1939.10.31 “Tailspin Tommy”

1939.10.31 “Tailspin Tommy”
By Hal Forrest (1895-1959) and Reynold Brown (1917-1991)
7 x 23 in. on heavy paper
Coppola Collection

“Quentin Has No Sentiment for Flyers.”

Hal Forrest created the popular aviation-adventure comic strip in 1928 and continued it through its 14-year run until 1942. For some years after 1936 famed illustrator Reynold Brown (uncredited) worked with Hal Forrest and inked Forrest's pencils. Brown added fine line work and improved the drawing of the human figures, as evidenced in this original, especially in the depiction Beverly.

Brown illustrated a number of famously familiar movie posters, including The Creature from the Black Lagoon, I was a Teenage Werewolf, Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and Spartacus.

In this edition, Tommy and Skeeter are working as stunt pilots for a movie studio filming a picture about World War I.