Marty Links
Encyclopedia
Marty Links was an American
cartoonist
best known for her syndicated comic strip
Emmy Lou.
, she moved with her family to San Francisco, where she grew up. For six months she attended San Francisco's Fashion Art Institute, her only art training, and then began painting murals in the teenage departments of San Francisco department stores—the Emporium, the City of Paris and O'Connor Moffat. In 1940, she arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle
where she drew for the "Women's World" department.
Alexander Arguello died in 1966 after the couple had been married for 25 years.
:
Links had three children, and her daughters served as models for Emmy Lou. In 1954, Links lived at 215 32nd Avenue in San Francisco. In 1957, she described her working methods:
By the time her children became adults, Links felt the strip no longer represented teens, as she told columnist Caen, "Everything I know about teenagers today is unprintable." Thus, she brought Emmy Lou to an end in December 1979.
During the 1990s, she lived at 64 Manzanita Way in San Francisco. She continued to do watercolor paintings until the last year of her life. She died on a Sunday, June 1, 2008, of heart failure at a San Rafael
assisted living facility. She was survived by two daughters, Victoria Arguello of San Rafael, and Elizabeth Arguello of Albuquerque, New Mexico
, and by six grandchildren.
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
best known for her syndicated comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
Emmy Lou.
Biography
Born Martha Arguello in Oakland, CaliforniaOakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, she moved with her family to San Francisco, where she grew up. For six months she attended San Francisco's Fashion Art Institute, her only art training, and then began painting murals in the teenage departments of San Francisco department stores—the Emporium, the City of Paris and O'Connor Moffat. In 1940, she arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
where she drew for the "Women's World" department.
Comic strips
After landing an assignment to create fashion drawings for a major advertising campaign, she delivered her artwork to an ad agency account executive, who rejected the drawings and said, "This isn't what we want. These kids look more like bobby-soxers." The reaction gave her the idea for a cartoon character, and in 1944, she launched her comic strip Bobby Sox about a teenager named Mimi. It was distributed by Consolidated News Features. The Chronicle described Mimi as a "precocious sub-deb with a flair for trouble." Chronicle writer Carl Nolte noted the role of Links and her husband in San Francisco history:- Mimi, who had a pug nose and a short skirt, was a somewhat older version of Emmy Lou, the gawky teenager who could have been her younger sister. By 1946, Marty Links had drawn over 600 cartoons for the Chronicle, mostly about teenagers, had signed up with a syndicate and was a local celebrity. In the meantime, she had married Alexander Arguello, her high school sweetheart. He was a descendant of Jose Dario Arguello, a Spanish army officer who was commandant of the Presidio of San Francisco and a governor of Alta California. Jose's son was Luis Arguello, also commandant of the Presidio and a governor of California in the Mexican era. Arguello Boulevard in San Francisco and Point Arguello on the Southern California coast are named for the family.
Alexander Arguello died in 1966 after the couple had been married for 25 years.
Bobby Sox becomes Emmy Lou
As the footgear fashions of the 1940s became passe, the title Bobby Sox became outdated, so Links changed it to Emmy Lou, as noted by comics historian Don MarksteinDon Markstein's Toonopedia
Don Markstein's Toonopedia was a web encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation. Don D...
:
- If you happen to be confused by the given name of the cartoonist, you're not alone. So, apparently, was the National Cartoonists SocietyNational Cartoonists SocietyThe National Cartoonists Society is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the troops...
, of which she was one of the first female members. Correspondence from the Society was addressed to "Mr. Marty Links" even after she'd given birth to her first child. She offered to send them her bust size. Like most slang describing teenagers, "Bobby Sox" was destined eventually to sound quaint. In 1951, when the term was still a couple of years away from the dustbin of history, Links renamed the feature after its star, Emmy Lou. Unencumbered by obsolescent expressions, she and her boyfriend, Alvin, continued in the same vein for decades.
Links had three children, and her daughters served as models for Emmy Lou. In 1954, Links lived at 215 32nd Avenue in San Francisco. In 1957, she described her working methods:
- When I first started with the syndicate, I drew only daily panelsDaily stripA daily strip is a newspaper comic strip format, appearing on weekdays, Monday through Saturday, as contrasted with a Sunday strip, which typically only appears on Sundays....
