Remembering Art Cumings

"You have a funny line."

That was, I think, one of the best compliments I had ever received.

This was Art Cumings telling me this, and then asking, "Do you know what I mean?" And he explained that he meant it literally: some people who drew had a fantastically energetic line, and others had a dead, lifeless line. I was in the former group.

Art died last month at the age of 90. He was a children's book illustrator, as well as a frequent contributor to PENTHOUSE and OMNI Magazines with his Balloonheads and The Artist full page cartoons. He was a friend and a fellow Berndt Toast Gang member.

Art was not only professionally inclined when it came to illustration and cartoon art, he was an intellectual powerhouse about it as well.

My friend, the cartoonist and fellow Berndt Toast Gang member Don Orehek agrees. He sent me a note to share:

"Art was an interesting guy and always good to talk to about cartooning. His birthday was the same as my wife Suzy's, so it was easy to remember. I would call him on his day and say, 'Happy Birthday.' He would ask, 'How did you know?' every time. Then we'd get a big laugh out of that.

A few memories from last month's blog entry about Art have stuck in my mind:

The Cumings' next door neighbor Chuck Landrey talked about Art on the "Legacy dot com guest book." I have been thinking about this story, and it is pure Art:

"One of my fondest memories is of Art and I strolling the halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I assumed he would critique the paintings. Instead, he would stop in front of a painting and discuss how what was going on in the artist's life and times affected their work. I've never looked at a painting the same way since that day."

Illustrator and fellow Berndt Toast Gang member Sandy Kossin:

"He had begun doing series of simple humorous drawings and when I saw them I told him how much I was overwhelmed by the concepts and simplicity!  They were amazing, and I knew he was onto something great, and he felt he'd found his niche.  Both as a humorist and writer.  And he was so hungry for esthetic information that we would spend hours on the phone just talking and asking questions.  He couldn't get enough."

I wish the best to the Cumings family. Art will be dearly missed.

Don Orehek and Art Cumings at a Berndt Toast Gang lunch, February 22, 2007.

Art Cumings June 9, 1922 - August 28, 2012

Art Cumings, my friend from the Berndt Toast Gang, best known as an illustrator and cartoonist of children's books (for Dr. Seuss and other books), and creator of "Balloonheads" and "The Artist"  for Bob Guccione's Penthouse and Omni magazines, died on August 25, 2012. He was 90 years old.

He leaves his wife Alda, whom he met in art school, and their sons, Brian, Peter and his wife Laura, and Steven and his wife Danielle, and four grandchildren. I extend my deepest sympathies to Alda and the entire family.

His Newsday obituary is here.

Above: a 1953 magazine illustration by Art Cumings. More here.


Berndt Toast Gang (the Long Island chapter of the National Cartoonists Society) chairman Adrian Sinnott called Art "a quiet genius," and he was.

My take: he was an illustrator's illustrator and a cartoonist's cartoonist. He always asked me more questions about myself and art and drawing than I ever asked him. And I have scant knowledge of where he was born (I think it was Vermont), where he studied, or anything important about him!

Above: "The Artist," copyright the respective copyright holders. Scan courtesy of Adrian Sinnott.

Here's Sandy Kossin, his friend and colleague:

Art Cumings, HUMORIST, knew me from the days that we were MAGAZINE ILLUSTRATORS.

Except, he wasn't happy with the work he was doing, and in his confusion, he found my work to have the artistic merit he was looking for, especially since I was doing magazine spreads and HUMOROUS work for magazines and advertising.  So when we met (don't remember where),  he immediately wanted to discuss art and humor and writing. I told him everything I know (took me about five minutes) and I finally had a fan! And a good friend!

He had begun doing series of simple humorous drawings and when I saw them I told him how much I was overwhelmed by the concepts and simplicity!  They were amazing, and I knew he was onto something great, and he felt he'd found his niche.  Both as a humorist and writer.  And he was so hungry for esthetic information that we would spend hours on the phone just talking and asking questions.  He couldn't get enough.

