Additional biography found at the Stripper's Guide "Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: Alex Blum / Al Boon" Tuesday, March 31, 2015, by Alex Jay (http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2015/03/ink-slinger-profiles-by-alex-jay-alex.html). Alex Blum won three art prizes at age of 13 in contests run by Cincinnati newspapers, circa 1902. At some point he taught at the Boston Art School. In the late 1910s, Blum worked as a newspaper illustrator for an unknown Philadelphia newspaper. Blum was an artist doing advertising work during the 1920s, details unknown currently. He worked as an etcher and painter in the fine arts with works exhibited at the Library of Congress and Yale University. Honors received included: Etching Class—First prize, A.H. Baldwin Fund from the National Academy of Design in 1909; and the Philadelphia Alliance Bronze Medal for Etching in 1920. Syndication work included Illustrated Classics Sunday (New York Post/Gilberton Publications) pencil and ink work, circa 1947 and Oddities of the News weekly (General Features) pencil and ink work, from 1937 to 1942.