Listening to the Quiet with Harrison Ford

Via the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation:

You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown Read Along Cassette and Book

 

 In October 1975, CBS aired its 14th Peanuts animated Special, "You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown." Soon after, you could buy this Read Along Book and Tape. Here's the experience of those tapes and the book via YouTube. Enjoy this pre-VHS, pre-DVD, pre-streaming way of home media from fifty years ago.

 

 

This was the last special to air during Peanuts composer Vince Guaraldi's life.

Via Wikipedia:

"Music score

"You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown was the last Peanuts television special to air during Vince Guaraldi's lifetime. Guaraldi died of a sudden heart attack on February 6, 1976, several hours after he had finished recording music cues for the television special It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown. That special aired posthumously on March 16, 1976. You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown was also the last Peanuts special conducted and arranged by John Scott Trotter, who died on October 29, 1975 — one day after the special was broadcast.^[3] Trotter had worked in conjunction with Guaraldi on every Peanuts television special starting with It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966).^[4]

"The music score for You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown was something of a departure from Guaraldi's other scores as the music fused his jazz style with the funk, disco and pop music of the 1970s that was popular at the time coupled with the use of the Minimoog and ARP String Ensemble synthesizers.^[3]

"All music cues were composed by Guaraldi^[5] and recorded by the Vince Guaraldi Trio on September 12 and 24, 1975, at Wally Heider Studios, featuring Seward McCain (electric bass) and Mark Rosengarden (drums).^[6]

"The program's theme song, "Motocross" is performed in eight different variations.^[5] As the variations are difficult to distinguish, scene descriptions in which they appear are added to help differentiate.^[3][5]"

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Peter Arno

 It would be his 121st birthday today.

Michael Maslin, who wrote the great bio of Arno (Peter Arno: The Mad, Mad World of The New Yorker's Greatest Cartoonist), weighs in and quotes many New Yorker cartoonists on the man.

Here's one of my favorite stories about Peter Arno (1904 - 1968):


Some cartoonists like the beginning bit (the coming up with the idea, honing the gag bit I mean) and some like the process (the sketching and layout) and others prefer the end (the sale). My favorite part is coming up with the gag and drawing the doodle in my sketchbook. Not so with Mr. Peter Arno.

Arno would draw and redraw his cartoons sometimes dozens of times. There is a true story that cartoonist Mel Casson would tell, about visiting Mr. Arno in his penthouse apartment. I'll do my best to relate it here, from memory of him telling it some 20 years ago as part of a National Cartoonists Society Connecticut Chapter speech he gave.

So, a few decades back, Mel Casson and a friend went to visit the one and only famous New Yorker cartoonist Peter Arno. He had invited them to his apartment. And it really was a penthouse apartment. The lobby elevator went up, and the doors opened onto the interior Arno landing, from which one could see the Arno living room and -- there he was -- Peter Arno himself, mixing drinks.

It was a pleasant visit and Arno was a wonderful host. After sitting down, having a drink and talking shop, Arno asked the younger cartoonists, "Do you want to see my studio?"

Well, of course! Who wouldn't want to see Arno's studio?!

So, Arno walked over to a door, and opened it. They walked in. Arno switched on a light. The room had curtains all around, from floor to ceiling, covering the wall, the windows. "I can't have any distractions," explained Arno. The only furniture: a large drawing board, lamp and chair. And on the drawing board, laid out in two rows, were twenty original drawings.

These were 20 originals of the same cartoon, drawn over and over. But, coming closer, the cartoons were not exactly the same. Each one was had a slight difference: an arm bent a different way, a head turned, one character was upstage of the other, to the right in another, etc. Each one was a fully inked Arno piece of original comic art, ready for publication.

I remember Casson telling Arno how surprised he was that he (Arno) did all of this work, painstakingly laboring over the cartoon, drawing and redrawing it in so many different, subtle ways -- all in finished ink and wash. Casson suggested drawing a series of thumbnails or pencil sketches instead of going to all this time and effort to create twenty finishes.

Arno explained that this was always the way he worked: drawing many different variations of the cartoon until he was satisfied. Casson repeated that it was so much work, drawing a large size finished piece over and over and over again.

"But you don't understand," explained Arno, motioning to the 20 cartoons, "This is my favorite part."



