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Frank Interlandi, 1924-2010
posted February 10, 2010
 



A Laguna Beach community news article indicates that Frank Interlandi, the twin brother of the late Playboy cartoonist Phil Interlandi and a successful cartoonist and painter in his own right, died on Thursday, February 4 in San Diego.

Interlandi was one of the mid-20th Century cartoonists to find initial success as a college publication cartoonist, creating the popular Interlude With Interlandi feature that ran in the Daily Iowan when he was there, a strip later collected and sold in college bookstores nationwide. Interlandi was also a student at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, attending at the same time as his brother. Interlandi graduated from the Des Moines campus in 1952. He struck up a syndication relationship with the Des Moines Daily Register and the Los Angeles Times with whom he published for more than 30 years. Jet praised the pro-Civil Rights sentiment of a 1961 effort. At top is an Interlandi cartoon that appeared after Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles in 1968.

Interlandi followed his brother to Laguna Beach in the early 1950s and became part of the Laguna Beach "street gang" of cartoonists that included Virgil Partch and Ed Nofziger. The cartoonists would meet regularly during the mid-day at local Laguna Beach restaurants/watering holes. A 1974 photo of Interlandi with other Laguna Beach art figures, with Interlandi holding a fish, can be found here. Their mid-day meetings ended some time after Partch's passing in 1984.

Allan Holtz profiled a mid-'50s syndicated panel effort from Interlandi called The Cynic's Corner in a post at his Stripper's Guide, citing the feature's attractive double-line. An example of one of those works rests below, although it's seen to best advantage at Holtz's site.

Family sources report that Frank Interlandi was also a well-regarded painter, working primarily in abstract expressionism. He exhibited for several years at galleries and through the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts.

Interlandi won the Sigma Delti Chi award in 1961; that's a longtime award given out by the Society of Professional Journalists. He won a special media award from the Sierra Club in 1973.

A memorial service is planed for Heisler Park on Friday, February 12. It will be followed by an informal gathering of friends at "street gang" favorite the Marine Room, where several examples of Interlandi's work are on display. Frank Interlandi was 85 years old.

additional photography supplied by the family: Frank and Phil Interlandi, Frank Interlandi, and Frank Interlandi standing near a painted self-portrait.