View source for Jules Feiffer

{{short description|American cartoonist and author (born 1929)|bot=PearBOT 5}}
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{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| image         = Jules Feiffer 9140013.jpg
| caption       = Feiffer in 2018
| birth_name    =
| birth_date    = {{Birth date and age|1929|1|26}}
| birth_place   = New York City, U.S.
| death_date    = 
| death_place   = 
| nationality   = <!-- use only when necessary per [[WP:INFONAT]] -->
| area          = [[Cartoonist]], author, playwright, screenwriter
| alias         =
| awards        =  {{plainlist|
* [[Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning]], 1986
* [[Inkpot Award]], 1989<ref>[https://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot Inkpot Award]</ref>
* [[List of Eisner Award winners#The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame|Comic Book Hall of Fame]], 2004
* [[National Cartoonist Society]] Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award, 2004
}}
| notable works = ''Feiffer'' (comic strip), ''[[Carnal Knowledge (film)|Carnal Knowledge]]'', ''[[Little Murders]]'', ''[[Munro (film)|Munro]]'', ''[[The Phantom Tollbooth]]''
<!-- | subcat        = American -->
| spouse        = {{ubl|{{marriage|Judith Sheftel|1961|1983|end=divorced}}<!--  1 child -->|{{marriage|Jennifer Allen|1983|<!-- c. 2013 -->|end=divorced}}<!--  2 children -->|{{marriage|JZ Holden|2016}}}}
| children      = 3, including [[Halley Feiffer|Halley]]
}}

'''Jules Ralph Feiffer''' (born January 26, 1929)<ref name="CBG1650">''[[Comics Buyer's Guide]]'' #1650; February 2009; Page 107</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Miller |first=John Jackson |author-link=John Jackson Miller |url=http://cbgxtra.com/knowledge-base/for-your-reference/comics-industry-birthdays |title=Comics Industry Birthdays |work=[[Comics Buyer's Guide]] |date=June 10, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110218031356/http://cbgxtra.com/knowledge-base/for-your-reference/comics-industry-birthdays |archive-date=February 18, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> is an American [[cartoonist]] and author, who at one time was considered the most widely read satirist in the country.<ref name=Comics /> He won the [[Pulitzer Prize]] in 1986 for editorial cartooning, and in 2004 he was inducted into the [[List of Eisner Award winners|Comic Book Hall of Fame]]. He wrote the animated short ''[[Munro (film)|Munro]]'', which won an [[Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film]] in 1961. The [[Library of Congress]] has recognized his "remarkable legacy", from 1946 to the present, as a cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter, adult and children's book author, illustrator, and art instructor.<ref name=LOC />

When Feiffer was 17 (in the mid-1940s) he became assistant to cartoonist [[Will Eisner]]. There he helped Eisner write and illustrate his comic strips, including ''[[Spirit (comics character)|The Spirit]]''. In 1956, he became a staff cartoonist at ''[[The Village Voice]]'', where he produced the weekly [[comic strip]] titled ''Feiffer'' until 1997. His cartoons became nationally syndicated in 1959 and then appeared regularly in publications including the ''Los Angeles Times'', the ''London Observer'', ''The New Yorker'', ''Playboy'', ''Esquire'', and ''The Nation''. In 1997, he created the first op-ed page comic strip for the ''New York Times'', which ran monthly until 2000.

He has written more than 35 books, plays and screenplays. His first of many collections of satirical cartoons, ''Sick, Sick, Sick,'' was published in 1958, and his first novel, ''Harry, the Rat With Women'', in 1963. In 1965, he wrote ''The Great Comic Book Heroes'', the first history of the comic-book superheroes of the late 1930s and early 1940s and a tribute to their creators. In 1979, Feiffer created his first graphic novel, ''Tantrum''. By 1993, he began writing and illustrating books aimed at young readers, with several of them winning awards.

Feiffer began writing for the theater and film in 1961, with plays including ''[[Little Murders]]'' (1967), ''Feiffer's People'' (1969), and ''[[Knock Knock (play)|Knock Knock]]'' (1976). He wrote the screenplay for ''[[Carnal Knowledge (film)|Carnal Knowledge]]'' (1971), directed by [[Mike Nichols]], and ''[[Popeye (film)|Popeye]]'' (1980), directed by [[Robert Altman]]. He was recently given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Dramatist's Guild.
He lives in upstate New York with his wife JZ Holden and their three cats, Mimi, Jackson and Dezzdemona. He is currently working on a visual memoir.

