J. P. Alley

Names: James Pinckney Alley
Born: January 11, 1885
Died: April 16, 1934
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Hometown: Bentob, Ark.
Residence: Memphis, TN
Education: Public School
Career: Editorial Cartoonist The Memphis Commercial Appeal, 1916-1934
Genres: Other Nonfiction 

Internet Sites:

• Tennessee Newspaper Hall of Fame
  Established in 1966, joint project of the Tennessee Press Association and the University of Tennessee. Provides a short snap-shot of the cartoonists colorful humor and biographical past.
• Prints & Photographs Online Catalog: Cartoon Drawings
  Library of Congress searchable site.

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Biography:

James Pinckney (J.P.) Alley, beginning his career as an editorial cartoonist in 1916 at the Memphis Commerical Appeal, is best known for his widely popular, and often-quoted Hambone's Meditations. Alley also wrote and illustrated Distinguished Folks in Caricature in 1928 (World Enclyclopedia of Cartoons). J.P. Alley's cartoon themes included the Ku Klux Klan, the Republican Party, Elephants, Tom Heflin, and Political Elections.

-- Tiffani R. Conner

Primary Bibliography:

• Distinguished Folks in Caricature. Memphis: S.C. Toof, 1927
• The Meditations of "Hambone". Memphis: Jahl & Co., 1920
• Hambone's Meditations. Louisville: Standard Printing Co., 1934

Secondary Bibliography:

• A Dictionary of North American Authors Deceased before 1950. Compiled by W. Stewart Wallace. Detroit: Gale Research, 1968
• Encyclopedia of American Biography. New Series. New York: The American Historical Society, 1937
• The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons. Edited by Maurice Horn. Detroit: Gale Research, 1980

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