Now and Then: Tom Gill

It's hard to find adult education classes in cartooning. When I saw an ad for Tom Gill's class on Cartooning for Fun and Profit at Nassau Community College in 1997, I jumped at the chance to take it.

Tom was a fine instructor, and a fountain of information. So when I needed a subject for my next Now and Then column, I got in touch with him. Among other things, he told me about the Berndt Toast Gang, a Long Island cartoonists club that meets for lunch every month. It was named in honor of the late Smitty cartoonist Walter Berndt, to whom the members drink a toast at each meeting. Joining the Berndt Toast Gang gave me material for several more columns.

Tom Gill passed away in 2005, two days after I interviewed him on the telephone. His memoir, The Misadventures of A Roving Cartoonist: The Lone Ranger's Secret Sidekick, was published in 2008.

This column appeared in Hogan's Alley #14:

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