|
|
|
|
Rube Goldberg
|
| |
|
| |
Reuben Garret Lucius Goldberg was an American cartoonist who received a 1948 Pulitzer Prize for his political cartooning. He is best known for his series of popular cartoons depicting Rube Goldberg machines, complex devices that perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. The Reuben Award of the National Cartoonists Society is named in his honor. In addition, there are several contests around the world known as Rube Goldberg contests which challenge high school students to make a complex machine to perform a simple task.
BiographyGoldberg graduated from Lowell High School in San Francisco in 1900 and earned a degree in engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1904. Goldberg was hired by the city of San Francisco as an engineer, however, his fondness for drawing cartoons prevailed, and after just a few months, he quit the city job for a job with the San Francisco Chronicle as a sports cartoonist.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Rube Goldberg' Start a new discussion about 'Rube Goldberg' Answer questions from other users |
Timeline
Encyclopedia
Reuben Garret Lucius Goldberg was an American cartoonist who received a 1948 Pulitzer Prize for his political cartooning. He is best known for his series of popular cartoons depicting Rube Goldberg machines, complex devices that perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. The Reuben Award of the National Cartoonists Society is named in his honor. In addition, there are several contests around the world known as Rube Goldberg contests which challenge high school students to make a complex machine to perform a simple task.
BiographyGoldberg graduated from Lowell High School in San Francisco in 1900 and earned a degree in engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1904. Goldberg was hired by the city of San Francisco as an engineer, however, his fondness for drawing cartoons prevailed, and after just a few months, he quit the city job for a job with the San Francisco Chronicle as a sports cartoonist. The following year, he took a job with the San Francisco Bulletin, where he remained until he moved to New York City in 1907.
He drew cartoons for several newspapers, including the New York Evening Journal and the New York Evening Mail. His work entered syndication in 1915, beginning his nationwide popularity. A prolific artist, Goldberg produced several cartoon series simultaneously; titles included Mike and Ike (They Look Alike), Boob McNutt, Foolish Questions, Lala Palooza and The Weekly Meeting of the Tuesday Women's Club.
Goldberg married Irma Seeman in 1916. They remained together until his death in 1970 and had two sons, Thomas George and George W. George. However, during World War II Goldberg began receiving a large amount of hate mail because of the political nature of his cartoons. He ordered both of his sons to change their surnames from Goldberg in order to protect them. Thomas chose his new last name as "George". George also chose "George" as his new last name in order to keep some kind of family bond with his brother.
Goldberg died at the age of 87; he is buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.
Rube Goldberg's son, Broadway and film producer, George W. George, died on November 7, 2007.
His workProfessor Butts and his inventionsWhile these series were quite popular, the one leading to his lasting fame involved a character named Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts. In this series, Goldberg drew labeled schematics of the comical "inventions" which would later bear his name. In 1995, "Rube Goldberg's Inventions," depicting Professor Butts' "Self-Operating Napkin," was one of 20 strips included in the Comic Strip Classics series of commemorative U.S. postage stamps. The "Self-Operating Napkin" is activated when the soup spoon (A) is raised to mouth, pulling string (B) and thereby jerking ladle (C) which throws cracker (D) past parrot (E). Parrot jumps after cracker and perch (F) tilts, upsetting seeds (G) into pail (H). Extra weight in pail pulls cord (I), which opens and lights automatic cigar lighter (J), setting off skyrocket (K) which causes sickle (L) to cut string (M) and allow pendulum with attached napkin to swing back and forth, thereby wiping chin. After-dinner entertainment can be supplied with the simple substitution of a harmonica for the napkin.
The Rube Goldberg machineA Rube Goldberg machine is an extremely complicated apparatus that performs a very simple, easy task in an indirect and convoluted way. Some examples of his machines have an anticipation factor, as the machine makes slow but steady progress toward its goal. In Goldberg's original drawings, the machines very often involved and depended upon actions of a captive live animal, which was part of the device and expected to perform an operation, thereby greatly increasing the complexity, maintainance difficulty, and unreliability of the contraption. For obvious reasons, animals have less often been part of actual devices built in homage to Goldberg.
The term also applies as a classification for a generally over-complicated apparatus or piece of software. The corresponding term in the United Kingdom is "Heath Robinson" (machine or contraption), after the British cartoonist who earlier had a similar focus on odd machinery. The term "Rube Goldberg machine" first appeared in Webster's Third New International Dictionary with the definition "accomplishing by extremely complex roundabout means what actually or seemingly could be done simply."
Modern Rube Goldberg machines are typically built with whatever one has at hand—due to the ad hoc nature of such constructions—and it's not uncommon to find toy cars, marbles and the occasional piece of tableware somewhere in the mix.
SculptureLater in his career, Goldberg was employed by the New York Journal American and remained there until his retirement in 1964. During his retirement, he occupied himself by making bronze sculptures. His work appeared in several one-man shows, the last one during his lifetime being in 1970 at the National Museum of American History (then called the Museum of History and Technology) in Washington, D.C..
HonorsIn addition to his 1948 Pulitzer Prize, he received the National Cartoonists Society Gold T-Square Award in 1955, their 1969 Reuben Award and their Gold Key Award (posthumously in 1980).
See also
External links
|
| |
|
|
