Ernie Bushmiller, creator of the highly successful "Nancy" comic strip, is noted for his quintessential cartoon style. He started drawing professionally while still in his teens and was involved with cartoons and comic strips for over 60 years. In addition to the fuzzy-haired little Nancy and her tough beau Sluggo, he created Phil Fumble and drew Firtzi Ritz from 1925 onward.

Bushmiller was born in the Bronx of New York City. After six months of high school, the redheaded youth quit to take a job as a copy boy with the New York World: "I was the personal office boy for Alexander Woolcott, Heywood Broun, Walter Lippman, and many other immortals." Eventually he worked his way into the art department, becoming a colleague and friend of ...