On this date in 1929, cartoonist, playwright and author Jules Ralph Feiffer was born in the Bronx, New York to David Feiffer, an unsuccessful men’s shop entrepreneur, and Rhoda (Davis) Feiffer, who sold dress designs and largely supported their family.
His weekly editorial cartoons appeared in the Village Voice for 42 years. Feiffer won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1986. His cartoons have been published in 19 books. He was named to the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2004.
Feiffer’s anti-military animated cartoon “Munro” won an Academy Award in 1961. His comedy “Little Murders” (1967) won an Obie. Among his other plays and revues is “Knock Knock,” which had a 1976 Broadway run starring Lynn Redgrave. Feiffer wrote the screenplay for the film “Carnal Knowledge” (1971), which spawned censorship and lawsuits.
Feiffer was married three times and had three children. His daughter Halley Feiffer is an actress and playwright. In 2016 he married freelance writer Joan “JZ” Holden. The ceremony combined Jewish and Buddhist traditions. She is the author of Illusion of Memory (2013).
He died of congestive heart failure nine days before his 96th birthday at his home in Richfield Springs, N.Y. (D. 2025)
PHOTO: Feiffer reading at Politics and Prose in 2018 in Washington, D.C. Photo by SLOWKING under CC BY-NC.