Related:

Harry Lee Green brings a lovely sampler of Peter Arno's amazing layout and masterful wash style from the collections SIZZLING PLATTER and HELL OF A WAY TO RUN A RAILROAD.

Video: Peter Kuper on The Dummy Show - 01-03-2025

Peter Kuper chats with John Kelly about his early years drawing self-published comics while growing up in Cleveland, his encounters with Crumb and Pekar, and the life of a teen cartoonist. This is a terrific journey with Peter about his passion for comics and his subsequent career. 

 

Ann Telnaes: Why I'm quitting the Washington Post

 

From Ann Telnaes' Substack:

"I’ve worked for the Washington Post since 2008 as an editorial cartoonist. I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations—and some differences—about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but in all that time I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at. Until now.

"The cartoon that was killed criticizes the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with incoming President-elect Trump. There have been multiple articles recently about these men with lucrative government contracts and an interest in eliminating regulations making their way to Mar-a-lago. The group in the cartoon included Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook & Meta founder and CEO, Sam Altman/AI CEO, Patrick Soon-Shiong/LA Times publisher, the Walt Disney Company/ABC News, and Jeff Bezos/Washington Post owner.

"While it isn’t uncommon for editorial page editors to object to visual metaphors within a cartoon if it strikes that editor as unclear or isn’t correctly conveying the message intended by the cartoonist, such editorial criticism was not the case regarding this cartoon. To be clear, there have been instances where sketches have been rejected or revisions requested, but never because of the point of view inherent in the cartoon’s commentary. That’s a game changer…and dangerous for a free press.

"Over the years I have watched my overseas colleagues risk their livelihoods and sometimes even their lives to expose injustices and hold their countries’ leaders accountable. As a member of the Advisory board for the Geneva based Freedom Cartoonists Foundation and a former board member of Cartoonists Rights, I believe that editorial cartoonists are vital for civic debate and have an essential role in journalism.

"There will be people who say, 'Hey, you work for a company and that company has the right to expect employees to adhere to what’s good for the company.' That’s true except we’re talking about news organizations that have public obligations and who are obliged to nurture a free press in a democracy. Owners of such press organizations are responsible for safeguarding that free press— and trying to get in the good graces of an autocrat-in-waiting will only result in undermining that free press.

"As an editorial cartoonist, my job is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable. For the first time, my editor prevented me from doing that critical job. So I have decided to leave the Post. I doubt my decision will cause much of a stir and that it will be dismissed because I’m just a cartoonist. But I will not stop holding truth to power through my cartooning, because as they say, 'Democracy dies in darkness.'

"Thank you for reading this."

 

Please support Ann's work by subscribing to her Substack here. 

For Sale: Original Bill Watterson Letter and Envelope

Way back in the day, just six months into Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes comic strip launch, I wrote him a letter. I asked: How do I do what you do? What's the path? And then I suggested we meet. (I had learned he lived nearby. Now how I got THAT information I don't know.) Anyway, it was 1986 and I was a kid and Calvin and Hobbes was the best new strip out there. I didn't have a lot of money, but I made sure to get my copy of the paper every day so I could read his comic. I had no idea if he would write back, but in June 1986, he did. Declining my lunch offer, he then went into what he felt the key was in developing a good comic strip: character development. "Just practice, and have a lot of patience," he wrote. 

I am very fortunate to have become a professional cartoonist. By the next decade, I had begun a cartooning career. I drew a magazine cover and got a book deal. It was beginning to happen. By the 2000s, I was off and running, with lots of clients. Thanks to Bill Gallo, Stan Goldberg, Frank Springer and other cartoonists I had met, they recommended me to be on the board of the National Cartoonists Society. In addition to drawing cartoons for The New York Daily News, Reader's Digest, The Wall Street Journal, etc., I was also teaching and lecturing. A big change. Mr. Watterson was right. Patience and persistence were key.

This letter is currently up for sale at ComicLink.

Vintage View-Master Reel: "A Christmas Carol"

 

Here are images from the vintage Talking View-Master adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. The artisans who worked for GAF, the ones who designed, built, lit and photographed these scenes, are all unknown so far as I understand. The discs were scanned in by Lance Cardinal. Thank you, Lance!