info
Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
Illustrator Ed Vebell, 96, in Feb. 2018 (Three Investigators series)
17 views
Skip to first unread message
Lenona
Oct 14, 2020, 11:36:13 PM10/14/20
to
That is, he did the colored cover illustrations, not the B&W interior illustrations. The latter were by Harry Kane.
I first saw his work on the cover of The Secret of Terror Castle (1964). For those who don't know, that's the first book in the series, by Robert Arthur. In it, near the beginning, two of the preteen investigators manage to get past the guard at Hollywood with a Rolls Royce and a good acting bluff, so they can meet with Alfred Hitchcock. After the real Hitchcock died (he wrote the introductions for the books), a fictional film director was created to take his place, and the previous books were rewritten. The boys always reported to him at the end of each mystery.
The books I had from the series were mostly the Random House paperbacks with cover illustrations by Stephen Marchesi - that is, the unscary covers with a subtle chrome-like appearance in the artwork.
https://www.threeinvestigatorsbooks.com/EdVebell.html
(includes photos and some of his covers)
I first saw his work on the cover of The Secret of Terror Castle (1964). For those who don't know, that's the first book in the series, by Robert Arthur. In it, near the beginning, two of the preteen investigators manage to get past the guard at Hollywood with a Rolls Royce and a good acting bluff, so they can meet with Alfred Hitchcock. After the real Hitchcock died (he wrote the introductions for the books), a fictional film director was created to take his place, and the previous books were rewritten. The boys always reported to him at the end of each mystery.
The books I had from the series were mostly the Random House paperbacks with cover illustrations by Stephen Marchesi - that is, the unscary covers with a subtle chrome-like appearance in the artwork.
https://www.threeinvestigatorsbooks.com/EdVebell.html
(includes photos and some of his covers)
Lenona
Oct 14, 2020, 11:58:17 PM10/14/20
to
Forgot to say that Robert Arthur didn't live long, so other writers took over the series.
https://3investigators.homestead.com/files/edvebell3.htm
(this describes Vebell's work and how his middle daughter was the model for his interior illustrations of Allie Jamison in The Mystery of the Singing Serpent - that was the only book in the series where he DID do the interior illustrations)
http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.com/search?q=Vebell
(a LOT of his other work, including his wartime illustrations for Stars and Stripes)
http://mikelynchcartoons.blogspot.com/2013/09/video-illustrator-ed-vebell-remembers.html
(this has a short video where Vebell talks about cartoonist Bill Mauldin)
Excerpt:
"Ed Vebell was a prolific illustrator. He stayed on after the war, and was one of the few artists who drew the Nuremberg trials as they happened. 'His haunting drawing of Herman Goering was executed with a fountain pen and spit,' according to the Society of Illustrators 'On the Fly' feature."
https://3investigators.homestead.com/files/edvebell3.htm
(this describes Vebell's work and how his middle daughter was the model for his interior illustrations of Allie Jamison in The Mystery of the Singing Serpent - that was the only book in the series where he DID do the interior illustrations)
http://todaysinspiration.blogspot.com/search?q=Vebell
(a LOT of his other work, including his wartime illustrations for Stars and Stripes)
http://mikelynchcartoons.blogspot.com/2013/09/video-illustrator-ed-vebell-remembers.html
(this has a short video where Vebell talks about cartoonist Bill Mauldin)
Excerpt:
"Ed Vebell was a prolific illustrator. He stayed on after the war, and was one of the few artists who drew the Nuremberg trials as they happened. 'His haunting drawing of Herman Goering was executed with a fountain pen and spit,' according to the Society of Illustrators 'On the Fly' feature."
Lenona
Oct 15, 2020, 12:34:30 AM10/15/20
to
He was born in Chicago, started art school at age 14, and died in Westport, Connecticut.
https://westportnow.com/index.php?/v3/obitjump/ed_vebel_renowed_illustrator_96/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Vebell
Excerpts:
...Vebell competed in the individual (semi-finalist) and team épée events at the 1952 Summer Olympics. Vebell was elected to the US Fencing Hall of Fame in April 2014.