==Early life==

Feiffer was born in [[The Bronx]], New York City, on January 26, 1929. His parents were David Feiffer and Rhoda ([[married and maiden names|née]] Davis), and Feiffer was raised in a Jewish household with a younger and an older sister.<ref name=Silvey>Silvey, Ed. ''The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2002) p. 154</ref> His father was usually unemployed in his work as a salesman due to the Depression. His mother was a fashion designer who made watercolor drawings of her designs which she sold to various clothing manufacturers in New York. "She'd go door to door selling her designs for $3," recalls Feiffer. The fact that she was the breadwinner, however, created an "atmosphere of silent blame" in the home. Feiffer began drawing at the age of 3. "My mother always encouraged me to draw", he says.<ref name=WSJ>Feiffer, Jules. [https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-return-of-cartoonist-jules-feiffer-1434468364 "The Return of Cartoonist Jules Feiffer"], ''Wall Street Journal'', June 16, 2015</ref>

When he was 13, his mother gave him a drawing table for his bedroom. She also enrolled him in the [[Art Students League of New York]] to study anatomy. He graduated from [[James Monroe High School (New York)|James Monroe High School]] in 1947.<ref name=jules /> He won a [[John Wanamaker]] Art Contest medal for a [[crayon]] drawing of the [[radio programming|radio]] [[Western fiction|Western]] hero [[Tom Mix]].<ref name=greatp12>Feiffer, Jules. ''The Great Comic Book Heroes'' (The [[Dial Press]], New York, first [[Trade paperback (comics)|trade paperback]] edition, 1977), p. 12. {{ISBN|978-0-8037-3045-8}}. Ellipses after "Green Hornet" in original text.</ref> He wrote in 1965 about his childhood:

{{quote|I came to the field with a more serious intent than my opiate-minded contemporaries. While they, in those pre-super days, were eating up "Cosmo, Master of Disguise"; "Speed Saunders"; and "Bart Regan Spy", I was counting up how many panels there were to a page, how many pages there were to a story – learning how to form, for my own use, phrases like: @X#?/; marking for future reference which comic book hero was swiped from which radio hero: Buck Marshall from Tom Mix; the [[Crimson Avenger]] from ''[[The Green Hornet]]''&nbsp;...<ref name=greatp12 />}}

Feiffer says that cartoons were his first interest when young, "what I loved the most."<ref name=Playboy/> He states that because he couldn't write well enough to be a writer, or draw well enough to be an artist, he realized that the best way to succeed would be to combine his limited talents in each of those fields to create something unique.<ref name=Playboy/> He read comic strips from various newspapers which his father brought home, and was mostly attracted to the way they told stories. "What I loved best about these comics was that they created a very personal world in which almost anything could take place", Feiffer says. "And readers would accept it even if it had nothing to do with any other kind of world. It was the fantasy world I loved."<ref name=Playboy/>

Among his favorite cartoons were ''[[Our Boarding House]]'', ''[[Alley Oop]]'' and ''[[Wash Tubbs]]''.<ref name=greatp12-13>Feiffer, ''The Great Comic Book Heroes'', pp. 12–13</ref> He began to decipher features of different cartoonists, such as the sentimental [[Naturalism (arts)|naturalism]] of ''[[Abbie an' Slats]]'', the [Preston] [[Preston Sturges|Sturges]]-like characters and plots of others, with cadenced dialogue. He recalls that [[Will Eisner]]'s ''[[Spirit (comics)|Spirit]]'' rivaled them in structure. And no strip, except [Milton] [[Milton Caniff|Caniff]]'s ''[[Terry and the Pirates (comic strip)|Terry [and the Pirates]]]'', rivaled it in atmosphere."<ref name=greatp13>Feiffer, ''The Great Comic Book Heroes'', p. 13</ref>

