Friday, January 06, 2012

THE NEIGHBORS by George Clark

These originals by George Clark -- my gosh -- they just blew me away.

I had heard of his long running feature THE NEIGHBORS (1939-1976), but had never seen any originals. My pal Don Orehek had some and he passed them on to me.

The originals were stunning and I want to share a few with you now. These are copyright 1964 by the News Syndicate, Inc.

Just take a look at the economy of Clark's dry brush line here -- and how loose it is. At times, that line becomes an almost ghostly impression of form -- and the panels "read" when they are shrunk to published size.

September 2, 1964:

"I have nothing against the Beatles, but we're NOT going to name him Ringo!"



December 25, 1964:

"Stop hunting, dear -- I found Bertie!"



March 3, 1963:

"Oh, they can't wait to grow up. Alice plans to become a homesteader and Louise is going to be a sheriff."



February 19, 1963:

"How you're driving too close to the car ahead of you."



January 7, 1964

"Please, dear -- I only want to show our hostess that her buffet snacks are so tempting I can't resist them."



April 10, 1964:

"Now remember -- you're taking me to the party tomorrow and you be ready when I come after you!"



June 2, 1964:

"That rain spoiled my whole day for gardening, honey. I'll be back for dinner."


June 20, 1964:

"I'll never understand girls, even when I become old and grey and twenty."



July 30, 1963:

"He never takes his eyes off me, but I think he's only interested in how much sandwich he gets."



More here.

A Sunday strip:



2 comments:

Joie Simmons said...

WOW. Love the line work here. It's amazing!

tcg said...

I've always loved George Clark, and there's so little info available about him. Do you know if Clark ever did "Side Glances"? I have a mouldy original that looks like Clark's style, but is signed by Gill Fox, who apparently took over the strip in the '70's. I think. Anyone know the story? Again as always, thanks for these, Mike.
Kass