JOHN CULLEN MURPHY - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 10/03/1970 - HFSID 186489

JOHN CULLEN MURPHY
The illustrator explains how he illustrates the comic strip, "Big Ben Bolt", for which he would win an award the following year. In 1970, the year he wrote this letter, Murphy would begin his long involvement with another comic strip, "Prince Valiant".
ALS: "John C. Murphy", 1p, 6x7. Cos Cob, Connecticut, 1970 October 3. On his imprinted personal letterhead to "Dear Mr. Searle". In full: "I am enclosing an original 'Ben Bolt' cartoon for your use in class. As my strip is a continuous adventure series, it is different from the comic type strip. I work in partnership with a writer - He sends a script to me and I illustrate it - Hope this will be of use to you. Sincerely". Enclosure not present. Murphy, who had moved to Cos Cob in 1953, illustrated "Big Ben Bolt", a comic about a boxer, for King Features Syndicate from 1950-1978. In 1971, he would win the National Cartoonist Society Story Comic Strip Award for his work on that strip and "Prince Valiant", for which he became an illustrator in 1970, the year of this letter. John Cullen Murphy (1919-2004) teamed up as an illustrator with "Prince Valiant" creator Hal Foster in 1970. Murphy continued to draw the strip, whose script was written by his son, Cullen Murphy, and lettered and colored by his daughter, Mairead, until his retirement in March 2004 (at that time, Murphy's hand-picked successor, Gary Gianni, became the strip's illustrator). Murphy would win the National Cartoonist Society Story Comic Strip Award for "Prince Valiant" in 1974, 1976, 1978, 1984 and 1987. Ironically, Murphy, who had attended the Art Institute of Chicago and aspired to be a baseball player, became the model for Norman Rockwell's painting, Starstruck, which appeared on the September 22, 1934 cover of the "Saturday Evening Post". Rockwell mentored Murphy until WWII, when Murphy joined the Army. During the war, Murphy continued his artistic pursuits - painting portraits of military figures (he was an aide to General Richard Marquat, who was on General Douglas MacArthur's staff) and sending illustrations home to the "Chicago Tribune". Later, Murphy drew publicity pictures for M-G-M and contributed illustrations to such magazines as "Look", "Reader's Digest" and "Esquire" before drawing for King Features. Slightly creased with fold, not at signature. Pencil notes (unknown hand) on verso (no show through). Fine condition.