Himmelman was born in 1892 in Akron, Ohio and eventually graduated from Glenville High School. (Yes, the same Glenville High School that was the alma mater of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel. But that was about two decades later. As far as I'm aware, the two men never met.) After graduating, he worked at a couple of ad agencies before eventually landing a job at The Plain Dealer newspaper in the back half of 1917. His obiturary said he was a "copywriter and layout artist" in their promotion department, which seems to be a step up for him. His draft card from earlier in the year when he was still at the Corday & Gross ad agency lists his occupation simply as "clerk."
When he returned from serving in the Navy during World War I, he moved into the advertising department of The Plain Dealer. He got married to Beatrice Sailer (eleven years his junior!) in 1926 and the couple had two children. Over the next twenty years, he worked his way up the chain at the newspaper to general promotion manager and, in 1959, was promoted to chief of the advertising art department. He retired in 1961 and died two years later from undisclosed causes.
Now, aside from that extremely tenuous connection to Siegel, you'll note that there's no seeming connection to any comics work. He did work at a newspaper for much of his career, yes, but always in advertising and sales, never for the comics or even entertainment sections of the paper. That's why you haven't heard of him. But he also drew this...
1907, though. Himmelman would've been fifteen, still in high school. Knowing that a 15-year-old did this, probably with no formal art training, this is actually quite good. I'd have to guess that his father was in the Teamsters and, recognizing his son's talent, got him to do the piece for a local newsletter or something. (I can't find the cartoon in any of the national Teamsters magazines from 1907.) Why didn't Himmelman continue to pursue comics? He was clearly talented.
Well, I should think the notion of just trying to make a living would be a key factor. I mean, there were certainly cartoonists even back then who were doing well for themselves (Thomas Nast's entire career would've been before Himmelman drew this) but that still required a heavy lift as well as connections. And, hey, maybe that's why Himmelman pursued a career in the newspaper to begin with, hoping that would get his foot in the door and provide access to the paper's editors. But, as the saying goes, life happens when you're making other plans and he wound up having a career in advertising.
I'm speculating, of course. Maybe the newspaper was just what was available at the time. Maybe Himmelman didn't actually care for drawing all that much, and dropped when he could. Maybe the "Wranglers" cartoon was done on spec, but he was never paid and got fed up with the industry before he'd even started! But I bring his story up because there are no doubt any number of creators like Himmelman, who maybe did a few comics, but didn't/couldn't pursue a career in it for any of a zillion possible reasons and we're left with only a few shadows of their work today. How many cartoons ran in local newsletters, school papers, and other venues that only a handful of people ever saw, much less remember? What if Bill Watterson or Jeff Smith got jobs as accountants after college so they could pay the bills? Would the comics they did for their school newspapers be recognized AT ALL?
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