Even as we aged, and we're retired, he'd still phone me "just to talk art"....and, typically, it turned out I was
doing the learning!

Arthur, I will miss those sessions and miss you most of all.  You were a great COMMUNICATOR!

There are some "Legacy dot com guest book" entries remembering Art here. Sometimes these sites go away, so here are some of the comments from that site as of August 30th:

August 30, 2012
 

To the Cumings Family, Our prayer are with you all. Don't know where to begin. My, our, times during the summers @ Cedar Hill Terrace. That he was always about with a great big smile, on the porch, on the beach path w/ his beach chair, the the large striped towel drapped over his shoulder, and on the beach. Alway around with a wonderfil greeting. Always made you feel special. He even extended himself to my son, on a visit from Kansas to Cedar Hill, my son Johnny had mentioned how he liked to draw, and Art took him to his upstairs Studio. Gave him the tour, spent some time showing him some drawing techniques. My son was walking on air as we left. He still speaks of those days visiting Miller Place. What a great man, God bless you Art Cumings. You'll always be in our prays, Johnny and Melissa Munz

~ 

John J Munz,

Bucyrus, Kansas

August 30, 2012

What a wonderful man. I grew up next door to "Mr. Cumings" who was a kind and quiet presence. He happily endured we kids often invading his studio. In later years, I had long and wonderful conversations with Art that would always go off in unexpected directions. One of my fondest memories is of Art and I strolling the halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I assumed he would critique the paintings. Instead, he would stop in front of a painting and discuss how what was going on in the artist's life and times affected their work. I've never looked at a painting the same way since that day.

My deepest sympathies to Alda, Peter, Steven, Brian and their families.

Offer it up!

~ 

Chuck Landrey,

Old Saybrook, Connecticut

August 30, 2012

To the Cumings Family, we are so sorry to hear about Art's passing. Our prayers are with all of you. Lauren and Bill Plage

~ 

Lauren Plage,

Centerbrook, Connecticut

Chuck Landry's memory is typical Art! He was so full of knowledge and love for not only the result but the process. He will be sorely missed by his friends.

Below is a selection of his Balloonheads feature from some 1970s Penthouse magazines, copyright the respective copyright holders. My thanks to Leif Peng for these scans:

Gag Cartoon Business: How Long Do You Wait?

During the first couple of years I was sending cartoons to magazines, I was fortunate to be part of the Berndt Toast Gang, the legendary group of cartoonists in Long Island. Many hours of shop talk with fellow pros really helped me.

Some years ago, during a Berndt Toast Gang get together, I was sitting at a table having lunch with some cartoonists. Valerie Costantino was there, and we were, as usual, having an intense conversation about gag cartooning. Valerie was always intense about cartooning, and it showed in her quick, confident cartoon style. She was selling gag cartoons to all of the top markets.

"What do you do when you don't hear back?" was the question.

What should a cartoonist do if a month has gone by, and there's still response to a gag cartoon submission? No rejection note, no email, no phone call, nothing.

Do you wait, do you call, send a polite email? What?

I told her I wait 30 days, and if I don't hear anything, I assume that there is no sale.

There was some debate about this.

My feeling then is the same now: if you are sending cartoons to magazines, then you need to be a shark: constantly moving. If my batch of 10 cartoons does not sell at, for instance, the Wall Street Journal, after 30 days, then it's time to mail that batch to another business market.

I miss Valerie, and those conversations with her about markets and how we conduct our business. Cartooning is the only profession I know where you're pals with your competitors!

Valerie passed away eight years ago. She had been battling cancer for years. I think of her when I get asked questions about markets. Valerie was one of the many great cartoonists in the Berndt Toast Gang.

We used to go up to the New Yorker offices together. In 2004, her new comic strip was ready to launch with the Washington Post Syndicate, and she had cartoons in Reader's Digest and Harvard Business Review. I think it was just a matter of time before she got into The New Yorker.

