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| began his drawing career at the age of two and his first published drawing appeared in St. Nicholas ten years later. At fourteen, he was a staff artist on Life and Judge. He was born sixty years ago in Pelham Manor, Westchester County, New York. He studied at the Art Students League, at Herkomer School in England, and under Victor Marec in Paris. He wears tortoise-shell glasses when he works and twirls his big black eyebrows as he talks. His mind has the speed of a roulette wheel and his tastes are fastidious. He is openly hostile to ignorant people. His command of the King's English is better than most writers. His frank letters to art aspirants have avoided a flood of mediocre artists. He says the difference between the artist and illustrator is that the latter knows how to draw, eats three square meals a day, and can pay for them. He works incredibly fast, in any medium, turning out about 250 pictures a year less three months' vacation. He is an author of note, has written a series of motion pictures and satirical comedies, and has appeared on stage and screen. He is no Caspar Milquetoast. His caricatures, like his illustrations, are second to none. He can cook a mess of fish balls that would please any gourmet. He goes around the house in his pajamas wearing a monocle. He likes models well curved, feminine, and poised. Vivacious gals irritate his nerves, boyish gals are a crick in the thyroid, and he says, "real men are much better than imitations in brassieres." He has been married twice and has a daughter. His father is so youthful looking at eighty-two that he is constantly mistaken for his illustrious son. Like father, like son. O. O. McIntyre once wrote, "James Montgomery Flagg continues the Ponce de Leon among artists. Somewhere he seems to have tapped youth's eternal fountain. At an age when many limners have put away their drawing boards, he is doing more work than ever before, and with a zip." At this rate Mr. Flagg will not be applying for the Old-Age Pension! | ||
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Willis Birchman Faces and Facts about 26 Contemporary Artists 1937 |
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