==Career==

===Cartoonist===

====With Will Eisner (1946–1956)====
[[File:Jules Feiffer-drawing.jpg |thumb|left|Feiffer proofing ''Sick Sick Sick'' in 1958]]
After Feiffer graduated from high school at 16, he was desperate for a job, and went unannounced to the office of one of his favorite cartoonists, [[Will Eisner]]. Eisner was sympathetic to young Feiffer, as Eisner had been in a similar situation when he first started out. He asked Feiffer, "What can you do?" He answered, "I'll do anything. I'll do coloring, or clean-up, or anything, and I'd like to work for nothing."<ref name=Schumacher>Schumacher, Michael. ''Will Eisner: A Dreamer's Life in Comics'', Bloomsbury Publishing (2010) pp. 98–100</ref> However, Eisner was unimpressed by Feiffer's art abilities and did not know how he could employ him. Eisner ultimately decided to give him a low-paying job when he found out that Feiffer "knew more about him than anybody who had ever lived," said Feiffer. "He had no choice but to hire me as a groupie."<ref name=Schumacher/>

Eisner considered Feiffer a mediocre artist, but he "liked the kid's spunk and intensity", writes Eisner biographer Michael Schumacher. Eisner was also aware that they both came from similar backgrounds, despite his being twelve years older. They both had fathers who struggled to support their family, and both their mothers were strong figures who held the family together through hardships.<ref name=Schumacher/> "He had a hunger for comics that Eisner rarely saw in artists", notes Schumacher. "Eisner decided that there was something to this wisecracking kid."<ref name=Schumacher/> When Feiffer later asked for a raise, Eisner instead gave him his own page in ''The Spirit'' section, and let him do his own coloring.<ref name=jules>Feiffer, Jules. ''Backing into Forward: A Memoir'', Doubleday, 2010.</ref> As Eisner recalled in 1978:

{{quote|He began working as just a studio man – he would do erasing, cleanup&nbsp;... Gradually it became very clear that he could write better than he could draw and preferred it, indeed – so he wound up doing balloons [i.e., dialog]. First he was doing balloons based on stories that I'd create. I would start a story off and say, 'Now here I want the Spirit to do the following things – you do the balloons, Jules.' Gradually, he would take over and do stories entirely on his own, generally based on ideas we'd talked about. I'd come in generally with the first page, then he would pick it up and carry it from there.<ref name=tcj46p37>Groth, Gary. "Will Eisner Interview", ''[[The Comics Journal]]'' No. 46 (May 1979), p. 37. Interview conducted Oct. 13 and 17, 1978</ref>}}

{{quote box||align=right|width=25em|bgcolor = Cornsilk|quote=Our fights were always collegial. Never once did [Eisner] pull rank on me. I was always amazed by what he let me get away with. It shows how close and tight the relationship was, that he let me do that parody. He had great generosity of soul.|source= —Jules Feiffer<ref name=Schumacher/>}}

They collaborated well on ''The Spirit'', sharing ideas, arguing points, and making changes when they agreed. In 1947, Feiffer also attended the [[Pratt Institute]] for a year to improve his art style.<ref name=Schumacher/> Over time, Eisner valued Feiffer's opinions and judgments more often, appreciating his "uncanny knack" for capturing the way people talked, without using contrived dialogue. Eisner recalls that Feiffer "had a real ear for writing characters that lived and breathed. Jules was always attentive to nuances, such as sounds and expressions" which made stories seem more real.<ref name=Schumacher/>

====At ''The Village Voice'' (1956–1997)====
[[file:Jules Feiffer - 1.jpg|thumb|1976 candid]]
After working with Eisner for nearly a decade, he chose to start creating his own comic strips. In 1956, after again first proving his talent by working for free, he became a staff cartoonist at ''[[The Village Voice]]'' where he produced a weekly comic strip. Feiffer's strips ran for 42 years, until 1997, at first titled ''Sick Sick Sick'', then as ''Feiffer's Fables'', and finally as simply ''Feiffer''. After a year with the ''Voice'', Feiffer compiled a collection of many of his satire cartoons into a best-selling book, ''Sick Sick Sick: A Guide to Non-Confident Living'' (1958), a dissection of popular social and political neuroses. The success of that collection led to his becoming a regular contributor to the ''[[London Observer]]'' and ''[[Playboy]]'' magazine.<ref name=Comics>[http://www.tcj.com/the-jules-feiffer-interview/ "The Jules Feiffer Interview"], ''The Comics Journal 124'', 1988.</ref> Director [[Stanley Kubrick]], a fellow Bronx native, invited Feiffer to write a screenplay for ''Sick, Sick, Sick'', although the film was never made.<ref>Kercher, Stephen E., ''Revel with a Cause: Liberal Satire in Postwar America'', Univ. of Chicago (2006) pp. 340–341</ref> After first becoming aware of Feiffer's work, Kubrick wrote him in 1958:

