Al Kilgore: Comic Strips & the Cinema Key

Here is the solution to Al Kilgore's assembly of comic book character movie stars that I posted on Friday. Click for the super-size!

I want to say thanks to Steve Brodner. We got together for lunch about ten days ago at the Overlook. We sat near a large illustration of Bullwinkle, signed by Al Kilgore, and this got Steve talking about him.

The late Mr. Kilgore drew the Bullwinkle comic book for a couple of years in the 1960s, and there was a Bullwinkle comic strip from 1962-1965. He was also one of the founding members of the official worldwide Laurel & Hardy fan club, "The Sons of the Desert," for which he designed the logo. Writer/Blogger extraordinaire Mark Evanier featured a photo of Kilgore, Chuck McCann and John McCabe on the occasion of Dr. McCabe's passing almost 2 years ago.


Above: an advertisement for Costello's from the 1970s. The bar/restaurant was a hangout for the King Features and Daily News staff back in the day. It's now under new management and has been renamed the Overlook Lounge. The above cartoon mural is from that time, and, unfortunately, the bit on the right has been lost. You can see this mural, as well as the new one that we drew up in 2005 at The Overlook Lounge, very close to Grand Central. Jeff, Pat & mark, the guys who run the joint, are great cartoon fans and are going to preserve the cartoon murals forever.

As we ate our Overlook burger (me) and the chicken wrap (Steve), we talked about Kilgore and how unappreciated he is now. He was, in my opinion, one of those guys like Hirschfeld, that was able to catch the essence of the person. I was fortunate to have this bit of art drawn by Al Kilgore, a forgotten master.

PS My thanks to Steve for the wonderful caricature of me that he dashed off on the title page FREEDOM FRIES right there in front of me in pub (and the didn't even get any food stains on it)!!!



Thanks so much, Steve!