Happy Birthday, Frank Faylen!

He's probably best remembered for playing Herbert T. Gillis, father of Dobie on "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis", a terrific old sitcom from 1959-1963.

That's all the excuse I need to show off this recently acquired page of Bob Oksner original art from issue 22 of DC's Dobie series that captures a fair amount of the show's (and Faylen's) personality.

Of course this time of year, it's easy to catch Frank as "Ernie" the cab driver (opposite Ward Bond's "Bert" the cop) in "It's a Wonderful Life"... a movie that's jam-packed with great character actors.

Remembering Bob Oksner...

...who would have been 95 today. Here's a one-page biography from a 1962 Jerry Lewis comic:

Here's a stern-looking portrait of Bob by Neal Adams, from a 1971 DC house ad announcing the winners of the ACBA awards. Nicely lettered by the inimitable Gaspar Saladino.








Finally, one of my favorite Oksner originals, a Supergirl page from a 1971 issue of Adventure Comics. By the way, future comic writer Steve Englehart assisted with the background inks on this page.

Holly Wood celebrates Oksner night, with a special appearance by Mr. Warren Beauty!

Sorry, I couldn't resist the awful triple pun. No, those aren't typos. The girl's name is "Miss Holly Wood", she's meeting Warren BEAUTY and the artist is Bob OKSNER.

I think there are a few Oksner fans who frequent this blog so I'm posting these pages and hoping that someone can identify them for me. They were (obviously) pencilled and inked by Mr. Oksner, lettered by Ben Oda and the story looks like it might have appeared in a 1970's DC comic. Someone suggested they might have been scripted by Bob Kanigher but I haven't confirmed that either.

But were they ever published? No one I've asked seems to have any idea. The GCD has no listings that fit so I'm stumped.

Nice art, though, ain't it?

Jerry Lewis in a blond wig and tutu: Bob Oksner art

It's Labor Day so what better time to show off a little original art from Jerry's long-running DC series. Pencils and inks by Bob Oksner, lettering by Ben Oda. I don't know who wrote the story but I remember Oksner talking about writing some of the later Lewis scripts himself so this might be one of them.

The gun barrel and a few of the buildings were ruled with a pen, everything else is inked with a brush.

Jerry's in drag but he's very recognizable throughout the sequence because of Oksner's virtuoso talent for drawing likenesses and inspired use of body language. He drew more than a hundred issues of this series and somehow managed to get better every year. I've included a scan of the back of the art so you can see how he did a little pencilling in reverse, using a light table.

Gorilla, You're a Desperado

Here's something a little different: a marker sketch from around 1986...

Soozi

Bob Oksner's late '60's newspaper strip featured the artist at the peak of his powers. The "dumb blonde" theme was already an anachronism but no one ever drew a cuter cartoon babe.

Scary Terry Beatty has several "Soozi" Sundays on his blog this week. Check 'em out and see if you don't agree.