ELLIS "PAPA DUKE" ERINGER

Would Have Been 100 Today

Ellis Eringer, also known as “Papa Duke,” the artist’s name he chose for himself, was born on 5 January 1924 in the Bronx.

He transcended this earthly plane on 23 September 2008 at age 84 after 62 years of marriage to Sylvia Stanley Eringer, who he met at a dance in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire while serving in the U.S. Army during the Second World War.

Papa Duke was the youngest son of Henry and Sarah Eringer, who emigrated from Poland to the USA in 1913.

With baseball great Hank Greenberg

He attended Cartoon & Illustrators School in New York City, was a jazz drummer, and acted on Broadway alongside Henry Fonda in the musical Mister Roberts.

Papa Duke moved to California in the early 1950s and realized his dream of doing animation for the Walt Disney Company.

In 1969, feeling entrepreneurial, Papa Duke returned to London. After a year as editorial director of Western Publishing Company, he assisted his wife in bringing American cheesecake to the United Kingdom. Together, they grew their family business into the UK’s largest wholesale dessert company.

But his real talent was as an artist—a painter and sculptor.

Later in life, Papa Duke discovered Padre Pio (now Saint Pio), the renowned intercessionist—or vice-versa. It is believed that some of the portraits he painted of Pio helped cure illnesses of those to whom he gifted these icons.

Papa Duke was not religious, but spiritual.

He was not anti-material; he simply had no time—nor interest—in material possessions.

My father could have afforded to drive a Bentley but his favorite all-time car was a beat-up old Austin Allegra, usually cluttered with canvases and boards and paints.

He was most at peace holed up in his zone/art studio, in a state of flow, pure focus, painting or sculpting, sneaking a cigar.

Papa Duke enjoyed good food (especially hot dogs and ice cream sundaes) and good company.

He provided great wisdom, but did so unassumingly and with unwavering humor.

These words from Padre Pio were tacked to Papa Duke’s bulletin board in his own handwriting:

I come to you to dwell by your side. Meditate, pray, and keep faith with me.

And don’t worry. Always be true to yourself.

I am there for you. And will always be with you.

Portrait of Nan (Adrine Stanley)

The Poker Game

Vincent

The rhino at Monaco’s zoo

This bust of former British PM Harold Macmillan is on permanent display in The Macmillan Room of the Carlton Club in St. James’s, London

Novelist Anthony Burgess at work in Monaco

Standing up to Authority

One day, I was in Papa Duke’s studio perusing a batch of oil-on-boards. I found what I thought was an abstract painting but turned out to be a board for removing excess paint from brushes! I said, “Why don’t you paint Mickey Mouse over this?” It remains one of my favorite paintings, reflecting both his artfulness and his skill as a cartoonist.

Le Texan, Principality of Monaco