Bob Hope Artist????

[Red Oak Kid]

I have attached some scans from Bob Hope 34, 1955. I was just wondering if anyone knows who drew this.

thanks

[Lone Ranger]

Sorry I can't help.

I think we're in Scott Shaw! territory here.

I know Owen Fitzgerald did many of the earlier issues (I think Scott! did an Oddball spotlight on #1) - but I am not familiar enough with his work to say that this is it.

[Scott Shaw!]

Yup, that's Owen Fitzgerald, all right.

What a wonderful cartoonist. We became friends when I first worked at Hanna-Barbera with him in the layout department. I also wrote and inked a lot of stories that Owen penciled for the H-B comics for the foreign publishers. And believe it or not, I gave Owen his last job before he died early in 1994, a Pebbles storyboard drawn from my roughs.

Here are a few interesting facts about Owen:

-- He was born and raised in Arkansas and spoke in a very slow and deliberate Jimmy Stewart-ish draw, but was a very intelligent man.

-- Owen was one of the fastest cartoonists I've ever known; he penciled an entire issue of LAFF-A-LYMPICS over a long weekend! (Yeah, I inked that, too.)

-- Owen is still greatly admired by both Mort Drucker and Bob Oksner (they were VERY enthusiastic when I told them I worked with Owen) who followed him up on BOB HOPE.

-- Owen ghosted the Sunday DENNIS THE MENACE comic strips for many years.

-- Owen drew the BUGS BUNNY comic strip for a long time; I inked and lettered a lot of his Sunday strips.

-- Owen hated drawing superheroes, but he drew the SUPERFRIENDS better than anyone in the studio!

-- Owen seemed to live on a diet of cigarettes and Fig Newtons.

-- Owen was a champ at drawing pretty girls; one of the features he drew was about a dim chick named "Moronica"!

-- Owen worked at Warner Bros. as a layout artist for Chuck Jones.

Aloha,

Scott!

[dan bailey]

He was born and raised in Arkansas and spoke in a very slow and deliberate Jimmy Stewart-ish draw, but was a very intelligent man.



Neat! I wonder what part of the state he came from ... Not many comics pros I can think of (other than the young artist, whose name I forget at the moment, who did a really nice job on the recent Drax the Destroyer mini) who hail from my home state.

I was editing 99-plus percent of the hedline obits for the statewide newspaper back in '94, & I'm pretty sure he passed us by, unfortunately.

[Lone Ranger]

Yup, that's Owen Fitzgerald, all right.


Wow - that was fast. I feel like I've got a red phone on my desk linked directly to the Oddball Cave.

-- Owen is still greatly admired by both Mort Drucker and Bob Oksner (they were VERY enthusiastic when I told them I worked with Owen) who followed him up on BOB HOPE.

I knew that Mort Drucker did some pre-Oksner 60s Bob Hope - but was 99% sure this wasn't him.

-- Owen seemed to live on a diet of cigarettes and Fig Newtons.

Sounds like an old roommate of mine

-- Owen was a champ at drawing pretty girls; one of the features he drew was about a dim chick named "Moronica"!

From the ACG Dizzy Dames strip? Cool - that would be a very fun, but un-PC, reprint to find on the shelves one day.


Did he ever do any A Date With Judy work?

I reminded me of some circa-1950 Judy art I've seen.

[Bill Angus]

I thought it might be Fitzgerald, but I'm not familiar enough with his work to make that call.

The first issue of Draw! magazine had a feature article by Shane Glines (I believe) about Fitzgerald, if anyone's interested enough to track it down. I know I've got it at home somewhere, but I haven't read it in quite a few years.

LR - I *think* he did do work on A Date With Judy - but I couldn't swear to it.