THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 22, 1994 TAG: 9408230633
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E01 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
PRINCE VALIANT and Gen. Douglas MacArthur are an odd mix.
But their paths merge at the MacArthur Memorial, where a portrait of the general, done by John Cullen Murphy, illustrator of the ``Prince Valiant'' comic strip, has been hung in the Jean MacArthur Research Center.
It joins a collection there of Murphy's World War II sketches and paintings, including scenes from the New Guinea campaign, the liberation of Manila, and the American occupation of Japan.
Murphy, who has drawn the comic strip since 1970, did the portrait of the general during World War II, from sketches and photographs. About two years ago, the general's widow removed the portrait from her apartment wall at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York and gave it to the museum.
Portrayed in his khakis and leather jacket, the general is no Prince Valiant. But in the painting, he has the same clean features and far-seeing eyes, and he exceeds Valiant in his royal bearing. His biographer, William Manchester, saw him as an American Caesar.
``I don't believe MacArthur sat for any portraits during the war,'' Murphy said. ``He was too busy. I had to do it from sketches and photographs.''
In 1970, Murphy - the creator of the comic strip ``Ben Bolt'' - was picked by artist Harold Foster, the originator of the ``Prince Valiant'' strip, to succeed him as its illustrator. Last Sunday, Murphy completed the 3,000th episode of the young knight from the Dark Ages who aids the defenseless with his Singing Sword.
The strip is a family enterprise. Murphy's son Cullen, the managing editor of The Atlantic Monthly, has written the stories since 1979. And his daughter, Meg Nash, does the strip's coloring and lettering. Another son, Brendan, is a senior chief and master diver for the U.S. Navy who lives in Virginia Beach and is consulted whenever Valiant engages in underwater derring-do.
Murphy, who lives in Coscob, Conn., has had a life of storybook quality. Born in New York, he moved to Chicago soon afterward. When only 15, he was chosen by artist Norman Rockwell as the subject for a Saturday Evening Post cover. Red-haired and freckle-faced, Murphy was tossing a ball when Rockwell strolled onto a field and asked him to pose. Murphy was chosen, he said, ``because I was one of the homeliest ones out there.''
While Murphy was studying at the Art Institute of Chicago, Rockwell encouraged Murphy's interest in art and turned his studio over to him while taking vacation. The young artist developed rapidly and was painting a portrait of Maj. Gen. Sanderford Jarman on Dec. 7, 1941 - the date of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
The artist's association with the MacArthur family dates from the middle 1940s, when Murphy, then a young Army officer, was based in MacArthur's headquarters in Brisbane, Australia. It was a time when MacArthur was planning his return to the Philippines.
The illustrator's wartime sketches were published in The Chicago Tribune, and the portrait of MacArthur was among his most popular contributions to the newspaper.
In 1944, he did sketches of MacArthur's wife, Jean, and son Arthur. Those sketches are also in the museum's collection. Murphy remembered that he and Arthur got along well. ``He played the piano for me,'' Murphy recalled.
``I was sketching Mrs. MacArthur on the day that the general departed for his return to the Philippines. She had a difficult time keeping still. So did I. It was an exciting time.''
Murphy was at Supreme Allied Headquarters during the occupation of Japan and drew people he saw on the streets of Tokyo. My favorite from the museum collection is a charcoal sketch of a bearded Japanese soldier in winter clothing, his face etched with despair.
Jeff Acosta, the museum's curator, noted that the soldier's apprehensive appearance mirrored the mood of the Japanese at the beginning of the Allied occupation.
``They were aware that they had treated some of their captives harshly and wondered whether they would receive the same treatment from Americans,'' Acosta said.
Murphy said he saw the subject of the sketch on a subway car in Tokyo. ``I remember his face well because of its sadness,'' Murphy said. ``I never talked to him because I didn't speak Japanese. And he didn't look like someone who wanted to talk.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color illustrations
Art by John Cullen Murphy portrays Gen. Douglas MacArthur and a
Japanese soldier after World War II.
by CNB