DeBeck, Billy

Many years ago--at least two decades--Howard Lowery auctioned off a group of 18 sketch pages by Billy DeBeck, the creator of the classic strip Barney Google. There was little explanation that accompanied the artwork. They appeared to be either character development pieces, or sketches that DeBeck did while sitting in a hotel lobby. Maybe they were a combination of both. In any event, I was the under bidder on the lot and never saw the pieces again. Quite recently, the DeBeck sketches resurfaced and I was given the opportunity to purchase them. After seeing only a few examples of them (I had never seen the entire group, as Lowery only pictured a few), I decided not to miss out on them again.

The sketch pages are really quite lovely. They show DeBeck's raw facility at capturing gesture and attitude. Some of the pieces are reminiscent of Daumier. Others have the quality of Phil May's work, the British cartoonist who DeBeck so admired. Then there is DeBeck's own style. You can see so much of the type of characters that inhabited Barney Google in these sketches, from cops and hotel-types, to sharps and con men. When DeBeck was on--and he usually was--he could sum up so much information, which such little line work. That's what really comes across in these pieces.

As far as where and when these were done, I can only hazard guesses. As all of the pieces are done on the stationary of a New York City cosmetics company, I assume that he did them while in NYC. Was there a Continental Hotel in NYC during this time? I have yet to find out. As far as the time-period goes, they seem to be from a fairly prime period of DeBeck's work, so I would guesstimate them as circa 1930, but who knows for sure?

My thanks to my buddies Larry Shell and Chollie "The Patron Saint of Popeye" Roberts for helping these sketches find their way home to Wisconsin.