{{quote|The comic themes you weave are very close to my heart&nbsp;... I must express unqualified admiration for the scenic structure of your "strips" and the eminently speakable and funny dialog&nbsp;... I should be most interested in furthering our contact with an eye toward doing a film along the moods and themes you have so brilliantly accomplished.<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/hope-for-america/cartoons-and-satire.html "Hope for America: Performers, Politics and Pop Culture"], Library of Congress</ref>}}

By April 1959, ''Feiffer'' was distributed nationally by the [[Publishers-Hall Syndicate|Hall Syndicate]], initially in ''[[The Boston Globe]]'', ''[[Star Tribune|Minneapolis Star Tribune]]'', ''[[The Star Ledger|Newark Star-Ledger]]'' and ''[[Long Island Press]]''.<ref name=explain>Feiffer, Jules. ''Explainers: The Complete Village Voice Strips (1956–1966)'', Fantagraphics Books, 2008.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110201075325/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892185,00.html "The Press: Sick, Sick, Well"] ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', February 9, 1959. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110201075325/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892185,00.html WebCitation archive].</ref> Eventually, his strips covered the nation, including magazines, and were published regularly in major publications such as the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', ''[[The New Yorker]]'', ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'', ''[[Playboy]]'' and ''[[The Nation (U.S. periodical)|The Nation]]''. He was commissioned in 1997 by ''[[The New York Times]]'' to create its first op-ed page comic strip, which ran monthly until 2000.

[[File:Conedexplainers.jpg|thumb|''Feiffer'' comic strip (1959)]]
Feiffer's cartoons were typically mini [[satires]], where he portrayed ordinary people's thoughts about subjects such as sex, marriage, violence and politics. Writer Larry DuBois describes Feiffer's cartoon style:

{{quote|Feiffer had no stories to tell. His main concern was to explore character. In a series of a dozen or so pictures, he would show the shifts of mood that flickered across the faces of men and women as they tried, often vainly, to explain themselves to the world, to their husbands and wives, to their mistresses and lovers, to their employers, to their rulers, or simply to the unseen adversaries at the other end of the telephone wires&nbsp;...

It would be no exaggeration to say that his dialog is as acute as any that is being written in America today. Dialog aimed at sophisticated minds, usually with the purpose of shaking them out of sophistication into real awareness.<ref name=Playboy>DuBois, Larry. "Playboy Interview with Jules Feiffer", ''Playboy'' magazine, September 1971</ref>}}

===Author===
Feiffer published the hit ''Sick, Sick, Sick: A Guide to Non-Confident Living'' in 1958 (which featured a collection of cartoons from about 1950 to 1956), and followed up with ''More Sick, Sick, Sick'' and other strip collections, including ''The Explainers''; ''Boy, Girl. Boy, Girl.''; ''Hold Me!''; ''Feiffer's Album''; ''The Unexpurgated Memoirs of Bernard Mergendeiler''; ''Feiffer on Nixon''; ''Jules Feiffer's America: From Eisenhower to Reagan''; ''Marriage Is an Invasion of Privacy''; and ''Feiffer's Children''. ''Passionella'' (1957) is a graphic narrative initially anthologized in ''Passionella and Other Stories'', a variation on the story of ''[[Cinderella]]''. The protagonist is Ella, a chimney sweep who is transformed into a Hollywood movie star. ''Passionella'' was used as one part of the 1966 [[Sheldon Harnick]] and [[Jerry Bock]] Broadway musical ''[[The Apple Tree]]''.{{cn|date=October 2024}} 

[[File:Feifferobama.jpg|thumb|Feiffer's post-nomination ''Obama'' cartoon from ''[[The Village Voice]]'' (2008)]]

