MCBRIDE, Clifford (1901 -1951). Three Panel Comic Strip  with Reference to Chester Morris. Circa 1940s. Pen and ink drawing signed to the lower right margin. McBride was an American cartoonist best known for his comic strip Napoleon and Uncle Elby. The strip features McBride's two most famous characters in a scene that references Chester Morris and his relationship with magic, as well as his WWII efforts to sell war bonds.

McBride credited Floyd Thayer, proprietor of his eponymously-named magic manufacturing concern, for helping pay his way through art school; Thayer hired the budding artist to illustrate catalogs, design the covers of publications, and create advertising "cuts" Thayer could re-sell to magicians for use on business cards and letterheads. Many of McBride's pen-and-ink drawings for Thayer became well-known to magicians worldwide.  

Frame 18 x 6 1/2". 

Moderate browning to right edge. Abrasions to the lower center from tape removal.