DALE MESSICK - ADDING MY VOICE TO THE MANY
APRIL 8, 2005
by Mike Grell

photo credit AP
I'VE BEEN SITTING HERE THINKING ABOUT WHAT I COULD SAY ABOUT DALE MESSICK THAT WOULD GIVE SOME IDEA OF WHO SHE WAS AND WHAT SHE WAS AND HOW MUCH SHE MEANT TO ME.

DALE MESSICK WAS THE CREATOR OF THE "BRENDA STARR" COMIC STRIP, CHRONICLING THE ADVENTURES OF A WOMAN STRUGGLING FOR A PLACE IN A MAN'S WORLD. JUST LIKE DALE, WHO CHANGED HER NAME FROM DALIA IN ORDER TO BETTER BLEND IN WITH THE MALE CROWD THAT DOMINATED THE COMIC STRIP BUSINESS WHEN SHE WAS STRUGGLING TO GET STARTED.

YEAH, RIGHT. LIKE THAT WAS GOING TO WORK.

TRY DROPPING A REDHEADED BOMBSHELL IN THE MIDDLE OF A ROOM FILLED WITH CIGAR-SMOKING, HAIRY-KNUCKLED GUYS AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS. I GUARANTEE THAT WHEN DALE WALKED INTO A ROOM, EVERYONE NOTICED. HER BEAUTY, WIT AND VIVACIOUS CHARM CREATED A RIPPLE LIKE A BOULDER DROPPED IN PUDDLE.

I FIRST MET DALE IN 1972 THROUGH THE AUSPICES OF WILLARD COLSTON, THEN EDITOR OF THE TRIBUNE SYNDICATE. FRESH OUT OF ART SCHOOL, I HAD BEEN TRYING, UNSUCCESSFULLY, TO PEDDLE A COMIC STRIP OF MY OWN AND WILLARD MENTIONED THAT DALE MESSICK NEEDED ANOTHER ASSISTANT. HE ARRANGED A MEETING AND I WENT TO DALE'S CHICAGO LAKESHORE DIGS TO SHOW MY STUFF.

DALE HAD THE SAME IMPACT ON ME THAT SHE HAD ON ALL MEN. I WAS INSTANTLY CHARMED AND INSTANTLY IMPRESSED WITH HER AMAZING TALENT AND WIT. SHE REGALED ME WITH TALES OF THE GOLDEN ERA OF NEWSPAPER COMICS AND SHOWED ME SOME OF HER COLLECTION OF EARLY DRAWINGS BY PALS LIKE IRWIN HASEN. EVENTUALLY, DALE GOT AROUND TO LOOKING AT MY PORTFOLIO AND SAID SHE LIKED THE WAY I DREW WOMEN. I CAME AWAY WITH A WEEK'S WORTH OF DAILY STRIPS TO INK AND A SERIOUS CRUSH THAT HAS LASTED TO THIS DAY.

THEN CAME A REAL CHALLENGE - TRYING TO DUPLICATE DALE'S FREE-FLOWING BRUSHSTROKES. IN TRUTH, I SOON FOUND THAT THE BEST WAY TO DO IT WAS TO WAIT UNTIL THE DEADLINE WAS CRUSHING IN ON ME AND THEN INK AS FAST AS MY HAND COULD MOVE. I EVENTUALLY GOT TO WHERE I WAS ADEPT ENOUGH THAT I WAS ENTRUSTED WITH INKING EVERYTHING EXCEPT BRENDA'S FACE. I TOLD DALE I WAS GOING TO ENTITLE MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY "DOING BRENDA'S BODY".

DALE AND I PARTED COMPANY IN SEPTEMBER OF 1973, WHEN I RELOCATED TO NEW YORK TO BUILD A CAREER IN COMIC BOOKS, BUT WE'D RUN INTO EACH OTHER NOW AND THEN AT COMIC CONVENTIONS OVER THE YEARS. THE LAST TIME WAS NEARLY A DECADE AGO AND I WAS NOT THE LEAST SURPRISED TO SEE SHE HAD LOST NONE OF HER CHARM. WE TALKED ABOUT THE GREAT OLD DAYS AND SHE TOLD ME THE TRUE STORY OF BRENDA STARR'S "MYSTERY MAN", BASIL ST. JOHN, WHO SUFFERED FROM A STRANGE MALADY THAT COULD ONLY BE TREATED WITH A COMPOUND EXTRACTED FROM THE RARE BLACK ORCHID. WHENEVER BASIL APPEARED IN "BRENDA STARR" DALE RECEIVED A BOUQUET OF BLACK ORCHIDS FROM AN ANONYMOUS ADMIRER.

BASIL WAS BASED ON AN ASSISTANT DALE HAD HIRED BRIEFLY. HE WAS TALL, DARK AND HANDSOME AND WORE A BLACK EYEPATCH. "GOD, HE WAS BEAUTIFUL!" SHE SAID. "I'D SPEND ALL DAY JUST LOOKING AT HIM." I ASKED WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM AND SHE SAID, "OH, I FIRED HIM. I WASN'T GETTING ANY WORK DONE." THEN SHE LEANED CLOSE AND, WITH A TWINKLE IN HER EYE, SAID, "I DON'T KNOW IF YOU NOTICED, BUT I LIKE MEN."

THE FEELING WAS ENTIRELY MUTUAL. "YOU KNOW, DALE," I SAID, "IF I HAD BEEN TWENTY YEARS OLDER AND YOU HAD BEEN TWENTY YEARS YOUNGER..."

SHE PUT HER HAND ON MY ARM AND SPARKLED A SMILE THAT STILL CHARMED ME DOWN TO MY TOES. "HONEY, YOU'D HAVE BEEN TOO OLD FOR ME."

Related Links:

ABC News (Associate Press) Creator of 'Brenda Starr' Dies at Age 98

Washington Post Cartoonist Dale Messick Dies; Creator of 'Brenda Starr' Strip

New York Times Dale Messick, 98, Creator of 'Brenda Starr' Strip, Dies