His cartoons, strips and illustrations have been reprinted by Fantagraphics as ''Feiffer: The Collected Works''. ''Explainers'' (2008) reprints all of his strips from 1956 to 1966.<ref name=explain/> David Kamp reviewed the book in ''The New York Times'':

{{quote|His strip, usually six to eight borderless panels, initially appeared under the title ''Sick Sick Sick'', with the subtitle 'A Guide to Non-Confident Living'. As the [[Lenny Bruce]]-ish language suggests, the earliest strips are very much of their time, the postwar Age of Anxiety in the big city; you can practically smell the espresso, the unfiltered ciggies, the lanolin whiff of woolly jumpers.<ref>Kamp, David. [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/books/review/Kamp-t.html "Cartoons for Grown-Ups"], ''[[The New York Times]]'' "Sunday Book Review", October 19, 2008. [https://archive.today/20120906181855/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/books/review/Kamp-t.html?_r=1 WebCitation archive].</ref>}}

Feiffer has written two novels (1963's ''Harry the Rat with Women'', 1977's ''Ackroyd'') and several children's books, including ''[[Bark, George]]''; ''Henry, The Dog with No Tail''; ''A Room with a Zoo''; ''The Daddy Mountain''; and ''[[A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears]]''. He partnered with [[The Walt Disney Company]] and writer [[Andrew Lippa]] to adapt his book ''The Man in the Ceiling'' into a musical.<ref>[http://easthamptonstar.com/Arts/2016419/Pow-Jules-Feiffers-Ceiling-Man-Hits-Stage "Pow! Jules Feiffer's Ceiling Man Hits the Stage"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423234756/http://easthamptonstar.com/Arts/2016419/Pow-Jules-Feiffers-Ceiling-Man-Hits-Stage |date=April 23, 2016 }}, ''The East Hampton Star'', April 21, 2016</ref> He illustrated the children's books ''[[The Phantom Tollbooth]]'' and ''The Odious Ogre''. His non-fiction includes the 1965 book ''The Great Comic Book Heroes''.

{{quote box||align=left|width=25em|bgcolor = Cornsilk|quote=I want to write about marriage. I think the most interesting story is how men and women get on with each other, the terms they accept to live together and survive together, the compromises they make, the betrayals of themselves and of each other, and how, despite the fact that over and over again they find that it can't possibly work, it still seems to be preferable to anything else they know about. In the end, it becomes rather heroic.|source= —Jules Feiffer, ''Playboy'' interview<ref name=Playboy/>}}

Feiffer also wrote and drew one of the earliest [[graphic novel]]s, the hardcover ''Tantrum'' ([[Alfred A. Knopf]], 1979),<ref>Tallmer, Jerry. [http://www.nyc-plus.com/nycp1/thethreelive.html "The Three Lives of Jules Feiffer"], ''NYC Plus'' No. 1, April 2005. [https://web.archive.org/web/20081120090228/http://www.nyc-plus.com/nycp1/thethreelive.html WebCitation archive].</ref> described on its dustjacket as a "novel-in-pictures". Like the [[Trade paperback (comics)|trade paperback]] ''The Silver Surfer'' ([[Marvel Fireside Books|Simon & Schuster/Fireside Books]], August 1978), by Marvel Comics' [[Stan Lee]] and [[Jack Kirby]], and the hardcover and trade paperback versions of [[Will Eisner]]'s ''[[A Contract with God]], and Other Tenement Stories'' (Baronet Books, October 1978), this was published by a traditional book publisher and distributed through bookstores, whereas other early graphic novels, such as ''[[Sabre (Eclipse Comics)|Sabre]]'' ([[Eclipse Books]], August 1978), were distributed through some of the first comic-book stores.

