“In the 1940s, Flora's stuff sent me into a graphic buzz, and I was brazenly imitating his style in my work.” — Gene Deitch

WHEN JIM FLORA was promoted to Art Director at Columbia Records in 1943, one of his first innovations was a monthly new-release booklet called Coda, highlighting the label's latest classical, jazz and pop releases. Coda was illustrated — front cover to back — by Flora. "I took 'em home and did them," he explained in a 1998 interview. "This was my fancy and I wasn't going to let anyone else do it." Here are samples of his idiosyncratic work from the pages of Coda.

Cover April 1943	Interior illustration August 1943	Interior illustration September 1943	Interior illustration April 1944

Cover April 1945	Interior illustration April 1945	Interior illustration May 1945	Cover September 1945