My point, as I reminisce with you, my friend, is that we do not know how much time we're going to get. If you're going to cartoon, get on with it.



This is an edited version of a blog post I wrote on April 9, 2009.

NYTimes: Berndt Toast Gang Exhibit

Above: A great shot of MAD Magazine master caricaturist Mort Drucker at the board in his studio. Photograph by Ruby Washington for the New York Times.

The Berndt Toast Gang, a group of Long Island cartoonists, will exhibit members' work September 16th through November 30th at the Art-trium Gallery.

Article about the Gang here.

Thank You Bunny Hoest and John Reiner

Above sketch of the back of the "Hoest Castle" by Juana Medina.

This is a public thank you to Bunny Hoest, for letting me stay in her home while teaching cartoon classes in Long Island. Bunny, and John Reiner, who you all know from THE LOCKHORNS newspaper cartoon panel and HOWARD HUGE in Parade Magazine, were wonderful hosts.


This was a busy week. I was traveling with all of my sketchbooks, ready to do work while away. I was very fortunate to have soon-to-be RISD graduate Juana Medina assist with the classes during the day. Juana, you are not only a great cartoonist, but a wonderful instructor as well!


Above: Bunny invited a few cartoonists over. From left: Juana Medina, Barbara and Mort Drucker, Bunny Hoest.

The first morning I woke up to find the below item in the local Newsday newspaper (no online version that I can find -- despite the house ad for Newsday.com at the bottom). This is "It Happened in Long Island," a continuing historical series of LI history-makers.

Annual Bunny Hoest Bash June 25, 2009

Above: a LOCKHORNS bisque at the home of Bunny Hoest.

I left my house on the New Hampshire ridge for a quick overnight trip to New York. Object: drive to Bunny Hoest's home on the Long Island North Shore, arriving by noon for the annual Bunny Bash. Thanks to a wee hours start and the Bridgeport/Port Jefferson ferry, I made it.

The Bunny Bash is held every June at the home of Bunny Hoest. The Bash began because almost three decades ago, Bill Hoest wanted to show some some of his cartoonist colleagues the house he was building. About a dozen cartoonists from the local Long Island chapter of the National Cartoonists Society (the "Berndt Toast Gang") were invited over for sandwiches and a tour of the then-unfinished home

Today, the house on the Long Island sound is finished, and the event has grown. About 150 cartoonists, spouses, kids and friends got together for what turned out to be a partly cloudy afternoon of shop talk.

Mike Lynch, Mad Magazine's Sam Viviano and THE LOCKHORNS Bunny Hoest

King Features' MARY WORTH creative team of Joe Giella and Karen Moy.

It's BEETLE BAILEY assistant and freelance illustrator Bill Janocha with Mad Magazine's Mort Drucker

ARCHIE's Stan Goldberg with KIM POSSIBLE's Stephen Silver.

Heidi Silver and THE LOCKHORN's John Reiner


New Yorker cartoonists Robert Leighton and Felipe "Feggo" Galindo, with illustrator Martin Kozlowski. Thanks to Felipe for this photo!


NCS Chapter Chair Adrian Sinnott and National Rep Mike Lynch surprised Bunny Hoest with a National Cartoonists Society Tim Rosenthal Award for Volunteerism. Above is the award, gorgeously drawn by Guy Gilchrist.

Tim Rosenthal was Head of Syndicate Services at American Color. American Color is the place where many newspaper comics are colored and then sent to papers around the world. His impact, developed with Wiley Miller, on the way color is used in newspaper comics, set a new industry standard. He was also a big NCS supporter, and a good friend to many cartoonists.

