From Magicpedia, courtesy of Genii Magazine: Howard "Mel" Melson (1890-1958) was Abbott's staff artist and ran Tops from 1936 to 1957. He began working for the Abbott Company in 1940 when he left New York to go out to Colon on a six week's assignment to do art work for their catalog. The six weeks turned into eighteen years. His family moved to Buffalo, New York where he attended school, and later the Chown School of Business. An winning a cartoon contest conducted by a breakfast food company, he enrollment in the Buffalo Art Institute and later Cleveland's Landon School of Cartooning. Melson went to work for newspapers and was Art Director for the Magazine of Wall Street. Melson enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1918. First serving at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas then touring with the Kelly Field Players as a Chalk Cartoonist and did a sand painting act.