Jim Scancarelli
| Jim Scancarelli | |
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Jim Scancarelli at the Old Fiddlers Convention in Galax, Virginia (August 14, 2010)
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| Born | James Scancarelli August 24, 1941 New York City, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Cartoonist, Writer, Penciller, Artist, Inker, Letterer, Colourist |
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Notable works
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Gasoline Alley |
| Awards | National Cartoonists Society Story Comic Strip Award for 1988 |
James Scancarelli (born August 24, 1941), known professionally as Jim Scancarelli, is an American cartoonist and musician. Since 1986, he has been writing and drawing the syndicated comic strip Gasoline Alley for Tribune Media Services. In that role, his predecessors were Frank King, Bill Perry and Dick Moores. He had served as an assistant to the latter for several years before taking over. Scancarelli is also a prizewinning bluegrass fiddler.
Born in New York City, Scancarelli is the son of an archivist for the Italian embassy. When he was still an infant, his family moved to his mother's home state of North Carolina.
When his family moved to Washington, D.C., for his father’s job, Scancarelli became the target of bullies in school. This circumstance played a role in developing his love of comics.
"Comics were my escape," Scancarelli said. "The characters became my friends. My dad used to bring home three newspapers every night and we’d read the comics."
Scancarelli's sense of humor was developed while listening to the radio programs of Amos and Andy, Jack Benny and Fred Allen. Scancarelli credits these "hilarious" comedians with giving him the comedic sensibility which later infused his comics, "whether anyone appreciates that kind of humor or not."
After serving in the U.S. Navy, he went into radio and television, including a position as art director for The Johnny Cash Show, creating scenery and writing cue cards. In the early 1960s he also worked as an artist in WBTV’s (the CBS-affiliated television station in Charlotte, North Carolina) graphics department, where he would design sets and props, and draw images on the weather maps. He also would act on occasion, and wrote and voiced episodes of The Yellowjacket, a regular five-minute drive-time radio segment on WBT-FM influenced by the Batman show. Scancarelli had a successful career as a freelance magazine illustrator, and he did slide transparency art until computers made that job obsolete.
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