Falstaff!

Thanks to contributor Steph for sending me the scan of this wonderful drawing of Anthony Quayle as Falstaff in the 1951 Stratford season.

See more of Searle's work in the theatre here.

Animation

On YouTube I found a couple of the animated spots Searle made in collaboration with UK animator Ivor Wood. They met in the 60s while both working at La Comète studio in Paris which led to a fruitful partnership over the years. Wood was known in the UK for stop-motion TV series such as Postman Pat but was also a classically trained draughtsman and was one of only a handful who could animate Searle's line. (In fact Ronald deemed Wood his favourite animator of his style)
A couple of years ago Ronald sent me a tape of all the spots they collaborated on.  I've added some screen shots and the relevant storyboards made by Searle.  Searle fans will recognise most of these ideas  re-work older print gags.

  
Ronald told me they pitched these as artistic spots between commercials- but of course not being commercial themselves the idea never found success with TV networks.

Here we see 'The Addict' animated-I'm not sure if the book was published first or whether the storyboards inspired the book?

I'd love to hear from anyone with more info on Searle and Wood's work at La Comete studio, Paris.