Tech*Savvy*Students
Rube Goldberg - Occupations
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He was hired as an engineer for the Water and Sewers Department after his graduation. Here, he had to design sewer pipes. He quit the job in six months.
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The very next year he joined the San Francisco Bulletin as a sports cartoonist and continued the job until 1907. Here he had to make illustrations of sports persons and his work was well received. In 1907, he launched a comic series titled ‘Mike and Ike’ featuring identical twins. Though it did not get instant success, he remained persistent and it eventually became a huge hit among audience.
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In 1907, he moved to New York and began freelancing for a few publications. Around this time he was hired as a cartoonist with the newspaper New York Evening Mail. Here he began a single panel comic titled ‘Foolish Questions’ that ran from 1908 to 1934, featuring sarcastic responses to obvious questions. In 1909, he authored and launched a book with the same title.
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He used to appear in stage performances with fellow cartoonists and in 1911 started performing as a comedian in Vaudeville. By 1914, he became a playwright as well. The same year he started work on his next comic series project titled ‘Inventions!’ He started this at a time when America was witnessing the beginning of the Age of inventions.
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He was fascinated by technology but observed that people often adopt complex means to achieve simple results. This was the source of inspiration for his primary work in the ‘Inventions!’, an illustration of an ‘Automatic Weight-Reducing Machine’. The iconic cartoon illustration went on to be known as the Rube Goldberg Machine.
Job as an Engineer
Soon after completing his degree, Rube Goldberg found work at the San Francisco City Engineer’s Office, Water and Sewers Department. He was mainly responsible for designing sewer system plans around the San Francisco area. The job did not just earn for him a monthly paycheck of $100, which, at the time, was a high-paying job for a fresh graduate. Despite this, Rube was restless. He stayed on the job only for a couple of months. Perhaps, what can be regarded as the most significant contribution of this phase in Rube Goldberg’s life was to make him realize what he did not want to be doing for the rest of his working life. His job also exposed him to the corrupted political scenario. He abhorred it and refused to pledge his allegiance to corrupt politicians. Finally, it propelled the jaded Rube Goldberg back to the direction that he had wanted to take since the beginning.
DEFYING THE ODDS
When Rube Goldberg left his job, he worked at the San Francisco Chronicle as an art assistant, with the intention of becoming a professional cartoonist. With his humor and zest for drawing cartoons revived, Rube submitted one cartoon after another to the newspaper. Unfortunately, he would find his work well received only by the office trash bins. There were rare instances when his editor would approve one of his creations for publication. However, it usually called for a tradeoff—Rube would have the satisfaction of seeing his work immortalized in print in exchange for doing less than pleasant office tasks. He would sometimes be asked to clean floors and sort through pictures from the morgue.
Early Rise as Cartoonist
His breakthrough assignment came in the form of a sporting event. Publishers found that illustrations greatly raised the newspaper’s sales; hence, they commissioned cartoonists to do a color comic section in which sketches of athletes were featured. Many of these artists were the same ones that influenced Rube Goldberg’s work since his early years. His work was well received in California, and it earned him a $2-dollar raise to $10 per week. Thus started his first stint as a professional in the field as a sports cartoonist for the San Francisco Bulletin.
Mike and Ike
The Bulletin launched Mike and Ike (They Look Alike) on September 29, 1907. It was a Sunday comic series featuring the life of a moronic duo and identical twins after which the cartoon was named. It was initially produced under World Color Printing, Co., which was then engaged in the publication, syndication, and distribution of Sunday comics. However, Mike and Ike did not turn into an instant success as Rube Goldberg would have hoped it to be at the time. Despite the setback, Rube remained persistent. He maintained the Mike and Ike cartoon features in his daily comics amidst the discouraging public reception just to keep the idea going. It took some years, but his persistence eventually paid off.
Timeline
