Lot 47
Laverne Harding And (or Working As) Becky Sharp (or
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Description
Title:
LaVerne Harding and (or working as) Becky Sharp (or possibly Bernard Dibble) Cynical Susie, Sunday comic strip, Becky Sharp was credited with the strip 'Cynical Susie' in 1935, which was originally created by LaVerne Harding (1933-34) and also drawn by Bernard Dibble. Description: It's possible that was a pseudonym for one of those artists, as pointed out in an email by Stuart Cooper:"The signature appears to be in quotation marks in the example you post, suggesting acknowledgement of a pseudonym. It should be kept in mind that "Becky Sharp" (an adaptation of Wm. Thackeray's novel "Vanity Fair") was the first full Technicolor feature film, released in 1935, just as "Cynical Susie" began to be credited to this name...the film did very badly and was a notorious laughing-stock at the time. Since the strip 'Cynical Susie' was set in Hollywood, it's very likely that "Becky Sharp" was one of the two credited artists (LaVerne Harding or Bernard Dibble) using that pseudonym for a while as a joke at the expense of the film. In fact, since LaVerne Harding started working for Walter Lantz as an animator around that time, I strongly suspect "Becky Sharp" was simply Harding moonlighting under that pseudonym, possibly due to union rules restricting her[him ?] from outside work."[from a Dutch Lambiek.net Internet posting.]
Provenance:
The present lot comes from The Charles L. Howard Collection of Early Comic Art & Original Political Illustration, comprised of nearly 800 Pre-WWII original illustrations by over 500 listed illustrators that we will be offering over several sessions. Charles L. Howard, Esq. was a leading railroad industry figure between the Wars, serving as a chief officer for the Santa Fe Railroad and council to the American and Western Railway Assns. Encyclopedic in scope and with extensive New York, Ohio, Illinois and California subjects, much of the Howard Collection’s political art was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1939 and many of the original comic strips were shown at various educational institutions prior to 1947. The works have been in storage for decades and come to auction from a descendent of the family.
Approx. Dimensions or Size: Please see images for included size indications.
Hess Fine Auction shipping In House
Estimated weight of package:
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Condition
The state of preservation of these comic strips that are on average over 75 years old is quite exceptional. Very, very few have any creases, tears or losses to the paper and the ink has remained uniformly vivid thanks to the family’s dry flat storage. Given that these were working drawings from which prints were made the expected edge markings, blue highlightings, notations, inscriptions, pasted labels, tack holes, staples, glue residues and scattered artist and proofer’s corrections can be found variously on the examples as illustrated in the photographs. These all add to the authenticity and charm of the newsroom and pressroom atmosphere between the Wars, serving to reinforce the iconic status of these rare surviving testimonies to the comic illustrator’s art. In a few examples additional notations have been made in the description section of the catalogue text for significant damage, however the condition sensitive collector is encouraged to contact our sale expert for additional lot details in advance of the auction date.
