Now and Then: Dan Danglo

Interviewing Dan Danglo was a pleasant experience. His house is not far from my office, so it was convenient to drop in on him after work. He took me on a tour of his home and basement studio as his wife Rhoda served us coffee and cookies. Rhoda had some of the best stories to tell! Before I left, Dan asked me to draw a sketch for him. They were wonderful hosts, and he's a wonderful artist. And he draws a wonderful, wonderful cat.

This column is from Hogan's Alley #18, which is on sale as I write this:

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Now and Then: Howard Beckerman

My friend Kit Hawkins has often told me about the great animators she's worked with. One day, at a birthday party for her husband, she finally introduced me to one. When I met Howard Beckerman, I recognized him from the Berndt Toast Gang, though we had never actually spoken before. He was a great Now and Then subject.

You can watch The Trip, the animated short mentioned in the column, by clicking this link.

This column appeared in Hogan's Alley #17:

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Now and Then: Emilio Squeglio

Emilio Squeglio is another Berndt Toaster, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that he lives in Floral Park, NY, not too far from the Elmont house where I grew up. (We lived on opposite sides of Belmont Park Racetrack.)

Emilio's comic book career was relatively brief, and took place in a time before most artists' names were listed in the credits. So even though I was a fan of the original Captain Marvel, and probably enjoyed much of Emilio's work, I didn't know his name before we met.

In recent years, Alter Ego and other magazines have published articles on Emilio, and much of his Captain Marvel work has come out into the light. I'm glad to be able to add to the recognition he deserves.

This column appeared in Hogan's Alley #16:

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UPDATE: Emilio passed away on March 12, 2012. He will be missed, but his work lives on.

Now and Then: Bill Kresse

When I started attending Berndt Toast Gang lunches, I met many veteran cartoonists whose names I recognized. One that made a particularly big impact on me was Bill Kresse. I enjoyed his "Super" Duper cartoons in the NY Sunday News many years ago. I didn't realize until I met him that the strip only appeared in the News, and was never nationally syndicated.

Bill has a thick folder filled with negative photostats of his "Super" Duper strips (alas, not a complete set), which I scanned and inverted for him. He's been asking me to help him clean them up and compile them into a book. With all the print-on-demand services available today, we may just do that soon.

This column appeared in Hogan's Alley #15:

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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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