Jeff Parker on Leslie Turner's Captain Easy Newspaper Comic Strip

 

I haven't seen the new Captain Easy newspaper strip reprint book with never-before reprinted dailies by Leslie Turner, but it just came out and it sparked this remembrance from cartoonist Jeff Parker:

 

"This looks jaw-droppingly good!

 

"My wife and I were friends with Les and his wife, Bethel, during the final years of his life.

But first, a little Les Turner trivia— You might or might not know, but his daughter Anne’s face is world famous, we all have known her all our lives...

 

"In 1984, when we were buying our first home in Orlando. Our realtor was a little 70-something lady named Bethel Turner. On our first drive around, she asked what we each did for a living, after my Pat replied she was a writer/journalist, I piped in saying I was a City Planner but I really wanted to be a comic strip cartoonist. Bethel said, 'Then you need to meet my husband— he’s Les Turner, the creator of ‘Captain Easy.'' I was floored, a huge fan all my life. Bethel and Les were the nicest people, and invited us to their big, lakeside home on Delaney St. for dinner a short while later. After some drinks and chit chat, Les, then in his mid 80s, asked if I would like to see his studio upstairs over their garage. At the top of the staircase, there was a small photo and an 8” x 6” pencil drawing of the Gerber baby nicely framed. I gasped, 'I-is that the *original* Gerber baby drawing?!!' Came the reply, 'Yep, our then next door neighbor was the renown advertising illustrator, Dorothy Hope Smith. She had seen this photo we took of our baby daughter Anne in her high chair. Dorothy copied it in pencil, and submitted it with some other baby-faced drawings. Our daughter is the Gerber baby!'

 

"It was like looking at the Mona Lisa! 

 

"BTW, Les's large, windowed, lake view studio was exactly as you might imagine, big ink dappled drawing board, tons of books, ancient well-worn art supplies, weapons hanging on the walls, and model aircraft, vehicles, ships of all kinds perched on shelves brimming with souvenirs and awards… And then there were the STACKS of decades of original 'Captain Easy' art! It was like visiting the Count of Monte Cristo’s treasure cave! Les had been retired for a number of years when we’d met. But he was constantly script writing new Captain Easy adventures whenever a story popped into his head— don’t know if he ever pitched them to the syndicate or not.

 

"Bethel and Les were wonderful friends to us fledgling 26-year-olds.

 

"I’ve been a full-time cartoonist since 1992, ever inspired by this legend.

 

"I’m gonna seek out this book!"