California cartoonist
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JOHN P. MALONEY, Los Angeles cartoonist, artist and illustrator
John Patrick Maloney, Los Angeles editorial, sports and labor cartoonist, was born Aug. 4, 1908, in Menlo Park, Calif., where his mother was, for 30 years, city treasurer. He died in Los Angeles at age 91 on June 30, 2001.
A graduate of San Jose State College in 1929, he started his career in 1933 as a cartoonist at the Los Angeles Herald-Express, which in 1961 merged with the Examiner to form the Herald-Examiner. He also was considered one of the most capable retouch (airbrush) artists in the business, credited with the first front-page airbrush (composite) photo of two airplanes colliding over the Grand Canyon, the first such image in newspaper history, published in numerous other newspapers. He was also an avid watercolorist, studying under his longtime friend and famed desert painter James Swinnerton, a pioneer California cartoonist who drew the famous “Little Jimmy,” among the first is America, including the invention of the “cartoon balloon” dialogue device.
Maloney worked as a Hearst Corp. cartoonist until 1969, when a never-settled strike against the Hearst newspaper ended his newspaper career; he was, ironically, a labor cartoonist out of work. He drew union and editorial cartoons for various labor and sports publications until he was hired in 1989 by Lockheed Corp. and was able to pivot to working as a graphic artist designing logos, posters and annual-report artwork and finished his career there with accolades. A highlight of his Lockheed years was being flown in a Navy jet to the USS Ticonderoga 400 miles off San Diego, where he dined with the commander before returning to the mainland.
As a young man he expressed a desire to be “an editorial cartoonist,” according to an autobiography in “Hearst Progress.” He attended the California School of Fine Arts (1929-32), and Chouinard Art Institute (1934-36). He sought jobs during the Depression in New York, Chicago and elsewhere, but few newspapers were hiring. His father was also out of work after being a pioneer Painter’s Union official in the Santa Clara Valley, who clients included the Winchester Mystery House, the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley and the Hotel Coronado in San Diego.
In 1938 he married Marion T. (Comer), a former Walt Disney Co. secretary to Roy Disney. They had two sons, Brendan T. and John F. Maloney. She died in 1995.
During and after World War II (1939-45), he was an editorial cartoonist, and he began doing sports cartoons in 1945. His work is in the collections of the Huntington Library, Helms Athletic Foundation, ex-president Jimmy Carter, and others.
A humble man, he was arguably one of the three great cartoonists of California, along with Karl Hubenthal (L.A. Times) and Lou Grant (Oakland Tribune). Hubenthal, a lifelong friend and best man at his wedding, and was a valued mentor, along with Willard Mullen, Oliphant and other cartoonists across the U.S. Maloney drew for many clients: The Liberty Bonds program during World War II, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, various charity organizations and, as a maker of greeting cards, for numerous friends in Los Angeles He drew covers for publications of the L. A. Rams, Hollywood Park race track, the Teamsters Union, and the Western Hockey League’s “Hockey World” publication, including many full-page cover drawings..
He created a number of cartoon panels in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, including L.A. Sidelights and Periscope, both social commentary vehicles working off the news. He was a finalist for the L.A. Dodgers logo when the “Brooklyn Bums” moved to L.A. .
Awards:
During the 1950s and 1960s, he won four awards from the Freedom Foundation.
He was active in the Newspaper Guild and was one of its presidents.
He was also president of the Los Angeles Catholic Press Council, 1956-57.
He was a member of the American Association of Magazine Cartoonists.
He received a U.S. Treasury citation in 1946 for patriotic cooperation in behalf of the War Finance Programs (posters urging people to buy war bonds).
He was a 1946 winner of the American Newspaper Guild Reporter editorial cartoon award.
He received a 1946 National Safety Council award.
According to “Who’s Who in America 1958,” he was also awarded the 1946 Los Angeles Newspaper Publishers Editorial award and the 1946 American Newspaper Guild Reporter Editorial award.
He also earned awards, according to “Who’s Who,” from the Committee to Defend America, and for various National Defense drawings, and was honored by the American newspaper Guild American Association of Magazine Cartoonists.
In 1960 he traveled to Europe as part of a press entourage with Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnists Art Buchwald and L. A. Times Columnist Jack Smith to document the first 707 jet flight to Paris and Rome. By then he had become Art Director at the newspaper, but the strike cost him his job and his pension. He worked furiously at the Newspaper Guild publication, contributing numerous labor-themed cartoons and covers; his work appeared in 200 labor publications across the country. A 1943 Los Angeles Newspaper guild publication said, “While most newspaper artists’ dream of becoming syndicate stars, or illustrators for the big slick magazines, his great ambition is to become the country’s leading labor cartoonist.”
A review of a Diane Keaton-curated “Local News” L.A. tabloid photography exhibit in 1999, said “In a time when Los Angeles had six daily papers the Herald-Express led the pack by specializing in splashy headlines and gaze-grabbing pictures. Long before Miranda rights and civil rights lawsuits distanced the relationship between cops and reporters, the Herald-Express photographers were practically a second phalanx of the LADP.”
Maloney remains one of the unsung artists of California, a master of pen and ink drawing, cartooning, painting and retouching.
Sources:
L.A. Times obit, July 2001
“Who Is Who in California,” 1958 and other years
Self biography for “Hearst Progress” company magazine, Jan. 1940.
L.A. Newspaper Guild publications (Eight Ball, Page One)
Letter from then-president Jimmy Carter
Conversations with John P. Maloney
Conversation with (his brother) Cornelius Maloney
