Otto Soglow, whose comic strip The Little King ran for 40 years and entertained me when I was a kid, was born December 23, 1900—though I wasn’t to meet him until April 23, 1973 at that year’s Reuben Awards banquet held at the Waldorf Astoria. Which was apt, since he was a co-founder of the National Cartoonists Society, host for that event.

Annoying kid with a sketchpad that I was, I wheedled sketches out of Garry Trudeau, Curt Swan, Paul Fung, Jr., Roy Crane … and, of course, Soglow as well, who drew for me the famous character whose newspaper strip he would continue to create until his death in 1975.

I have no special memories of that encounter, only this wonderful souvenir.

But happy birthday! And thanks for making me smile.