{{short description|American cartoonist and illustrator}}{{Infobox person | name = Jefferson Machamer | image = Jefferson Machamer 1946.jpg | caption = Machamer c. 1946 | birth_date = 1900 | birth_place = Western Nebraska, U.S. | death_date = August 15, 1960 | death_place = Santa Monica, California, U.S. | alma_mater = University of Nebraska | spouse = Pauline Moore (married 1934–1960) | children = 3 }} '''Thomas Jefferson Machamer''' (1900 – August 15, 1960<ref>Levy et al. 1979, p. 369.</ref>) was an American cartoonist and illustrator known especially for his drawings of glamorous women. He also wrote and acted in a series of short comedy films in the 1930s.
==Career as an illustrator== After graduating from the University of Nebraska Machamer became a staff artist for ''The Kansas City Star'' newspaper.<ref name="Nadel311">Nadel 2006, p. 311.</ref> In 1922 he moved to New York City and joined the staff of the humor magazine ''Judge''.<ref name="Nadel311" />
From 1928 until 1930 he wrote and drew a comic strip for King Features Syndicate called ''Petting Patty'', initially as a daily strip and later also as a Sunday color feature. In 1932, his comic strip ''Gags and Gals'' made its debut in the ''New York Mirror''. This strip proved a greater popular success, and ran until 1938.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://cartoonician.com/a-look-back-at-jefferson-machamers-gags-gals/ |title=''A Look Back at Jefferson Machamer's Gags & Gals'', Hogan's Alley |access-date=2014-01-16 |archive-date=2014-01-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140118044451/http://cartoonician.com/a-look-back-at-jefferson-machamers-gags-gals/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to Dan Nadel, ''Gags and Gals'' displayed the elements that typified most of Machamer's work: "beautiful dominant women, broad shouldered and impeccably dressed, accompanied by hapless, unattractive men, sometimes short and mustachioed, with just a tuft of hair atop a bald pate—apparently a self portrait."<ref name="Nadel311" /> Machamer's style has been compared to that of Russell Patterson, who may have influenced him.<ref>Waugh 1991, p. 147.</ref>
In 1946, Machamer published a how-to book for aspiring cartoonists, ''Laugh and Draw with Jefferson Machamer''.<ref name="Nadel311" /> Beginning in the 1940s, he also operated a correspondence course from his home.<ref name="Nadel311" />
==Film work== Between 1936 and 1938, Machamer wrote and acted in a series of short comic films made by Educational Pictures, including ''Comic Artist's Home Life'', ''Wanna Be a Model?'', and ''Cute Crime''.
==Personal life== Machamer was born in western Nebraska.<ref name="Lincoln">{{cite newspaper|title=Christmas and New Years Greetings from Former Lincoln People|first=Jefferson |last=Machamer|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/lincoln-journal-star-christmas-and-new-y/188120969/|newspaper=Lincoln Sunday Journal and Star|date=December 24, 1939|page=6|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> From 1934 until his death he was married to the actress Pauline Moore, with whom he had three children.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/15/arts/pauline-moore-87-acted-with-roy-rogers.html "Pauline Moore, 87; Acted With Roy Rogers"] December 15, 2001, ''The New York Times''. Retrieved July 26, 2013.</ref>
Jefferson Machamer died in Santa Monica, California on August 15, 1960.
==Gallery== <gallery mode=packed heights=300px > File:Caricature of Wang Lianying by Thomas Machamer, New York Tribune, 1920-10-03, p5.jpg|Illustration of Wang Lianying, 3 October 1920 File:Jefferson Machamer, It's Libel to Say Movie Folks are Fast (1921).jpg|"It's Libel to Say Movie Folks are Fast", 2 October 1921 File:Jefferson Machamer, Do Your XMas Mailing Early, 10 December 1922.jpg|"Do Your XMas Mailing Early", 10 December 1922 </gallery>
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== *Levy, F. D., & Facts on File, Inc. (1979). ''Obituaries on file''. New York: Facts on File. {{ISBN|0871963728}} *Nadel, D. (2006). ''Art out of time: Unknown comics visionaries, 1900-1969''. New York: Abrams. {{ISBN|0810958384}} *Waugh, C. (1991). ''The comics''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. {{ISBN|0878054987}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|id=1031034 | name=Jefferson Machamer}} * [https://www.lambiek.net/artists/m/machamer_jefferson.htm Lambiek Comiclopedia article.] {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Machamer, Jefferson}} Category:1900 births Category:1960 deaths Category:American comic strip cartoonists Category:American comics writers Category:20th-century American male actors Category:University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni Category:Artists from Nebraska Category:Male actors from Nebraska Category:20th-century American screenwriters