Obituary: Celebrated humorist Bruce McCall was ‘a sweet, gentle guy’

Bruce McCall was a Simcoe boy who made good.

The longtime Manhattan resident and humorist - who died May 5 at age 87 - was a celebrated writer and illustrator, perhaps best known for his fanciful drawings of oversized cars, planes, buildings and even an ocean liner called the RMS Tyrannic that dwarfed New York City.

The drawings were reminiscent of those done at the turn of the 20th century predicting the future a century later, but his drawings of such things as wing dining, Zeppelin shooting, indoor golfing, tank polo, a musical firing squad and the Bulgemobile Airdreme were set in the first half of the 20th century. He called his drawings retrofuturism."

The former commercial artist began his association with The New Yorker in 1982 with a humour column. He did 83 covers starting in 1992. He wrote or illustrated 12 books - including two memoirs - and counted among his fans Steve Martin and David Letterman (who he co-wrote This Land was Made for You and Me (But Mostly Me): Billionaires in the Wild" with in 2013.) He also wrote and did illustrations for Vanity Fair, Esquire, Playboy and National Lampoon and, in the late 1970s was a writer at Saturday Night Live."

His memoirs, Thin Ice: Coming of Age in Canada" (1997) and How Did I Get Here?" (2020), were not flattering to Canada, criticizing it for its blandness. He spoke of having a fascination with the U.S., sparked in part by The New Yorker magazines his parents bought.

But, the memoirs were on the dysfunction of his parents, and he loved Simcoe, where he spent the first 12 years of his life before his family moved to Toronto and Windsor. He told CPAC in an interview his time in Simcoe was like the Canadian version of a Norman Rockwell painting.

There's still a great residual part of me that never crossed the border," he said in a 2000 NFB documentary based on Thin Ice" by Dundas filmmaker Laurence Green. Part of me is still back in Simcoe. Maybe the best part of me."

McCall was one of six children born to Thomas and Helen McCall. He arrived May 10, 1935. His family came to the Simcoe area in 1796 via New Brunswick/New Jersey and an ancestor sat in the Upper Canada legislature in the 1820s.

His father worked as a newspaper reporter, deputy minister of travel and publicity for Ontario, and Chrysler's public relations manager in Canada. His mother was a homemaker.

As early as I can remember anything, I started drawing," McCall told CPAC. It started as a hobby. I just drew and drew and drew."

In 1947, he won the $5 first prize for watercolours at the Norfolk County Fair.

His first job in the 1950s was at an agency that handled advertisements for Dodge and DeSoto. He worked at other agencies, McLean-Hunter and car magazines before he moved to New York City in 1962 and eventually worked at an agency on the Mercedes-Benz account. He left advertising in 1993 when his career as a writer and illustrator took off.

In 2001, McCall told The Spectator his successful career was all a colossal accident. I could take credit for having foresight, but that would be bull ...

Green told The Spectator he enjoyed getting to know McCall while making the film.

Bruce played up his gruff, curmudgeon exterior, but was a sweet, gentle guy on the inside, with an artistic sensibility," the York University film professor said.

On his YouTube channel, Letterman said he was in awe" of McCall. He said he and his son's favourite book was Bruce McCall's Zany Afternoons" (1982), a collection of some of his best comic paintings from National Lampoon.

Bill represented something very rarefied in the world of comedy and art and writing," Letterman said.

McCall is survived by his wife, Polly, daughter, Amanda, sister, Christine, and two brothers, Walter and Michael.

Daniel Nolan can be reached at dannolanwrites@gmail.com