I gave a short announcement to the people about Bunny and why she deserves the Award:

Everyone knows that Bunny works for King Features. Everyone knows that Bunny works for Parade Magazine. What everyone may now know is that she also works very hard for the Long Island chapter of the National Cartoonists Society, helping with the award voting, as well as hosting the annual Bash. She is, as Creig Flessel described her, the "Den Mother" of the Berndt Toast Gang. This was a small token of appreciation from her NCS family.

If anyone has a photo of Bunny with her Award, please share it with me. Thanks.

Mike Lynch, with my friend, The New Yorker's Robert Leighton.

Gerry Mooney, Bill Crouch and Elena Steier

Bunny Hoest, Suzan Haeni of the Art League of Long Island and graphic artist Julie Haring

A framed gag cartoon of Bill Hoest's. One of many decorating the "Hoest Castle" interior.

Dotti Sinnott, daughter of Berndt Toast Gang Chairman Adrian Sinnott, and the one and only Sam Gross.

I wound up staying very late, as did a few others. Bunny ordered pizza. I shared long conversations under an orange sliver of a moon with Adrian Sinnott and his family, Bunny, John Reiner, Mort & Barbara Drucker and Stan & Pauline Goldberg.

I had a memorable time. Exhausting, but memorable.

Ted Key 1912-2008

Above: the first collection of HAZEL cartoons sold 500,000 copies.

Ted Key, best known for creating the cartoon panel HAZEL, passed away on Saturday at his Tredyffrin Township, PA home. Mr. Key was diagnosed with cancer of the bladder in 2006. He had suffered a stroke this past September. He was 95.



There are many obituaries online:

Associated Press

Philadelphia Inquirer

New York Times

All I wanted to add were a couple of images to demonstrate that he really was a master of media. Heck, the fellow kept up Hazel while serving in World War II as a Master Sergeant.

From the AP story:

"Key literally dreamed up the concept of his wildly popular maid cartoon.

"'Like a lot of creative people, he kept a notepad near his bedside,' Peter Key said of his father. 'He had a dream about a maid who took a message, but she screwed it up completely. When he looked at the idea the next day, he thought it was good and sold it to the Post.'"

And this is from the Times:

“'He picked the name Hazel out of the air,' Peter Key said. 'But there was an editor at The Post who had a sister named Hazel, and she thought her brother came up with the name and she didn’t speak to him for two years.'”

Editor & Publisher credits him with creating idea of the cartoon-a-day calendar in 1951. Jack & Jill Magazine published his long running "Diz and Liz" series of cartoons.

Mr. Key also created the time-traveling boy & dog "Peabody and Sherman" for Jay Ward's Bullwinkle TV show. Ward was a friend of Key's brother.


MILLION DOLLAR DUCK, GUS and THE CAT FROM OUTER SPACE were three of his screenplays that were made into movies.

According to several of the obits, the family is finding all sorts of notes and sketches for ideas and gags all over the place. From the Inquirer:

"'He executed a ton of ideas, but he still didn't have time to execute them all,' Peter Key said."

Image of the HAZEL book cover from the University of Syracuse where " ... the Ted Key Papers extend to twenty-three linear feet and include more than twelve hundred original cartoons, correspondence, book and screenplay manuscripts and production records, published cartoons, and other printed material."

COLLEGE LAUGHS

Above: Cartoonist Bill Riley gives us a socko cover for the first issue of COLLEGE LAUGHS (1958). Really, after seeing this, you don't need me to explain what the mag is about, now do you?

"It may not be that much -- you know how lousey [sic] you are at math."

Above: the first page of the bimonthly digest-sized magazine. It's a cartoon with a signature that I cannot for the life of me decode. You know you're in for a lax editorial style when there's a misspelling right there on page one.

COLLEGE LAUGHS is copyright 1958 by Candor Publishing Co., Inc., S.W. Canton, Ohio.

"Now get out there and toss those curves!"

One of the delights about COLLEGE LAUGHS is that it's heavy on early Don Orehek cartoons. Don is not only a favorite cartoonist of mine -- as well as a fellow Berndt Toast Gang member -- I'm happy to say he's also a friend. No way are his cartoons lax. They are full of energy and purpose!

