Ray Moore
| Raymond S. Moore | |
| |
| Biographical information | |
| Born: | February 27, 1905 |
|---|---|
| Died: | January 13, 1984 |
| Nationality: |  American
|
| Occupation: | Artist |
| Website: | |
Ray Moore assisted Phil Davis on the Mandrake the Magician comic strip a short periode before he, together with Lee Falk, created The Phantom in 1936.
Life and career
David Yearly Moore married Martha Stephens in 1898 and the first years they lived with David's family at Bedford [1]. David and Martha Moore moved to St. Louis before 1910 [footnotes 1] and had three children: Mary Adelia, Raymond Stepens [footnotes 2] and David Yearly jr. In St. Louis David Y. Moore worked as a jeweler [2].
After graduating Soldan High School [3] he drove a truck and worked on a street paving gang to earn money for an education. He enrolled in the law school at Washington University and played freshman football. But, as he expressed it: "I was kicked out after a year for arguing with a professor." About this time he tried to get in the Air Corps, but failed to pass the written exam by 1.3 points. In 1927 he attended Washington University Art School in St. Louis and studied a year and a half and then got a job as a commercial artist [4].
He started to assist Phil Davis [3] (with some of the inking) on the Mandrake strip. And when Lee Falk needed an illustrator for his new comic, The Phantom [footnotes 3], he asked Ray Moore to handle it.
Ray Moore married Claire Lydia Moehlenbrock June 30, 1939 [5]. About this time he also took up his interest in aviation and managed to get a private license and work for an instrument rating for cross-country trips. He bought a Monocoupe and operated out of Lambert - St. Louis Field in 1940 [4].
During his WW II duty Ray was involved in an accident, which made him unable to keep on drawing The Phantom and his assistant Wilson McCoy became the artist for the ongoing strips in 1947.
In 1949 Ray and Claire bought a house on a remote hill in West County. Ray Moore died in 1984 of natural causes. He was survived by his wife, Claire, who passed away in 2005. Ray Moore's former house and studio off Barrett Station Road will be developed into a futher Missouri Dept. of Conservation area called "Phantom Forest".
Note
- ↑ Ray is said to have been born in Oklahoma or Montgomery City
- ↑ Sometime one read that Ray's middle name S is Schettler, after his mothers family name. But Schettler are the family name of Alwin H Schettler who married Meta C Moehlenbrock, the sister of Ray's wife. The S is his mothers maiden name, Stephens
- ↑ Ray called his hero: "the guy in the long underwear"
References
- ↑ 1900 United States Federal Census, Bedford, Lincoln, Missouri
- ↑ 1910 United States Federal Census, Wellston, St. Louis, Missouri
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Martin, David. "River City Trivia." St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri) 13 April 2003, p 158
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Wagner, Ted P. "Aviation in St. Louis." St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri) 16 February 1941, p 10H
- ↑ Marriage License, St. Louis, Missouri