Harold Gray - Huge 1944 Little Orphan Annie & Sandy Specialty Drawing

Once upon a time, you would see a Harold Gray specialty drawing show up from an autograph dealer, but I rarely see them nowadays. So I was pretty durn happy to run across this wonderful 1940s specialty drawing by Gray, typical of what he would draw for a newspaper celebrating an important event. In this case, the Waterbury American, a newspaper in Connecticut, was celebrating it's 100th birthday in 1944, so Gray did them a solid by doing this fantastic specialty drawing in honor of the occasion. The newspaper was first published on December 14, 1844, so I'm assuming this piece saw print around the same date in 1944. The piece is 18 inches tall and features wonderful images of both Annie and Sandy. We even get a "Leapin' Lizards!" and an "Arf!".