His autobiography, ''Backing into Forward: A Memoir'' (Doubleday, 2010), received positive reviews from ''[[The New York Times]]''<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/books/18book.html |work=The New York Times |title=From an Artist of Anxiety, an Ink-Stained Memoir |first=Michiko |last=Kakutani |date=March 17, 2010 |access-date=February 25, 2017 |archive-date=September 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120905044528/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/books/18book.html?_r=1 |url-status=bot: unknown }}. .</ref> and ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'', which wrote:

{{quote|His account of hitchhiking cross-country invades [[Jack Kerouac|Kerouac]] territory, while his ink-stained memories of the comics industry rival [[Michael Chabon]]'s Pulitzer Prize–winning fictional portrait. Two years in the military gave Feiffer fodder for the trenchant ''Munro'' (about a child who is drafted). Such satirical social and political commentary became the turning point in his lust for fame, which finally happened, after many rejections, when acclaim for his anxiety-ridden ''Village Voice'' strips served as a springboard into other projects.<ref>[http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/419618-Nonfiction_Reviews_11_30_2009.php?q=feiffer "Nonfiction Reviews: 11/30/2009"], ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'', November 30, 2009. [https://web.archive.org/web/20101231042723/http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/1-legacy/21-nonfiction-book-reviews/article/27994-nonfiction-reviews-11-30-2009-.html WebCitation archive].</ref>}}

[[Image:Nervousset.jpg|thumb|Feiffer's ad art for the Beat musical ''[[The Nervous Set]]'' (1959)]]
He has had retrospectives at the [[New York Historical Society]], the [[Library of Congress]] and [[The School of Visual Arts]]. His artwork is exhibited at and represented by Chicago's Jean Albano Gallery.<ref>[http://www.jeanalbano-artgallery.com/feiffer/ Jean Albano Gallery – Jules Feiffer]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110713095630/http://www.jeanalbano-artgallery.com/feiffer/ WebCitation archive].</ref> In 1996, Feiffer donated his papers and several hundred original cartoons and book illustrations to the Library of Congress.<ref name=jules/>

In 2014, Feiffer published ''Kill My Mother: A Graphic Novel'' through [[Liveright Publishing]]. ''Kill My Mother'' was named a ''Vanity Fair'' Best Book of 2014 and a ''[[Kirkus Reviews]]'' Best Fiction Book of 2014. In 2016, Feiffer published ''Cousin Joseph: A Graphic Novel'', a prequel to ''Kill My Mother''. ''Cousin Joseph'' was also published through Liveright Publishing, and was a ''New York Times'' Bestseller, named one of ''The Washington Post''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Best Graphic Novels of the Year, and was nominated for the [[Lynd Ward]] Graphic Novel Prize. A third book in the series, ''The Ghost Script: A Graphic Novel'', was published by Liveright in 2018.

Feiffer's picture book for young readers, ''Rupert Can Dance'', was published by [[Farrar, Straus and Giroux|FSG]] in 2014.

===Playwright and screenwriter===
Feiffer's plays include ''[[Little Murders]]'' (1967), ''Feiffer's People'' (1969), ''Knock Knock'' (1976), ''Elliot Loves'' (1990), ''The White House Murder Case'', and ''Grown Ups''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/11/theater/stage-grown-ups-by-feiffer-at-lyceum.html/|title=STAGE: 'Grown Ups' by Feiffer at Lyceum|work=The New York Times |date=December 11, 1981 |last1=Rich |first1=Frank }}</ref> After [[Mike Nichols]] adapted Feiffer's unproduced play ''[[Carnal Knowledge (play)|Carnal Knowledge]]'' as a 1971 film, Feiffer scripted [[Robert Altman]]'s ''[[Popeye (film)|Popeye]]'', [[Alain Resnais]]'s ''[[I Want to Go Home (1989 film)|I Want to Go Home]]'', and the film adaptation of ''Little Murders''.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

The original production of ''Hold Me!'' was directed by Caymichael Patten and opened at The American Place Theatre, Subplot Cafe, as part of its American Humorist Series on January 13, 1977. The production ran on the [[Showtime (TV network)|Showtime]] [[cable network]] in 1981.<ref name=jules/>

