Phil DeLara (1914-1973) was one of a somewhat rare breed of artists who were both animators and comic book artists. During his heyday in the 1950's he worked as an animator on many fine Looney Tunes cartoons, and he also rendered the comic book adventures of such characters as Chip 'N' Dale, Gyro Gearloose, and Goofy for Western Publishing. While attempting to do some internet research on the man and his work, I came across a bit of a puzzler. IMDB lists Mr. DeLara's first animation credit as being the 1941 cartoon "Saddle Silly." His next credit doesn't come until seven years later, with the 1948 Daffy Duck short "The Up-Standing Sitter." If the IMDB information is correct, what happened to Phil DeLara in the interim? Did something put him on the sidelines during those seven years or is IMDB just full of cheese? I'm hoping one of my fellow animation connoisseurs can shed some light on this mystery. Until then, enjoy both of the aforementioned cartoons, plus a comic book story featuring Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam drawn by Phil for Four Color #1222 (Sept-Nov 1961).
2 comments:
I know this is a very late response, and possibly you have already discovered the answer or no longer care, but I believe the break between 1943 and 1946, at least, is due to his service in the US Army.
Didn't Delara also do the Top Cat comics? I've recently started collecting those and recognize his art from the Bugs comics
Post a Comment