'Out Our Way' (3 March 1974).
Ed Sullivan was an American cartoonist, who made cartoons for religious publications like The Catholic Exponent and The Catholic Standard and Times, while self-syndicating his cartoon panel 'Beyond the Stained Glass' for several decades. During the 1970s, he also took over newspaper comic features like 'Out Our Way With The Willets' (1971-1978) and 'Priscilla's Pop' (1976-1983). The cartoonist Ed Sullivan should not be confused with U.S. TV presenter Ed Sullivan (1901-1974).
Early life and career
Edmund R. Sullivan Jr. was born in 1929 in Gardner, Massachusetts. When he was fifteen years old, his family relocated to Akron, Ohio. His cartooning career took off while attending Garfield High School, making humor columns and cartoons for the school paper. Having fine tuned his skills through a correspondence art course, he later made a comic strip for the Catholic University Bulletin in Cleveland and sold cartoons to a variety of national publications, including the Saturday Evening Post, Collier's and Ladies' Home Journal. His inspiration came from the English sense of humor as found in Reg Smythe's 'Andy Capp' comic strip and the cartoons of Norman Thelwell.
Cartoon for the Catholic Standard and Times, 24 June 1976.
Religious cartoons
At age 25, Sullivan converted to Catholicism, joining the Society of St. Paul. In 1958, he entered the St. John Vianney Seminary in Steubensville in Steubenville, Ohio, for secluded study for the priesthood. During this period, he produced some comical vignettes of monastery living. A collection was published in book form, with all proceeds going to the seminary. In 1966, Sullivan decided to turn to full-time cartooning. After leaving the seminary, he went to work as reporter and cartoonist, and later Associate Editor, for The Catholic Exponent, a Youngstown diocesan newspaper.
In 1967, he started his own Avant Features syndicate to distribute his 'Beyond the Stained Glass' cartoon feature to both religious and non-religious publications. Over the years, Sullivan's cartoons became more secular in nature, and often satirized the Church in the post-Vatican II era. Argus Communications in Chicago published another collection of his illustrations under the title 'Laughter through an open window: A Modern Pilgrim's Progress' (1968). From 1971 through the 1980s, Sullivan's cartoons ran in The Catholic Standard and Times.
'Beyond the Stained Glass' (Denver Catholic Register, 27 May 2005).
Out Our Way
During the 1970s, Sullivan also joined the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) as a comic creator. In 1971, he succeeded Paul Gringle on the Sunday comic 'Out Our Way with the Willets', and continued it until the end of its run in 1978. The feature was the Sunday companion to the daily cartoon panel 'Out Our Way', created in 1922 by J.R. Williams, and then continued until 1975 by his assistant Neg Cochran. While the daily panel depicted American rural life with a variety of recurring characters, the Sunday comic focused on the small-town Willets family. During Sullivan's tenure, it ran in about 150 newspapers.
'Priscilla's Pop'.
Priscilla's Pop
While still working on the 'Out Our Way' Sunday feature, Sullivan took over the NEA's daily 'Priscilla's Pop' strip from its creator Al Vermeer on 19 July 1976. In 1977, he also took over the Sunday page. Created by Vermeer in 1946, the feature was a sitcom-style family comic, dealing with the everyday life of the Nutchell family, consisting of father Waldo, mother Hazel, school-age daughter Priscilla, sports-minded son Carlyle and the family dog, Oliver. Al Vermeer continued the comic until the end of its run on 11 September 1983.
Final years and death
Besides cartooning, Ed Sullivan was also active with writing, illustrating, fine-line pencil drawing, watercolor painting and greeting card design. He was a longtime resident of Salem, Ohio, where he was popular for his limited edition prints of historic Salem, which hang in many local businesses and homes. Edmund Sullivan died of cancer at his home on 26 August 2006.
Ed Sullivan, portrayed in The Salem News of 1 May 1975.