Feiffer moved to [[Shelter Island, New York]] in 2017.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://shelterislandreporter.timesreview.com/2017/03/03/jules-feiffer-%E2%80%82a-new-chapter-life-filling-volumes/|title=Jules Feiffer — A new chapter in a life filling volumes - Shelter Island Reporter|website=shelterislandreporter.timesreview.com}}</ref> He wrote the book for a musical based on a story he wrote earlier, ''Man in the Ceiling'', about a boy cartoonist who learned to pursue his dream despite pressures to conform. The musical was produced and directed by [[Jeffrey Seller]] in 2017 at the Bay Street Theatre in neighboring [[Sag Harbor, New York]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/andrew-lippa-stars-<in-world-premiere-of-his-man-in-the-ceiling-musical-beginning-may-30|title=Andrew Lippa Stars in World Premiere of His Man in the Ceiling Musical Beginning May 30 - Playbill|website=Playbill}}</ref><ref name="variety.com">{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2017/legit/reviews/the-man-in-ceiling-review-musical-1202456128/|title=Long Island Theater Review: 'The Man in the Ceiling' by Andrew Lippa and Jules Feiffer|first=Frank|last=Rizzo|date=June 9, 2017}}</ref>

===Art instructor===
Feiffer is an adjunct professor at [[Stony Brook Southampton]]. Previously he taught at the [[Yale School of Drama]] and [[Northwestern University]]. He has been a Senior Fellow at the [[Columbia University]] National Arts Journalism Program. He was in residence at the [[Arizona State University]] Barrett Honors College from November 27 to December 2, 2006. In June–August 2009, Feiffer was in residence as a Montgomery Fellow at [[Dartmouth College]], where he taught an undergraduate course on graphic humor in the 20th century.<ref name=jules/>

==Personal life==
Feiffer has married three times and has three children. His daughter [[Halley Feiffer]] is an actress and playwright.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nysun.com/arts/halley-feiffers-indie-success-on-stage-and-screen/81293/ |title=Halley Feiffer's Indie Success on Stage and Screen |last=Pisarro |first=Carla |work=[[The New York Sun]] |date=July 7, 2008 |access-date=2009-03-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110319203835/http://www.nysun.com/arts/halley-feiffers-indie-success-on-stage-and-screen/81293/ |archive-date=March 19, 2011 }}. .</ref><!--Could not be cached on WevbCitation.org--> A second daughter, Kate Feiffer, is the author and playwright of "My Mom is Trying to Ruin My Life" and other works.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kate-feiffer/my-mom-is-trying-to-ruin-my-life/ |title=Kirkus Review: My Mom is Trying to Ruin My Life}}</ref>

His third marriage took place in September 2016, when he married freelance writer JZ Holden; the ceremony combined Jewish and Buddhist traditions.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/fashion/weddings/jz-holden-and-jules-feiffer-married.html?_r=0 "JZ Holden and Jules Feiffer: Humor and Truth Spark Outrage, Then a Union"], ''New York Times'', Sept. 17, 2016</ref> She is the author of ''Illusion of Memory'' (2013).

==Honors and awards==
*1961, recipient of a [[George Polk Awards]] for his cartoons;<ref name=LOC>[https://www.loc.gov/bookfest/kids-teachers/authors/jules_feiffer Jules Feiffer], Library of Congress</ref>
*1961, film ''[[Munro (film)|Munro]]'' won [[Academy Award]] for animated short;
*1969 and 1970, won [[Obie Award]] and [[Outer Circle Critics Award]] for plays ''Little Murders'' and ''The White House Murder Case'';
*1986, awarded the [[Pulitzer Prize]] for political cartoons<ref name=jules/>
*1995, elected to the [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]];<ref name=jules/>
*2004, inducted into the [[List of Eisner Award winners#The Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame|Comic Book Hall of Fame]];
*2004, received the [[National Cartoonists Society]]'s Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award;<ref>Gardner, Alan. [http://dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2007/01/30/jules-feiffer-to-recieve-lifetime-achievement-award/ "Jules Feiffer to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award"], ''The Daily Cartoonist'', January 30, 2007. Retrieved March 3, 2009. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110929082942/http://dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2007/01/30/jules-feiffer-to-recieve-lifetime-achievement-award/ WebCitation archive].</ref>
*2006, received the Creativity Foundation's Laureate<ref>[http://creativity-found.org/laureate-prize/archive/jules-feiffer/ "2006 Laureate Prize Winner: Jules Feiffer – Arts"], Creativity Foundation. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110814020611/http://creativity-found.org/laureate-prize/archive/jules-feiffer/ WebCitation archive].</ref>
*2010, won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the [[Writers Guild of America]].<ref name=LOC/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wgaeast.org/2011/01/frank-gilroy-to-receive-writers-guild-of-america-east-lifetime-achievement-award/|title=Writers Guild of America East Press Release|date=January 10, 2011 }}</ref>

