Leo Cullum
| Leo Cullum | |
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| Born | Leo Aloysius Cullum January 11, 1942 Newark, New Jersey, USA |
| Died | October 23, 2010 (aged 68) Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Cartoonist |
Leo Aloysius Cullum (January 11, 1942 – October 23, 2010) was an American cartoonist, one of the more frequent contributors to The New Yorker with more than 800 gag cartoons published. He started his drawing career after having served as a pilot in the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War and flying planes commercially for Trans World Airlines and American Airlines.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, Cullum was raised in North Bergen, New Jersey and earned his undergraduate degree in 1963 from the College of the Holy Cross, where he majored in English. He joined the United States Marine Corps after graduating from college, earning a commission as a second Lieutenant. Upon completion of his flight training in Pensacola, Florida, Cullum deployed to Vietnam, where he flew more than 200 missions, mostly ground attacks in support of the infantry in addition to attacks on the Viet Cong supply lines on the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos. Though the missions over Laos were not officially acknowledged, Cullum was baffled by the need for secrecy, saying "the North Vietnamese certainly knew it wasn't the Swiss bombing them".
After completing his military service, Cullum became a pilot for TWA, which was later taken over by American Airlines, where he worked until his retirement in 2001. In between flights, he started doodling, continuing his early interest in drawing cartoons. He said, "I bought some instructional books which explained the format, and I began studying the work of various cartoonists". He had always hoped to be published in The New Yorker, which turned down a series of his early entries. The magazine liked some of Cullum's concepts for cartoons, which were turned over to Charles Addams for illustration, with the first of Cullum's ideas appearing in print in 1975 showing a couple paddling in a canoe with their reflection in the water showing a vision of the man attacking the woman. Addams convinced Cullum to pursue his craft, and his first sale was to Air Line Pilot Magazine. He had later cartoons printed in Argosy, Saturday Review and Sports Afield.
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