INDIANAPOLIS — You might not know the name Pauline Comanor, but you likely know some of the characters she brought to life.
The cartoonist gained notoriety for her work on films depicting Betty Boop alongside animator Max Fleischer. Comanor billed herself as the "world’s fastest cartoon artist," and began touring malls across the country in the 1970s.
WRTV reporter Derrik Thomas interviewed Comanor during her visit to Washington Square Mall in August 1979. That’s where Comanor explained she was just wired to do things fast.
“I mean I cook fast, I talk fast, I come to conclusions fast,” Comanor said. “I think I’m just that kind of person.”
Comanor said drawing was always part of her life.
“When I was quite young, I always doodled,” Comanor said. “I doodled on the walls, I doodled on everything. We once had to buy a tablecloth I doodled all over.”
In 1973, Comanor doodled a character she named Chunky Monkey. Comanor envisioned the monkey as the next big thing. While the character never dethroned Curious George, its name become synonymous with the Ben & Jerry’s banana-flavored ice cream in 1988. Naturally, some legal wrangling ensued, but it didn’t keep Comanor from cartooning.
Thomas noted that Comanor likely sketched 2,000 drawings each year.
Pauline Comanor died in 2005 at the age of 91.
