Sam Berman
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Sam Berman, born in 1906, was a leading caricaturist of the 1940s and 1950s.
Berman was in high school when he began drawing cartoons for the Hartford Courant. He went to New York to study art and then landed a position as a staff cartoonist for the Newark Star Eagle. During the 1930s his political cartoons were published in color in Collier's Weekly.
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[edit] Films
He designed titles for Nothing Sacred (1937) and other films of the 1930s. During World War II he did a series depicting Nazi leaders.
[edit] Radio
After WWII, he did art for advertising agencies and created caricatures of leading radio performers, including his work for NBC's promotional book, The NBC Parade of Stars as Seen by Sam Berman: As Heard over Your Favorite NBC Station (1947). This featured a clear vinyl slipcase and a paper folder with the title printed in gold. The book displayed 44 caricatures of NBC radio personalities, including Frank Sinatra, Eddie Cantor, Fred Allen, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Red Skelton, Alice Faye and Phil Harris, Milton Berle, as well as the stars of Quiz Kids, Truth or Consequences, Amos 'n' Andy, Mr. District Attorney, Dr. I. Q. and A Date with Judy.
[edit] Books
His advertising art included a unique approach of caricaturing ordinary people, as in his series of ads for Pitney-Bowes. His children's books include Shapes (Scott Foresman, 1952) and Dinosaur Joke Book (Grosset & Dunlap, 1969).
As head of his own map-making firm, he created a relief map, the six-foot Geo-Physical Globe. Berman later lived in Spain.
