Bertram Whitman was born July 27, 1908 in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Joseph and Sadie Whitman. He grew up in Brooklyn. By 1920 the family had moved to Chicago, Illinois, where his father worked as an auctioneer.
In 1922 Bert Whitman, age fourteen, worked as an office boy at The Chicago Herald-Examiner, where he became intersted in a career as a commercial artist. His only training came from the older staff artists who encouraged his interest in an art career.
In 1924, at age sixteen, he was hired as an artist on the staff of The Los Angeles Times.
In 1929 he became an editorial cartoonist on the staff of The Detroit Mirror, where he worked for three years.
In 1937 he was hired by The Cincinnati Inquirer.
In 1939 he moved to New York City where he worked at The Brooklyn Eagle, whose presses printed the first issues of the comic books NEW FUN and MORE FUN.
In 1940 he opened a small studio called "Bert Whitman Associates" at 242 West 41st Street in the New York Times Building, where he produced newspaper advertising art and comic book content. His employees included Frank Robbins, Irwin Hasen, Leonard Sansone, and George Storm. The Whitman shop packaged Crash Comics and Whirlwind Comics for Frank Z. Temerson's Tem Publishing Company.
In the fall of 1940 Bert Whitman acquired limited rights from the owner of the popular radio show "The Green Hornet" to produce the contents of the first Green Hornet Comics for Frank Z. Temerson's Helnit publications. By the end of 1941 Bert Whitman had sold his licensing rights to Harvey Publications, after which he closed the Whitman Shop.
Working as a freelance artist he drew features for Fawcett, Fox, Holyoke, and Novelty.
From 1941 to 1943 Bert Whitman drew the newspaper comic strip “Mr. EX.” Between 1943 and 1944 he ghosted the newspaper comic strip “Hap Hopper.” From 1944 to 1949 he drew the syndicated comic strip “Debbie Dean.” From 1946 to 1951 he wrote the newspaper comic strip “Cynthia.”
From 1944 to 1948 he drew editorial cartoons for The New York Post.
In 1948 he moved to Florida to join the art staff of The Miami Herald, where he worked for six years.
From 1952 he moved to California, where he was an editorial cartoonist at The Stockton (California) Record.
He was married and had one son.
On December 18, 1960 Bert Whitman was featured in Ripley's Believe It Or Not newspaper comic strip for his remarkable skill as a golfer.
Bert Whitman was nominated fifteen times for the Pulitzer Prize in editorial cartooning.
In 1968 he wrote and illustrated "Here's How To Draw Editorial Cartoons" an art instruction book about drawing for newspapers.
From 1969 he left California and moved to Ariszona, where he worked on the staff of The Phoenix Gazette until 1982.
Bert Whitman died at the age of eighty-two on December 10, 1990 in Phoenix, AZ.
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WHITMAN SHOP ARTISTS from 1940 - 1941
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1940 - to - 1941
Henry Boltinoff
Murray Boltinoff (writer)
Dan Gormley
Irwin Hasen
Pagsilang Isip
Rudolph Johnson
Jack Kirby
Frank Robbins
Leonard Sansone
Hal Sharp
George Storm
Bert Whitman
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