'Winthrop', French-Canadian edition (Petit Journal, 5 December 1966).
Dick Cavalli was a well-known cartoonist, famous for his strip 'Winthrop'. During World War II, Cavalli served in the Air Force Ground Groups and the Infantry, taking part in combats in France, Luxembourg and Germany. Later, he went to work for New York's Museum of Natural History doing detailed pen and ink drawing of fossilized specimens for museum records and periodicals.
He studied cartooning at the School of Visual Arts and left the museum to freelance. His 'Morty Meekle' newspaper strip first appeared on 9 January 1956. Originally revolving around the young couple Morty Meekle and his female partner Jill Wortle, the series gradually started to focus more on Jill's kid brother Winthrop and his neighbourhood friends. On 27 February 1966 Cavalli changed the comic strip's title into 'Winthrop' and made it more something comparable to Charles M. Schulz' 'Peanuts'. Children who are remarkably wise for their age now became the focus, while adults were invisible characters from now on. Cavalli was assisted by Bob Weber Sr. and Ray Osrin. Jerry Dumas also took over the series for three months when Cavalli had his second heart attack. Though, rather than draw new episodes, Dumas merely picked out older episodes, removed the text from the speech balloons and added new dialogue. 'Winthrop' ran until 14 May 1994.
In 1982, Cavalli took over the 'Norbert' strip from its creator George Fett, and continued it for another year. Dick Cavalli was founder of the Famous Artists Cartoon Course.
