Martha Davis
| Martha Davis | |
| |
| Biographical information | |
| Born: | November 27, 1908 |
|---|---|
| Died: | Januar 7, 1989 |
| Nationality: |  American
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| Occupation: | Artist |
| Website: | N/A |
Life and career
Martha Grocott was born in 1908 in Saint Louis, Missouri. Her father was Willis H Grocott and his mother was Ada McPherson Grocott. Martha was the head fashion artist in Vandervoort's art department when she married Phil Davis (Nov. 05 1934). They found their home in Clayton, Mo. In 1941 she began to assist her husbond in preparing Mandrake drawings. Martha Davis had a great influence on women's costumes, those of Narda in particular.
"And now," says Phil, "she's just as good as I am! After the war, she didn't want to leave Mandrake - so now we work together, and each of us can do any part of the job, or finish the work of the other one."
They developed their collaboration so that Phil Davis illustrated the art comprehensively in pencil and then Martha did the rendering (ink). In 1963 Phil Davis suffered a heart attack and died of a second heart attack at St John's Mercy on December 16, 1964. Martha Davis continued the pencil art for the ongoing dailies and Sundays, with the ink done by a local St. Louis artist. About that time Mandrake appeared in 253 newspapers and magazines, including 40 outside the US. Her last strip was to been seen in 1965, July 5 for the dailies and July 20 for the Sundays.
Sources
- Marguerite Martyn (1939). The Man Who Draws Mandrake, Post-Dispatch (Every Sunday), August 30 1939, 3D
- Dale Bert (1948), Meet Phil Davis, The OPEN ROAD for Boy's, February 1948, 34-36
- Rochelle Ogden J. Editor & Publisher, "Mandrake and Narda Look Like Creators". January 22 1949.
- Marquis A. N., Who's who in the Midwest, 1958, 161
- Willette, Allen. These Top Cartoonists Tell How They Create America’s Favorite Comics. Allied Publications, 1964, 23
- Lacassin Francis et Tercinet Alain (1964), Pour prendre conge de Phil Davis, Giff.Wiff no 12 1964, 11-16
- "Martha's magic for Mandrake", The Australian Women's Weekly January 20, 1965, 15