Radebaugh
settled long-term roots in Detroit.
He drew ads for major companies from Coca-Cola to United Airlines. As often
as not, however, he left art directors and other potential clients utterly
befuddled by his futuristic stylings.
His colleagues describe him as a bit of a loner, but also a kind and debonair
man who knew how to be flashy and exotic. He once returned from a business
trip in New York wearing a monocle, which he sported along with other outlandish
garb: capes, jodhpurs and various strange hats.
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“Detroiter works
in the dark doing invisible fluorescent paintings”
This was the headline for an appearance in LIFE magazine. Radebaugh had grown fond of the blacklight medium, and is pictured here painting a blacklight portrait of a model which he had sprayed down with flourescent paint.
While working in Detroit, his bread-and-butter work consisted of automotive
companies, and also many heavy industrial product companies, who wanted to
seem forward-thinking or advanced.
Radebaugh began to establish himself as more than a stylish renderer: he became
a designer of new modes of living, working, and, yes, relaxing on the beach.
Radebaugh drew his last MoToR Annual in 1957. The following year, he was to
embark on the next stage of his career: as a full time syndicated cartoonist
of the future.