Lot 873: ANDRIOLA, ALFRED

873. ALFRED ANDRIOLA (1912 - 1983) American cartoonist, who, after dropping out of Journalism School at Columbia, went to work for Noel Sickles and Milton Caniff, and with their help started his first comic strip Charlie Chan in 1938; became one of the most astute practitioners of the "Caniff style"; in 1943, created Kerry Drake, an original detective strip; the strip became extremely popular and there were comic book versions of Kerry Drake in the 1940s and 1950s, with efforts to make it into a television series. Rare original signed drawing, a beautiful watercolor and black ink drawing of the cartoonist's famous creation, Kerry Drake, 10 3/4" x 8", tipped to a slightly larger sheet, and boldly inscribed "Greetings to Leo McPeak from Kerry Drake and Alfred Andriola" ca. 1940s. An imposing study, depicting the character Kerry Drake posed in a blue suit, holding his pipe and seated on a yellow sofa with a red pillow behind his back. Leo McPeak amassed a large collection of comic art during the 1930s-1950s. Vintage, original color drawings of comic strip characters of this size are rarely encountered. $300 - 400