It's been a long time since I have shown some of Jack Betts work. He was a versatile and busy comic strip artist, who worked mainly in advertising (and did some illustration work on the side). He died tragically towards the end of the fifties and seems not to have been remembered either by the comic book historians or his colleagues. Other than some letters from his daughter (from a failed marriage, so even she did not know him for very long) I have nothing to go on. Except for these wonderful, airy, funny and lively ads he drew.He had two main series, many of which I have shown before (and will show again). It seems that the Nestlé series was not originated by Betts, but by his colleague at Johnstone and Cushing, Craig Flessel. I wish I had known what I know now when Mr. Flessel was still alive.
The first ad is a rarity, what seems like of the few ads Jack Betts did in a more realistic style. Someone else at Johnstone and Cushing may have been involved, possibly even Craig Flessel. But I don't think so. The second one seems to be by another artist.
The last one is by Al Capp, who did a short run of Nestlé ads when Jack Betts had died.
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