[[Stars and Stripes (newspaper)|Stars & Stripes]]'' as a war-time artist with Dick Wingert and other war-time cartoonists.<ref name="syracuse 2009 ret 2010"/>

From 1951 to 1962 Fischetti was a syndicated cartoonist for the [[Newspaper Enterprise Association]]. He then joined the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'', departing in 1967 when that paper folded. In 1967 he moved back to Chicago and joined the ''[[Chicago Daily News]]'', which ceased publication in 1978. He joined [[Bill Mauldin]] at the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' two years before he died of a heart attack in 1980.

He published a compilation of his cartoons ''Zinga Zinga Za'' in 1973.<ref name="syracuse 2009 ret 2010"/>

== Style == Fischetti, like many of his colleagues, favored heavy use of crayon, pencil or ink brush in a vertical format at the beginning of his post-war career. By the 1960s, as his style matured, he began using a horizontal pen-and-ink style that betrayed his roots in animation, Fischetti [[Satire|satirized]] politics, fads and social issues.<ref>{{cite news |title=Biographical Sketches of Persons Selected for the Pulitzer Prizes for 1969 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 6, 1969 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1969/05/06/archives/biographical-sketches-of-persons-selected-for-the-pulitzer-prizes.html |page=34 |accessdate=April 2, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Cartoonist Was a Champion of Underdogs, Pulitzer Winner Sought to 'Dream Impossible Dreams for Mankind' |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=November 24, 1980 |page=B27}}</ref>

== Awards == In 1969, he won the [[Pulitzer Prize]] for [[Cartoon|Editorial Cartooning]] in honor of the body of his work.<ref name="syracuse 2009 ret 2010"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pulitzer.org/awards/1969 |publisher=The Pulitzer Prizes |title=1969 Winners |accessdate=September 16, 2010}}</ref> He also received the National Cartoonists Society's Editorial Cartoon Award in 1962, 1963, 1964, and 1965.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.reuben.org/awards/ |title=NCS Awards |publisher=National Cartoonists Society |accessdate=April 2, 2015}} (''scroll half way down to the "Editorial Cartoons" heading and click on the triangle next to "SEE WINNERS"'')</ref>

== John Fischetti Award == The Fischetti Editorial Cartoon Competition Award, usually referred to as the John Fischetti Award, is given annually to a staff, syndicated or regularly published professional cartoonist for cartoons on current social and political subjects (including sports and entertainment) published in a daily or weekly newspaper or regularly published periodical (including Internet publications) in the United States. They are administered by the Journalism Department of [[Columbia College Chicago]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.colum.edu/academics/media-arts/initiatives/fischetti.html |title=Fischetti Editorial Cartoon Competition |publisher=Columbia College Chicago |accessdate=April 2, 2015}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{cite web|url=http://www.reuben.org/ncs/awards.asp |title=NCS Awards |publisher=National Cartoonists Society |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060106021759/http://www.reuben.org/ncs/awards.asp |archivedate=2006-01-06 }} *{{cite web |url=http://about.colum.edu/archives/collections/manuscripts/john-fischetti.php |title=John Fischetti |publisher=Columbia College Chicago |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403102214/http://about.colum.edu/archives/collections/manuscripts/john-fischetti.php |archivedate=2015-04-03 }} (primary source material) *{{cite web |url=http://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/f/fischetti_j.htm |title=John Fischetti Cartoons 1962-1967 |publisher=Syracuse University}} (primary source material) *{{cite web|url=https://archives.newberry.org/repositories/2/resources/71|title=Inventory of the John Fischetti Papers, 1942-1995|publisher=The Newberry}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fischetti, John}} [[Category:1916 births]] [[Category:1980 deaths]] [[Category:American editorial cartoonists]] [[Category:New York Herald Tribune people]] [[Category:Chicago Daily News people]] [[Category:Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning winners]]