James Francis McAleer was born on October 18, 1889 in Lowell, Massachusetts. His father, also named James Francis McAleer, was born in 1859 in Ireland, and moved to America in 1879. His mother, Rose Dolan, was born in 1865 in Massachusetts of Irish ancestry. His parents married on June 15, 1887 in Lowell, MA, and had two children, James Francis McAleer (b.1889), and Katherine McAleer (b.1892). The family lived at 22 Chambers Street in Lowell, MA. The father was a barber.
On February 8, 1894 the father, James McAleer, died at the age of thirty-five. After this tragic death, the mother supported her two children by working as a dressmaker.
In 1917 James Francis McAleer was working in New York City as a scenic artist in the theater district. He lived in a hotel at 308 West 42nd Street.
During the Great War James Francis McAleer served in the U/.S. Navy from May 22, 1917 until his honorable discharge on April 16, 1918.
On May 17, 1918 he was again summoned to register with the selective service. He identified his marital status as married with a "common law" wife and one child. He also claimed a physical disability, which was not identified on the document.
On August 13, 1918 James Francis McAleer married May McPherson. They moved to Connecticut, where they raised their daughter.
On July 29, 1919 the artist applied for a Seaman's Passport. His application form recorded his as age twenty-nine, five-foot-five, 135 pounds, ruddy complexion, with black hair and blue eyes, and a scar on his abdomen.
In 1925 Frank McAleer began to sell freelance black & white story illustrations to pulp magazines produced by Fiction House. He signed his work "Frank McAleer." His pen-and-ink drawings appeared in North-West Stories, Fight Stories, Wings, Air Stories, and Lariat Story.
In 1927 the artist was listed as "Frank MacAlear, c/o Fiction House, 271 Madison Avenue in NYC" in the professional artist directory, Advertising Arts & Crafts, published annually by Lee & Kirby.
By 1928 Frank McAleer had begun to sell painted covers to pulp magazines. His work appeared on Air Stories, Wings, Sky Riders, Air Stories, War Novels, Western Romances, War Aces, War Birds, Aces, and the short-lived Navy Stories.
After 1934, the work of Frank McAleer no longer appeared in pulp magazines.
In 1936 the artist's mother, Rose (Dolan) McAleer, died at the age of seventy-one in Lowell, MA, and was buried beside her husband in St. Patrick's Cemetery.
By 1942 the artist's daughter had married and moved away from home, after which the artist and his wife left Connecticut and moved to Miami, Florida.
On November 24, 1946 The Miami Daily News Sunday Magazine featured "Miami artist Frank McAleer's vision of Miami's Skyline fifty years from now in the year 1996, with electric power supplied by solar energy."
On December 23, 1946 The Miami News reported "Miami Artist Frank McAleer has completed the three glittering stage sets for the annual Orange Bowl Beauty Queen coronation ceremonies."
On January 17, 1970 the artist's unmarried younger sister, Katherine McAleer, died at the age of seventy-seven in Lowell Massachusetts, and was buried beside her mother and father. She spent her entire life as a manual laborer in the local woolen industry.
James "Frank" McAleer died at the age of eighty in Florida on November 13, 1980.
© David Saunders 2018 |