After working as an illustrator in Chicago, Vebell enlisted in the United States army during World War II. He became a staff artist for Stars & Stripes, and was an official courtroom artist for the Nuremberg war trials. Many of his Nuremberg works are now in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
As a professional illustrator and artist, his commissions include work for the United States Postal Service. He also executed commissions for many periodicals, including a long run as Reader's Digest's most popular illustrator...
https://westportnow.com/index.php?/v3/obitjump/ed_vebel_renowed_illustrator_96/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Vebell
Excerpts:
...Vebell competed in the individual (semi-finalist) and team épée events at the 1952 Summer Olympics. Vebell was elected to the US Fencing Hall of Fame in April 2014.
After working as an illustrator in Chicago, Vebell enlisted in the United States army during World War II. He became a staff artist for Stars & Stripes, and was an official courtroom artist for the Nuremberg war trials. Many of his Nuremberg works are now in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
As a professional illustrator and artist, his commissions include work for the United States Postal Service. He also executed commissions for many periodicals, including a long run as Reader's Digest's most popular illustrator...
Lenona
Oct 15, 2020, 12:46:41 AM10/15/20
to
https://06880danwoog.com/2018/02/10/remembering-ed-vebell/
(remembrances - I'd say this is better than the obit, by far - do read all the way down!)
Excerpts:
...After the war, he worked for French magazines (and covered the Nuremberg war trials). When she was 18, Grace Kelly posed for Ed. His first girlfriend was a star of the the Folies Bergère.
Back in the States, he contributed to Time, Reader’s Digest and other publications. Specializing in military art, he drew uniforms from around the world for encyclopedias and paperback publishers. He worked for MBI too, illustrating the history of America from Leif Erikson through the Pilgrims, the Founding Fathers, and every war up to Vietnam.
Ed designed US stamps — some with military themes, some not.
...His latest project is selling his vast collection of uniforms.
They sprawl throughout the wonderful studio in his Compo Beach home, and in several other rooms. There are Revolutionary and Civil War uniforms, German helmets and Franco-Prussian gear. Buffalo Bill Cody’s hat is there too, in a bathtub surrounded by tons of other stuff.
He would have even more. But Hurricane Sandy wiped out his basement.
(remembrances - I'd say this is better than the obit, by far - do read all the way down!)
Excerpts:
...After the war, he worked for French magazines (and covered the Nuremberg war trials). When she was 18, Grace Kelly posed for Ed. His first girlfriend was a star of the the Folies Bergère.
Back in the States, he contributed to Time, Reader’s Digest and other publications. Specializing in military art, he drew uniforms from around the world for encyclopedias and paperback publishers. He worked for MBI too, illustrating the history of America from Leif Erikson through the Pilgrims, the Founding Fathers, and every war up to Vietnam.
Ed designed US stamps — some with military themes, some not.
...His latest project is selling his vast collection of uniforms.
They sprawl throughout the wonderful studio in his Compo Beach home, and in several other rooms. There are Revolutionary and Civil War uniforms, German helmets and Franco-Prussian gear. Buffalo Bill Cody’s hat is there too, in a bathtub surrounded by tons of other stuff.
He would have even more. But Hurricane Sandy wiped out his basement.
Lenona
Oct 15, 2020, 12:52:34 AM10/15/20
to
https://www.westport-news.com/news/article/Ed-Vebell-most-interesting-man-in-12607115.php
Nice photo, but I can't find the other four.
Excerpt:
...Vebell worked in northern Africa for a year, learning both French and Arabic and interviewing 'colorful' people for the publication, including the dancer Josephine Baker and then-French President Charles de Gaulle, with whom he sat on a balcony as the general gave a speech. After a year, he was moved to the front lines, where he documented the violence of war alongside American soldiers.
On his last assignment for Stars and Stripes, Vebell illustrated the proceedings of the Nuremberg trials, where he sketched Nazi Party leaders including, Hermann Goring, Rudolf Hess and Wilhelm Keitel...
Nice photo, but I can't find the other four.
Excerpt:
...Vebell worked in northern Africa for a year, learning both French and Arabic and interviewing 'colorful' people for the publication, including the dancer Josephine Baker and then-French President Charles de Gaulle, with whom he sat on a balcony as the general gave a speech. After a year, he was moved to the front lines, where he documented the violence of war alongside American soldiers.
On his last assignment for Stars and Stripes, Vebell illustrated the proceedings of the Nuremberg trials, where he sketched Nazi Party leaders including, Hermann Goring, Rudolf Hess and Wilhelm Keitel...
Lenona
Oct 15, 2020, 1:07:17 AM10/15/20
to
https://www.theridgefieldpress.com/al-features/article/The-life-and-times-of-Ed-Vebell-14007239.php
(long obit)
Excerpt:
...Perhaps his favorite person of those he met while on assignment was tennis legend Arthur Ashe, an African American sports trailblazer. He also became quite fond of golfer Jack Nicklaus.
