Roy McKie

Roy McKie, Simon and Schuster, The Dog, 1954. A gift to Ruth and me, with best wishes.



Roy McKie, Bon voyage drawing "for "Ruth and Giam" 1955

My young wife Ruth and I visited Roy and his first wife Lois at their home in New Hope, Pennsylvania, just before we went off on a seven-month trip of discovery to Europe west of the Iron Curtain.

Roy and I were both fortunate to have as a mentor in our younger days of the tremendously talented Bruce C. Anderson who founded Bruce Anderson Associates, a major force in advertising art and design from the early 1940s through the 1960s in Boston. Roy had been discovered by Charles Coiner, art director of N.W. Ayer Advertising in Philadelphia and immediately hired. I was taken on as a cartoonist to fill Roy's shoes, which I must confess I failed to do, though my cartoon work under Andy's direction was the best I ever accomplished. 


This appeared in This Week Magazine, with the largest circulation of any publication in the USA, a Sunday supplement carried by 37 newspapers. Circa 1954.


Roy McKie, This Week Magazine, More for your money, 8 September 1957


Roy McKie, This Week Magazine, Your Money, 10 November 1957


Roy McKie, This Week Magazine, Your Money, 10 November 1957


Roy McKie, This Week Magazine, 17 November 1957

Appearing in This Week was a great gig, not only for the pay, for it was a top market for cartoonists, but it was a unique accomplishment to appear in the same publication with Roy, two guys from Medford, Massachusetts, a city hardly anyone had ever heard of until another and much younger local boy, Mike Bloomberg, earned a zillion dollars and became mayor of New York City.

Oh, yes, what did I do? A weekly pantomime cartoon about a grounded invisible angel called Angelino that ran until I asked to copyright the character and that marked the end of my tenure there.

Roy McKie, full page ad for Travlers Insurance Co., 1958

These drawings reflect a more controlled pen style, as opposed to energetic brush strokes, above. At the same time, Roy was drawing a series of ads for the Lady's Home Journal magazine entitled "Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman."


Roy McKie, from Capricorn, circa 1972


Roy McKie, from Libra, circa 1972

Next: Books by Roy McKie.

These drawings are courtesy of Gatochy, a remarkable collector from Lisbon, Portugal, from whom I hope to upload more wonderful examples from her extensive collection of art and photography through the centuries.

You can find more about Roy McKie's published childrens books by Googling his name. Among the links is blog which includes a good interview along with more examples of his published books.

Comments

[Paul Giambarba]

Jane Kulow -- That's the Bruce Anderson we all knew. R.I.P. Chief.

[Jane Kulow]

Paul,

Thank you very much for this. I met Bruce C. Anderson in 1979 when I got my first job in advertising in Boston. He had retired (to paint) at that point, but came into D.A.P. Associates a few days a week to draw, tell stories, and play the upright piano -- usually providing his own accompaniment by stomping the floor enough that the architects below would come up to complain.

We became fast friends (both of us Midwesterners). He adorned the walls of my office with drawings (Sharpie on tissue, usually) and gave me paintings.

What a gent.

Jane Kulow

[Paul Giambarba]

Alice -- Google the book title and find the publication date. That should more or less date the article you described.

[Alice Nall]

Recently at a yard sale I bought an 8x10 The Sagittarius Personality by roy McKie. I don't know if it was clipped out of a magazine or if it was just a print. It is in a frame and I don't want to take it apart for fear of tearing it. It looks old.Do you know if it is old?

[Paul Giambarba]

Hans -- Of course it's special. Even without your telling me its title, if he signed it and gave it to you -- it makes it very special.

[Hans Eelman]

I have a small book here illustrated and signed by Roy McKie.
He gave it to me some 50 years ago.
He was a passeger on my ship then.
Is it special?

Hans Eelman Holland

[Paul Giambarba]

Thank you so much, Diana. I'm glad to know you like my blog and my work. You have made my day, week, month.

[Diana]

This is one of the best blogs on the Internet. Currently learning bow to draw and learning as much as possie about illustration, I'm glad I found it and look forward to reading more.

As a long-ago marketing student, I've got to say your Polaroid packaging was beautiful.

[Paul Giambarba]

Obrigada, Mariana. You're very generous. That was 60 years ago!

[Mariana]

You look extremely dapper in your sunglasses and bowtie. :) Thank you for the kind mention!