Winsor Zenie McCay was born in Spring Lake, Michigan, September 26, 1871. After studying with an art teacher in Ypsilanti, at the age of 17 he left town with a traveling circus, painting posters and signs for them in Chicago.McCay started working for newspapers in Cincinnati, illustrating news stories for the Times-Star and drawing pro-Republican editorial cartoons for the Commercial Gazette, until the rival Cincincinati Enquirer hired him away to do pro-Democrat cartoons. He's mostly remembered for his 1905 creations: Little Nemo for the New York Herald and Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend for the Telegram. He continued to do various editorial cartoons and illustrations: the equivalent of 365 Sunday page size drawings a year. . He worked steadily until his death July 26, 1934.