Vebell offered advice on how to live a long life: Stay physically fit, mentally active and eat well.
“I was as strong as a horse,” he said of his physical condition when younger. In addition to fencing, he lifted weights, swam, rode horses, and did a little boxing and wrestling.
His lifelong eating habits consisted of having a big breakfast of all fresh fruit in the morning and then nothing until dinner....
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2018/02/ed-vebells-nuremberg-sketches.html
(three sketches, plus a near-10-minute video interview about the trials)
Excerpt:
"Göring still seemed to be in charge," Vebell remembers. "He gave the feeling he was still running the show. He had his uniform on, but he had lost a lot of weight." He looked sunken in, reminding Vebell of a collapsed parachute...
And, according to one commentator, illustrator Joe Krush was also at the trials. (He's over 100 by now!)
https://apnews.com/d519904fa3ee43ec99ab64ae52b8d9bf
(the history of Vebell's Cape Cod-style house)
(long obit)
Excerpt:
...Perhaps his favorite person of those he met while on assignment was tennis legend Arthur Ashe, an African American sports trailblazer. He also became quite fond of golfer Jack Nicklaus.
Vebell offered advice on how to live a long life: Stay physically fit, mentally active and eat well.
“I was as strong as a horse,” he said of his physical condition when younger. In addition to fencing, he lifted weights, swam, rode horses, and did a little boxing and wrestling.
His lifelong eating habits consisted of having a big breakfast of all fresh fruit in the morning and then nothing until dinner....
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2018/02/ed-vebells-nuremberg-sketches.html
(three sketches, plus a near-10-minute video interview about the trials)
Excerpt:
"Göring still seemed to be in charge," Vebell remembers. "He gave the feeling he was still running the show. He had his uniform on, but he had lost a lot of weight." He looked sunken in, reminding Vebell of a collapsed parachute...
And, according to one commentator, illustrator Joe Krush was also at the trials. (He's over 100 by now!)
https://apnews.com/d519904fa3ee43ec99ab64ae52b8d9bf
(the history of Vebell's Cape Cod-style house)
Lenona
Oct 15, 2020, 1:14:52 AM10/15/20
to
About the book An Artist at War: The WWII Memories of Stars & Stripes Artist Ed Vebell:
"In 1942, Ed Vebell landed with the US Army in North Africa and was recruited by Stars & Stripes, the US armed forces newspaper, as their official staff artist. Daily, he drew illustrations, and reported on the progress of World War II throughout Europe. This book offers a selection of his sketches, drawings, paintings, and photographs from that time, and presents one artist’s view of the war from North Africa, through the campaigns in Italy, France, and Germany. After the war, the author spent two weeks with the Russians in Berlin, and was then assigned as the courtroom artist during the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. Along the way are Ed’s reminiscences about such personalities as famed war correspondent and artist Bill Mauldin, singers Josephine Baker and Edith Piaf, Charles de Gaulle, Gen. Teddy Roosevelt Jr., and many others. Ed also reminisces about his two years photographing backstage at the Folies Bergere in Paris, as well as his time as an Olympic fencer."
https://www.usafencing.org/news_article/show/887674
(short Olympian obit, with two old photos)
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=edward-vebell&pid=188194944
(another short obit)
"In 1942, Ed Vebell landed with the US Army in North Africa and was recruited by Stars & Stripes, the US armed forces newspaper, as their official staff artist. Daily, he drew illustrations, and reported on the progress of World War II throughout Europe. This book offers a selection of his sketches, drawings, paintings, and photographs from that time, and presents one artist’s view of the war from North Africa, through the campaigns in Italy, France, and Germany. After the war, the author spent two weeks with the Russians in Berlin, and was then assigned as the courtroom artist during the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. Along the way are Ed’s reminiscences about such personalities as famed war correspondent and artist Bill Mauldin, singers Josephine Baker and Edith Piaf, Charles de Gaulle, Gen. Teddy Roosevelt Jr., and many others. Ed also reminisces about his two years photographing backstage at the Folies Bergere in Paris, as well as his time as an Olympic fencer."
https://www.usafencing.org/news_article/show/887674
(short Olympian obit, with two old photos)
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=edward-vebell&pid=188194944
(another short obit)
0 new messages