"Tin Fish... from the sky!" A 1943 Illustration for Pontiac.

     One way I've discovered previously unknown illustrations my Grandfather produced has been by looking over scanned pages of Life Magazine on Google Docs.  It is quite impressive; Google has uploaded virtually every page of every Life Magazine, published by-weekly, since at least the late-1930s (where I started looking).  
     It's a tedious process, requiring a careful examination of each page with an illustration, and by the 1940s, at least half of all advertisements were still drawn (not photographed).   
     This was the first illustration I found by Walter DuBois Richards.  It appeared May 3, 1943 on page 78.  At the time, Wally was an illustrator at the Charles E. Cooper Studio in New York City.

     What a thrill, I had no idea he made such exciting war-time illustrations.  


     At first glance, the focus here seems to be the United States Navy's Torpedo Bomber, the Grumman TBF-1 Avenger, attacking what appears to be a Japanese Aircraft Carrier in the South Pacific.  The carrier looks similar to the Akagi, but in it's pre-WWII deck configuration. By 1939, Akagi had one long deck that extended from the bow to the stern.  
     In fact, this illustration is a short action piece illustrating the torpedo specifically.  According to this write-up, they were mass produced by Pontiac, a division of General Motors, throughout World War II.

     The aerial weapon illustrated here was probably a Bliss - Leavitt Mark 13 torpedo, the torpedo of choice for the Navy Avenger.     

Click to see larger version.

  

Hopefully, if I've designed this blog correctly, you should be able to click on any of the images in this blog to view them in a larger size on Flickr.  I've included the dialog from the illustration here so that you can click on it and read a larger, clearer version of it.  If I become more ambitious, I'll add the dialog from the illustration to the blog itself, since it is an entertaining mini-action story of the illustration Wally made.  

LifeGuard Safety Tubes - A Goodyear Tire Commercial from 1947

      Over a several year period following WWII, Wally did a series of advertisements for Goodyear's product, the LifeGuard Safety Tube.  This one appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in November of 1947.  According to this startling advertisement, the LifeGuard Safety Tube could save your life should you blow out a tire driving along a narrow cliff-ridged icy road in Minnesota.  Considering safety standards in your average car in the 1940s, I should think even at 25 mph a tire blowout could have more serious consequences than today, no matter what the scenario.  After a (very) brief online search, it appears that Goodyear first introduced this extra-tube-in-a-tire in 1934 and it evolved into a variety of products over the next half-century.

     Wally made several of these commercials featuring these 'BANG' scenarios, but I found this one a bit amusing.  Can somebody explain why these hunters are using a red sedan with no rack for a hunting trip?  

The 1955 Ford Fairlane Sunliner, Custom Ranch Wagon and Fairlane Victoria

   My father and I have come across literally hundreds of magazine clippings that either Wally or his wife, Glenny had saved for posterity.  In some cases my father had scribbled down information on accompanying yellow sticky-notes offering up interesting insights about that particular illustration.  Turns out Walter was a work horse within his industry, publishing sometimes a dozen illustrations in a month, year round, for decades.  

Walter DuBois Richards did quite a bit of work for many classic automobile manufacturers over the years: Packard, Mercury, Cadillac and Ford, to name a few.

Several 55 Fords are illustrated in this one page commercial, the red Custom Ranch Wagon in the background, the stunning yellow and black Fairlane Sunliner with the pretty Blondie in front, and the Fairlane Victoria below.  

   The yellow note explains that Glenora had saved this particular Ford commercial because she had helped Wally mix the colors for it (and did this often for Wally's illustrations.)  This could sound surprising, until you learn that Glenora Case Richards was a celebrated artist herself, who made a name for herself in Miniature art, and also produced some commercial art.

Walter DuBois Richards: Commercial Illustrator, Artist

Walter DuBois Richards in the prime of his
career, circa 1940s.

      This Blog is intended simply to describe the lifelong career of my grandfather, Walter DuBois Richards.  It is a journey to discover and record his accomplishments as a Commercial Artist.  Throughout his nearly century-long life and the seven decades his career expanded, he was affectionately known as Wally.  His first published works as an Illustrator can be traced back as early as the mid 1920's in Rocky River, Ohio, when he wasn't yet 20 years of age.  They were something akin to doodles throughout the pages of his High School Senior Yearbook.  As far as I know, his last published work as an artist was in 1987 for a Historic Preservation stamp of Timberline Lodge in Mt. Hood, Oregon.



Wally at work in New York City probably at the Charles E. Cooper Studio.
Circa 1930s.

     Thanks for visiting my blog.  Any questions please contact me at atrakadrew@gmail.com . 


Wally in his element.