. After we sold to a few papers, they asked for a Sunday pageSunday stripA Sunday strip is a newspaper comic strip format, where comic strips are printed in the Sunday newspaper, usually in a special section called the Sunday comics, and virtually always in color. Some readers called these sections the Sunday funnies...
. This was impossible to handle alone, so Jerry Bundsen and Ted Martine came into my life. Jerry, who works for The San Francisco ExaminerThe San Francisco ExaminerThe San Francisco Examiner is a U.S. daily newspaper. It has been published continuously in San Francisco, California, since the late 19th century.-19th century:...
with Herb CaenHerb CaenHerbert Eugene Caen was a Pulitzer Prize-winning San Francisco journalistwhose daily column of local goings-on, social and political happenings,...
, the columnist, has been writing my daily gags for 11 years. Once a week, he sends me a large batch of gags from which I select what I want and like. If there aren't enough to make up a week, I fill out with my own ideas—which drives Jerry mad! He claims if he sent me 60 gags I would be unable psychologically to select more than four out of the bunch. This isn't so at all. After selecting the four best gags, I pencil in the whole week of dailies. These go to Ted Martine, the world's best artist. (I should be working for him.) He inks in all the pencilled backgrounds. When they are returned I ink in the figures. I have pencilled them in rough enough so that I change as I go along. This keeps the action loose and fresh. In addition, I draw from models constantly, then use the sketches as reference. With the outlines of the furniture inked, for instance, I add details like prints and upholstery, flowers in bowls, fringe on curtains, etc. My husband claims I can't stand a plain white space. But it's this detail which gives a homey touch. As a matter of fact I draw all the furniture in our home. I often think I'd like to recover the worn up holstery in a PopsiclePopsiclePopsicle is the most popular brand of ice pop in the United States and Canada. The first ice pop was created by accident in 1905 when 11-year-old Frank Epperson left a cup of soda on his porch in cold weather overnight. The next morning he went to go get the soda and it was frozen, so he put two...
-colored background so the Popsicle stains will not show. As to the Sunday panels, these I dream up myself, and it is more work than everything else put together. I feel each idea is the last one I'll ever be able to eke out. Also I meditate (or should I say brood?) on my own girlhood, which was a long time ago, believe me. But once the mind starts going back, it's amazing how much it remembers.
By the time her children became adults, Links felt the strip no longer represented teens, as she told columnist Caen, "Everything I know about teenagers today is unprintable." Thus, she brought Emmy Lou to an end in December 1979.
Hallmark
She then began doing ceramic sculptures and working for Hallmark as an illustrator of greeting cards, developing a group of child characters for a series called Kidlinks. At age 82, she retired from Hallmark.During the 1990s, she lived at 64 Manzanita Way in San Francisco. She continued to do watercolor paintings until the last year of her life. She died on a Sunday, June 1, 2008, of heart failure at a San Rafael
San Rafael, California
San Rafael is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area...
assisted living facility. She was survived by two daughters, Victoria Arguello of San Rafael, and Elizabeth Arguello of Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
, and by six grandchildren.
See also
- Aggie MackAggie MackAggie Mack was a newspaper comic strip about a teenage girl. Created by Hal Rasmusson, it was distributed by the Chicago Tribune Syndicate beginning in 1946. It had a 26-year run, with a title change to Aggie during the final six years....
- Etta KettEtta KettEtta Kett was a long-run comic strip created by Paul Robinson. Launched as a single panel during December 1925, it originally offered tips to teenagers on manners, etiquette and the social graces...
- Hal RasmussonHal RasmussonHal Rasmusson was an American cartoonist best known for the comic strip Aggie Mack about a teenage girl.Born in Crookston, Minnesota, Rasmusson grew up in Minneapolis, where he attended the Minneapolis School of Art for two years. He started his career doing fashion illustration...
- Harold TeenHarold TeenHarold Teen was a popular, long-running comic strip written and drawn by Carl Ed . Publisher Joseph Medill Patterson may have suggested, and certainly approved, the strip's concept, loosely based on Booth Tarkington's successful novel Seventeen. Asked in the late 1930s why he had started the strip,...
- PennyPenny (comic strip)Penny was a comic strip about a teenage girl by Harry Haenigsen which maintained its popularity for almost three decades. It was distributed by the New York Herald Tribune Syndicate from 1943 to 1970....