'Lone Wolf' (Indians #13, August 1952).
Anthony D'Adamo, also known as Tony D'Adamo, was a New York children's book and advertising illustrator, best-known for his association with McGraw Hill's Educational Developmental and Learning Division. In the late 1940s and 1950s, he was a comic artist for Fiction House. As a cartoonist/illustrator for the New York newspaper Newsday (1979-1995), he drew the cartoon feature 'Laws Long Ago' (1994-1995).
Early life
Anthony D'Adamo was born in 1931 in New York City into a family of Italian descent. He studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, and during the Korean War (1950-1953), he served in the U.S. Army.
'Space Scout' (Jumbo Comics #160, June 1952).
Fiction House comics
During the early 1950s, prior to his military service, D'Adamo had a short stint as a comic book artist for the publishing company Fiction House. In the 1952 issues of Jumbo Comics, he had a regular feature called 'Space Scout' (issues #157-#163), and he additionally drew the 'Lone Wolf' stories in Indians: Picture Stories of the First Americans (issues #14-#17, 1952-1953), as well as 'Mysteries of the Jungle' in Jungle Comics (issues #153-#156). He also drew the 'Commando Rangers' comics in Fiction House's military comic book Rangers (issues #66 and #69), as well as a story in the first issue of the horror title 'The Monster' (January 1953).
Illustration career
After returning from military service, D'Adamo became a freelance illustrator. He drew for various popular magazines, like Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Children's Digest, Field & Stream and Women's Day. His art also appeared in books published by Abingdon, American Book Company, AMSO Publications, Continental Press, Dover Publications, Garrard, Gregg, Krames, Messner, Prentice-Hall, Rand McNally, Random House, Troll Associates and Watts & Western Publishing. He additionally drew advertisements for Coca-Cola, Goodrich Tires and IBM. D'Adamo was best-known as an illustrator for McGraw Hill's Educational Developmental and Learning Division, where he livened up the pages of hundreds of educational books and children's stories.
Thanksgiving illustration.
For writer Elsa Pederson, D'Adamo illustrated 'Dangerous Flight' (1960) and 'Mountain of the Sun' (1962), both published by Abington Press. In collaboration with novelist Louise Pliss, he created artwork for the novels 'That Summer on Catalpa Street' (1961) and 'The Trip Down Catfish Creek' (1962), both published by Reilly & Lee Co. D'Adamo additionally illustrated Lulita Crawford Pritchett's 'The Cabin at Medicine Springs' (Franklin Watts, 1958), Louise Andrews Kent's 'He Went With Champlain' (Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1959), Jean Horton Berg's 'Pierre the Young Watchmaker' (Bobbs-Merrill, 1961), Katharine Elliott Wilkie's 'Robert Louis Stevenson. Storyteller and Adventurer' (Houghlin Mifflin, 1961), Gerard Previn Meyer's 'Pioneers of the Press: The First Newspapers in America' (Rand McNally, 1961), Richard E. & Barbara S. Parker Drdek's 'The Missing Fish' (Random House, 1965), John Oleartchick's 'Casting and Jewelry Craft' (Nick Frank, 1977) and John Parlin's 'Amelia Earhart. Pioneer in The Sky' (Garrard Pub. Co, 1991).
With Lawrence Jefferies, D'Adamo made the children's educational book 'Amazing World of Animals' (Troll Communications, 1983). Together with Lee J. Ames, D'Adamo published 'Draw 50 Birds' (Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1996) and 'Draw 50 Insects' (Kingfisher, 1999). Another notable book was the humorous 'Honor The Godfather: A Crazy Cartoon Caper' (Signet Books, USA, 1976), scripted by Nick Meglin, editor and scriptwriter for Mad Magazine. It spoofed stereotypes about the Mafia, particularly in the light of the successful 'The Godfather' films. D'Adamo also collaborated with another Mad scriptwriter, Frank Jacobs, on a series of baseball cards about ficional players, released under the titles 'Casey at the Bat Baseball Cards: The Mudville Nine' (Dover Publications, 1995) and 'Batty Baseball Cards' (Dover Publications, 1995).
'Laws Long Ago' (Newsday, 28 August 1994).
Newsday
Between 1979 and 1995, D'Adamo was a staff illustrator for the New York newspaper Newsday, primarily serving the Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island. He also contributed his cartoon cartoon column 'Laws Long Ago' (1994-1995) to the paper, which came about by accident. When working on another project, D'Adamo came across the quaint spelling and arcane language used in local ordinances on Long Island, and began collecting these obscure but amusing bits of history. Through his passion for history and literature, he turned them into an illustrated column, in which he highlighted either the comical aspects of the situations themselves or the strange long-forgotten laws that were in effect on Long Island during the early history of the United States. They were compiled in the book 'Long Island, Our Story' (Newsday Inc, 1998). For his work for the paper, he was awarded Newday's first "Publishers Award in Graphic Arts".
Final years and death
After 1995, Anthony D'Adamo continued freelancing for Prentice-Hall, Dover Publications and many others. He was a member of the LI Berndt Toast Illustrators group, a chapter of the National Cartoonists Society, located on Long Island. He died in 2025, at age 94.
Self-portrait.