Sylvia Getsler

Sylvia Getsler (22 July 1926 — 21 June 2009) was a Polish-American cartoonist based in New York. She was a highly successful gag artist whose work was published in the Saturday Evening Post, Playboy, True Detective, McCall's, and Ladies Home Journal.

Getsler was born on July 22, 1926, in Poland and emigrated to the United States in 1933, settling in the Bronx neighborhood of New York. By her twenties, she had begun freelancing, traveling regularly from her home in the Bronx to Manhattan. Her cartoons/gags often featured skirt-chasing men and foolish women, however, her real passion was in the wit and innocence of children.

Getsler's gags were published around the world including in many well-known magazines such as Saturday Evening Post, Playboy, True Detective, McCall's, and Ladies Home Journal. One of her cartoons (shown below) was featured on the cover of October 1964 issue of ROMP magazine. (Cover shared with Jack Cole (Jake), Bill Ward, and Bill Power.)

In March-July 2012, three years after her death, her career and works were the subjects of Have Gags Will Travel: The Life and Times of a New York Cartoonist exhibition in the Pfundt Gallery at The James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. The exhibit mainly focused on her cartoons about children.

Getsler was married to artist/poet/writer Joseph Treceno. From 2000 onwards, the couple resided in Lambertville, New Jersey, after leaving New York.

Getsler died on June 21, 2009, in New York City, New York, at the age of 82.