Stan Drake - Juliet Jones

Best known as the artist and co-creator of The Heart of Juliet Jones , Stan Drake in recent years has added Blondie to his credits as one of the most versatile cartoonists in the business. His work on Juliet Jones, the realistic romance strip, contrasts vividly with the slapstick adventures of the Bumstead family-providing Drake with the demanding task of going from one style to another in the daily rush to get out two totally different stories.

Born in Brooklyn on November 9th, 1921, he worked for $1 a day on the back of a Dugan's Donut truck for spare cash when going to high school. Drake began his art career at 17, working for pulp magazines, including Popular Detective and Popular Sports. He also worked in comic books as artist, letterer, and writer, and became friends with fellow cartoonist Bob Lubbers, a friendship that led to Drake's part in the creation of Juliet Jones. Drake also studied 'Life Art' two years at the Art Students League in New York. This intensive study of the human form was to serve him well as his talents were applied to 'realistic illustration and comic art'. He served in the Pacific during World War II and afterwards went into the advertising field, where eventually he ran a studio of 12 illustrators.

By the way, this photo was taken just after World War II when Stan was still doing PR work for the US Army newspaper, Stars And Stripes.

In 1953, looking for a new outlet for his creative talent, Drake followed the advice of Lubbers to try newspaper comics. He joined forces with Elliot Caplin and King Features Syndicate to create Juliet Jones, a successful soap opera strip, following his success in the funnies, he created a new strip for Universal Press Syndicate, Pop Idols. It failed to catch on and died after a few months. But in 1984, after seriously contemplating a career change, Drake got a call from writer Dean Young who was trying to add artistic punch to his late father's enormously popular Blondie, asking if he'd draw it while still handling Juliet Jones. Drake took on the challenge and has been a double-duty cartoonist ever since. Another Drake effort was the Kelly Green series for the french firm, Dargaud International Publishing. More Drake collectables include The Pitt from Marvel Comics, and select issues of the super-heroes Ms. Mystic and Toy Boy.

(from: Encyclopedia Of American Comics) S.L.H.

"JULIET JONES IN BIG BUSINESS"

the fourth episode of Elliot Caplin's and Stan Drake's
THE HEART OF JULIET JONES.

By 1954, Elliot Caplin had already been involved in the creation and writing of two major arid diverse strips: the classic humor of ABBIE AN' SLATS and the premier boxing strip BIG BEN BOLT. When this volumes episode first saw print Caplin and Stan Drake had been working together for a year. They have been together now for 34 years forming one of the longest creative teamings in comic strip history.

JULIET JONES IN BIG BUSINESS is a good example of the richness of Caplin's plots. Filled with detail and subplots, but never overburdened, the story moves crisply to a just and logical finish. Where most writers proceed in a straight line horizontal fashion to reach the conclusion, Caplin takes the occasional vertical detour as a means of amplifying the main theme and ultimately increasing the reader's enjoyment.

Stan Drake's art continues to amaze with his thorough mastery of blocking and lighting, his display of movement and subtle emotions. As in a portrait, expression conveys mood and meaning. Perhaps Drake's greatest strength is his ability to draw accurate and varied expressions on his characters. In the span of one brief year Drake had conquered the parameters of the medium.

Here's a shot from the pile of literally thousands of polaroid photos which were taken to 'storyboard' the Juliet Jones comic strip. In this shot, Stan is filling in for 'Pops' and Elizabeth Smith is playing the character of Eve. Almost every panel was staged by Stan, former wife Elizabeth Smith and numerous other Westport, Connecticut locals including everyone from the postman to the fellow who owned the sandwich shop in Compo Shopping Center. Stan used the shots to make sure he drew 'all the bones in the right place'. Some of the longtime contributors to 'Julie' included Tex Blaisdell who was responsible for the rich and evocative backgrounds and Jack 'Frosty' Frost who's excellent lettering skills were a subtle but important contribution to strip.
Besides giving Drake the opportunity to show off his love for fast cars, the Sunday episodes also featured the first appearance of a new character, Eddie Hearn, a cop. Hearn played a supporting role as part of this episode, first appearing in the Sunday dated 7/11/54. His first appearance in a daily is 7/24/54, making a brief one panel cameo. This Sunday episode is an excerp of the excellent sixteen week story in which Eddie Hearn stars.

Stan, son Gary with 'Major', the sheltie, in 1966 - Ridgefield, CT.

"JULIET JONES IN BIG BUSINESS"

the fourth episode of Elliot Caplin's and Stan Drake's THE HEART OF JULIET JONES.

the fourth episode of Elliot Caplin's and Stan Drake's
THE HEART OF JULIET JONES.