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I just recently received in the mail from my friend, Bob Weber Sr. in Connecticut an old article about the great cartoonist and one of my old time favorites, Tom Hudson . . . his style was original, deceptively loose and easily defined by his artistry with the red sable brush . . . some of his characters reminded you of your grandpa or elderly uncle or some old fogey you saw on the street, maybe with a cane.
I studied his work in the Post and I often think of one of his characters when I'm trying to cast a certain personality in a particular setting of a cartoon. . .
He was a regular at The Saturday Evening Post. I miss his work.
I learned later from Bob that he was a signpainter like yours truly so I had an affinity for the guy.
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The article said he was born in 1910. He served as a Sergeant with General Patton's staff, while in army in the European theater, he fought at the battle of the Bulge, Normandy, France and the Rhineland. The Belgian government awarded him the Croix de Guerre with Palm for exceptional service.
Allegedly, he liked the bottle a little, never drunk, just pleasant.
After his discharge in 1945, he became a professional cartoonist, using the signatures Tom Hudson, TJ, Theo and Jersey Smith.
His work appeared in Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and Boys' Life. He drew the series " Who invited him ? " for the Saturday Evening Post.
Back in the 60's, the Post paid more for B&W cartoons than Playboy.
His grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Hudson I was a United States Congressman and Mayor of Fredonia, Kansas, where Tom lived . . . He painted signs as a young kid and left for Orange California in 1938. He was one helluva chess player, signpainter, cartoonist and all-around good guy. He left a BIG pair of shoes.
