Era nato il 27 dicembre 1918, aveva 93 anni; il momento fatale sarebbe giunto, prima o poi.
E’ arrivato venedì scorso in una infermieria vicino a casa sua, a Staten Island, New York.
Domani il suo funerale. Per chi ci legge dagli Stati Uniti e può parteciparvi: il will be Monday from the Harmon Home for Funerals, West Brighton, with a mass at 9:30 a.m. mass in Our Lady of Pity Church. Burial will follow in Moravian Cemetery, New Dorp.
Il giornale locale di Staten Island lo ricorda in questo modo:
The lifelong Staten Islander grew up in Mariners Harbor and graduated from Port Richmond High School. He attended the New York Industrial Arts School, Federal Arts School and New York School of Visual Arts.
He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, seeing duty in the European theater and attaining the rank of captain. After his military service, he lived in Castleton Corners, then eventually settled in Graniteville.
He began working as an artist in the late 1930s drawing animals at the Staten Island Zoo for the National Youth Administration, which help prepare him for his subsequent career as a cartoonist.
The Advance once photographed Mr. Celardo in the alligator pit at the zoo in West Brighton, a setting he admitted felt slightly uncomfortable.
Mark Evanier dice molto di più, come sempre.
Estraggo, per ragioni di velocità obbligata, qualche passaggio e rimando al suo post, l’ennesimo obituary che purtroppo è ospitato giocoforza nel suo sito, e uno dei tanti che compare anche qui, come chi ci segue ormai è abituato a registrare.
His first work in comics was done in or around 1939 for the Eisner-Iger Studio and he quickly segued to drawing comic books for Fiction House, Quality Comics and other companies.
For Fiction House, he often drew Kaanga, which was a Tarzan-like character. It is said that it primed Celardo’s desire for a crack at drawing the real Tarzan some day. He would get his chance but before he did, he served in World War II and drew a lot more comics, including a long stint for Better Publications.
He got his shot at the Tarzan newspaper strip in 1954, taking it over from his friend and studio-mate Bob Lubbers when Lubbers accepted an offer to go work for Al Capp. Celardo drew (and eventually wrote) Tarzan until 1967 when he was replaced by Russ Manning. With nary a week off, Celardo moved over and began drawing the Tales of the Green Beret newspaper strip when its first artist, Joe Kubert, gave it up.
Qui il seguito della “ricognizione” di Evanier.
I lettori italiani un po’ cresciutelli potrebbero ricordarsi di questi albetti a striscia con il personaggio disegnato da Celardo, pubblicati a Firenze dal vulcanico Corrado Tedeschi (quello del Giornale dei misteri), con Mutt & Jeff in quarta di copertina.
Questo (sopra) è del 1948, fa parte degli Albi Nuove Avventure (non comunissimo da trovare).
Tarzan a parte, Celardo ha anche lavorato a Davy Jones, Buz Sawyer, Big Ben Bolt, Buck Rogers, Lady Luck e l’agente segreto Corrigan (X-9).
Nella foto di famiglia sopra, scattata nell’aprile 1978, John Celardo è con Julia; festeggiano in occasione dell’81mo compleanno della “capostipite” Anna Celardo.
L’origine italiana della famiglia è scoperta…