Robert Dana Gustafson (August 8, 1920 – November 28, 2001) was an American cartoonist whose work includes eight years on '' Tillie the Toiler'' and a 27-year run on the '' Beetle Bailey'' comic books.

Early life

Gustafson was born on August 8, 1920, in

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline () is an affluent town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. An exclave of Norfolk County, Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton ...

and went to Brookline High School. He served in the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

as a pilot and pitched semi-pro baseball in the Boston area. Gustafson attended Boston's

School of the Museum of Fine Arts The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (Museum School, SMFA at Tufts, or SMFA; formerly the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) is a dedicated art school within Tufts University, a private research university in Massa ...

and did his first work for ''Bostonian'' magazine in the early 1940s.

Comic strips

In the post-World War II years he did his

Sunday strip The Sunday comics or Sunday strip is the comic strip section carried in some Western newspapers. Compared to weekday comics, Sunday comics tend to be full pages and are in color. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, t ...

''Specs'' for the New York Tribune Syndicate. Published for one full year (May 12, 1946 to May 25, 1947), it was a filler strip which did not always appear every week. In the 1950s, he did gag cartoons for ''

Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine that ran until 2016 and was last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th centur ...

'', Ridgefield Press, ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American lifestyle media brand that covers a wide range of topics from home decor and renovation, health, beauty and food, to entertainment, pets and gifts. The Good Housekeeping Institute which opened its "Experiment ...

'', ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

'', ''

Collier's } ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter F. Collier, Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened i ...

'' and ''

Judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

''. He assisted on Russ Westover's ''Tillie the Toiler'' strip for King Features. After Westover departed, Gustafson's signature appeared on the strip beginning October 4, 1954 and ending March 7, 1959. In the 1960s, he assisted as a writer on '' Joe Palooka'' for the McNaught Syndicate before joining

Mort Walker Addison Morton Walker (September 3, 1923 – January 27, 2018) was an American comic strip writer, best known for creating the newspaper comic strips ''Beetle Bailey'' in 1950 and ''Hi and Lois'' in 1954. He signed Addison to some of his strips. ...

's staff. From 1963 until the mid-1970s, he assisted on Walker's '' Beetle Bailey'', '' Boner's Ark'' and ''

Hi and Lois ''Hi and Lois'' is an American comic strip about a suburban family. Created by Mort Walker and illustrated by Dik Browne, both of whose children currently work on the strip, it debuted on October 18, 1954, distributed by King Features Syndicate ...

''. Gustafson was mainly involved in the ''Beetle Bailey'' comic books published by

Dell Publishing Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and ...

/Western (early 1960s),

King Comics King Comics, a short-lived comic book imprint of King Features Syndicate, was an attempt by King Features to publish comics of its own characters, rather than through other publishers. A few King Comics titles were picked up from Gold Key Comics ...

(mid-1960s) and

Charlton Comics Charlton Comics was an American comic-book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T. W. O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line (comics), line was a divi ...

(early 1970s). He drew Robert Baldwin's ''Freddy'' for Dell Comics and his other work for Dell includes '' Mr. Magoo'' and ''Ponytail''.

Editorial cartoons

In later years, he did editorial cartoons for the Acorn group of Connecticut newspapers.

Awards

Gustafson received the

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

Comic Book Award for 1962 and 1982 and their Humor Comic Book Award for 1971 and 1972. He retired to Old Greenwich, Connecticut and died there on November 28, 2001.

References

External links