On September 7th 1950 the newspaper Het Nieuws Van De Dag announced a brand new story from Bob De Moor, “Het vals gebit” featuring Tijl Uilenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak, which would start the day after. It was the second album which Bob De Moor drew for that series after he debuted earlier that year with “De nieuwe avonturen van Tijl Uilenspiegel”. We traced back that very journal, thanks to Ludo Van Looveren who had a copy at home, and today we bring you that article and the drawing that accompanied that very article.

The illustration that accompanied the Bob De Moor interview.
The illustration that accompanied the Bob De Moor interview.

The illustration that accompanied the article has never been published again since 7 September 1950, so it’s with some pride that we can present you this drawing, more than 64 years after it appeared for the first and last time!

The article (spread over page 1 and 3) itself talks about who is exactly behind the Tijl Uilenspiegel series. The article says that many readers say they recognize the hand of Hergé in the comic series. “Not far away from the truth” the article says, “as it’s Bob Demoor (sic)”. Bob De Moor, 24 years old and living in Kontich near Antwerp at that time, was by then working for both the Journal Tintin and Hergé; and indeed, his style had already been influenced heavily by that of Hergé. The interviewer furthermore continues with questions about his earlier work and his youth in the Parish Library where he devoured pirate stories.

Note the wrongly spelled name of Bob De Moor.
Note the wrongly spelled name of Bob De Moor.

You can read both newspaper excerpts on the left (will be easy if you read Dutch, a bit more difficult if you don’t). It’s written in the typical old-fashioned style and very ‘stiff’ for today’s readers.

De Moor also alludes furthermore what the story “Het vals gebit” (“The false denture”) is all about, referring to a few lines from the popular Flemish song “De Vlaamse Leeuw” (“The Flemish Lion”).

Part 2 of the story as published on page 3.
Part 2 of the story as published on page 3.

Not surprising, in the story the duo Tijl Uilenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak had to save Flanders which was in trouble (hence the Flemish Lion with dental problems in the illustration). But we’ll come back on the actual content of this precise story as it can’t be explained in just a few lines, the historical context being a quite complicated one. It suffices already to say that this album was among the most politically inspired ones he would ever make.

The album would only be released for the first time as a softcover in 1984 in the Magnum series by the publisher De Dageraad including cover artwork by Bob De Moor which was created in 1984 or 1983 especially for the occasion. It would never be published in French, the content being probably too Flemish to interest non ‘locals’. The 2nd (and last) edition was actually a special deluxe hardcover re-edition made in 1997 via Bonte Uitgeverij on only 48 copies and this on the occasion of “Damme boekendorp”, a book event in Damme, near Brugge.

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