Goldberg, Rube (1883-1970), was an American cartoonist best known for his zany cartoons of incredibly complicated machines designed to accomplish simple tasks. The term Rube Goldberg has entered the English language as a synonym for ridiculously complex. Goldberg also created popular comic strips and won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for cartoons.
Reuben Lucius Goldberg was born on July 4, 1883, in San Francisco. After graduating from the University of California at Berkeley School of Mining in 1904, Goldberg briefly tried an engineering career before joining the San Francisco Chronicle in 1905 as an office boy. The Chronicle published Goldberg’s first newspaper cartoons.
Goldberg moved to New York City in 1907. He was a staff cartoonist for the New York Evening Mail from 1907 to 1925. His most famous comic strip, “Boob McNutt,” ran from 1915 to 1934. Goldberg served as an editorial cartoonist with the New York Sun from 1938 to 1950. He won his Pulitzer Prize while working at the Sun. Goldberg retired from cartooning in 1964 to concentrate on sculpture.
Goldberg created the comic strip ”The Inventions of Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts” while at the Evening Mail. In that strip, Goldberg introduced the complicated contraptions that made him famous.
In addition to his work as a cartoonist, Goldberg wrote song lyrics, essays, short stories, and motion-picture scripts. He created several sculptures from 1964 to 1970. Goldberg died on Dec. 7, 1970.