==Selected works==
{{colbegin}}
*''Sick, Sick, Sick'' (1958)
*''Passionella and Other Stories'' (1959)
*''The Explainers'' (1960)
*''Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl'' (1961)
*''The Feiffer Album'' (1962)
*''Hold Me!'' (1962)
*''Harry: The Rat with Women, a Novel'' (1963)
*''Feiffer's Album'' (1963)
*''The Unexpurgated Memoirs of Bernard Mergendeiler'' (1964)
*''The Great Comic Book Heroes'' (1965)
*''Feiffer on Civil Rights'' (1966)
*''The Penguin Feiffer'' (1966)
*''Feiffer's Marriage Manual'' (1967)
*''Pictures at a Prosecution'' (1971)
*''Feiffer on Nixon, the Cartoon Presidency'' (1974)
*''[[Knock Knock (play)|Knock Knock]]'' (1976)
*''Tantrum'' (1979)
*''Jules Feiffer's America: From Eisenhower to Reagan'' (1982)
*''Marriage Is an Invasion of Privacy and Other Dangerous Views'' (1984)
*''Feiffer's Children'' (1986)
*''Ronald Reagan in Movie America'' (1988)
*''The Man in the Ceiling'' (1993)
*''A Barrel of Laughs, a Vale of Tears'' (1995)
*''Meanwhile&mdash;'' (1997)
*''I Lost My Bear'' (1998)
* ''[[Bark, George]]'' (1999)
*''Backing into Forward: A Memoir'' (2010)<ref>Brennan, Elizabeth A.; Clarage, Elizabeth C. ''Who's Who of Pulitzer Prize Winners'', Greenwood Publishing Group (1999) p. 156</ref>
*''Smart George'' (2020)
{{colend}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{sisterlinks|d=Q975547|c=category:Jules Feiffer|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|s=no|wikt=no|species=no}}
*[https://www.rmichelson.com/illustration/jules-feiffer/ Jules Feiffer illustration] represented by [https://www.rmichelson.com/ R. Michelson Galleries]
*{{citation |url=http://www.julesfeiffer.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120721055333/http://www.julesfeiffer.com/ |archive-date=July 21, 2012 |title=''Jules Feiffer Official Site'' |access-date=2013-02-12 }}
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20101010171356/http://fora.tv/2009/08/05/Jules_Feiffer_Confessions_in_Print Archival footage of a discussion with Jules Feiffer at a PillowTalk at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in 2009]}}
* [https://www.lambiek.net/artists/f/feiffer.htm Lambiek Comiclopedia article.]
*{{IMDb name|270547|Jules Feiffer}}
*Stossel, Sage, [https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/03/a-conversation-with-jules-feiffer/37775/ "A Conversation With Jules Feiffer"], ''[[The Atlantic]]'', March 19, 2010. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100526060742/http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/03/a-conversation-with-jules-feiffer/37775 WebCitation archive]
*Adams, Sam, [https://www.avclub.com/article/jules-feiffer-14283 "Interview: Jules Feiffer"], ''[[The A.V. Club]]'', July 28, 2008. [https://www.avclub.com/jules-feiffer-1798214484 WebCitation archive]
*Transcript of March 24, 2010, Feiffer interview at the [[Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art]], published as [http://filmfestivaltraveler.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=705%3Ajules-feiffer-qa&catid=31%3Ageneral "Backing into Jules Feiffer: An Exclusive Q&A"], FilmFestivalTraveler.com, April 18, 2010. [https://web.archive.org/web/20190708102450/http://filmfestivaltraveler.com/index.php?option=com_content WebCitation archive]
* {{LCAuth|n79055272|Jules Feiffer|164|}}

{{Inkpot Award 1980s}}
{{PulitzerPrize EditorialCartooning 1976–2000}}
{{Animation Writers Caucus}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Portalbar|Cartoon |Children's literature|Comics|New York City}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feiffer, Jules}}
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