"Hello, Miss Benson? This is Peter Smith ... Peter ... P as in the person you met last night, E as in evening out like you promised, T as in taking it for granted you meant it, E as in eating at your favorite cafe, R as in ready. Are you?"

Above: Bill Riley with a rather lengthy (but enjoyable) gag line. Remember when there were pay phones? Remember when there were phone books? Remember when guys wore bow ties and carnations?


Above: a great Orehek drawing. The fawning guy (just look at his limp right hand); the woman, leaning back, smiling, as she delivers the ego crushing news to that poor schlub.

"I only came out here with you because I heard something about neck and neck. When do we get to do that?"

Bill Riley shows us a rather pedestrian scene of a young woman and a young man. But whatta woman! The line is a zinger.



"Da -- What no comic books?" Don Orehek's "Gene Yus" is a six page set up for what could be a series of cartoons. Alas, this is only a taste of the character, whose chubby cheeked face is in a perpetual snobby superior sneer at people who like comic books. I also like the politically incorrect comic conceit that mentally slow people begin every one of their sentences with a "da."

"Look I got an 'A' in Biology."

Above: fellow Berndt Toast Gang member Jim Ruth has a number of cartoons in COLLEGE LAUGHS. This fellow, with the uncool Jughead style hat, has the most un-come-on line ever.

"It's been a lovely evening, let's spoil it."

Above: Dig Don lighting the above cartoon from the floor ala a horror movie. Note our man leaning in, his legs ready to scramble toward her, while she has her knees locked together. No one can draw a girl in a tight sweater like Don Orehek -- but, hey, I'm sure you've noticed that by now! Great line too. Did I mention I love Don's cartoons? Did I?

"He keeps giving me looks. I'm wondering if he considers me intellectual or dumb?

I really liked the gag above. Very ambiguous, and very much what being in your 20s is all about: choosing what you are and what your place is in the ol' world and all that. Whew! That's way too much philosophizin' for a blog about cartoons! Don uses that bell tower shape (there's one just like it at Brooklyn College) to let you know we're on campus.

"It may not look so good now, sir, but a long walk in a driving rainstorm would make a world of difference."

Bob Campbell draws a cartoon about campus fashion that's beyond me. I do like the very simple lines on the right, noting suits hung on a rod and a sales table. It simply, and with ease, shows you where you are.

"I'd be delighted if it didn't mean we have to start going steady."

Above: More Don Orehek! This is one of my favorites. A great gag line. She's gonna keep the thing no matter what!
Above: the only page of ads in the mag, emphasizing the 3 most important things you can learn from "Sensational Book Bargains:"

1. learn to love,
2. learn to dance
3. and learn to fight!

The end back cover with a parting 2-tone Don Orehek cartoon, full of sexy girls! Oo la la! What a fun magazine.

THEY'LL DO IT EVERY TIME Ending

Today's Connecticut Post reports that THEY'LL DO IT EVERY TIME, the newspaper cartoon panel drawn by Al Scaduto, will end on February 2, 2008. The decision was made by King Features.

As Tom Spurgeon wrote in today's Comics Reporter:
"It was created in 1929 by cartoon juggernaut Jimmy Hatlo, was nationally syndicated starting in 1936. Bob Dunn followed Hatlo on the feature and Scaduto followed Dunn, giving the strip a strong creative continuity during its multiple decade run."

And I agree, as Tom writes further, that it was surprising that King would pull a feature that had over 100 papers. But, there was no one who could do it like Al Scaduto.

Al was the last of the bigfoot cartoonists -- guys like Rube Goldberg, Elzie Segar and Milt Gross (who Al knew). Perhaps it's fitting that the 79 year old feature ends with him. There is, sadly, no one around to fill those big feet.

Above is a photo of Al and me, taken a year ago. As some of you know, I had the honor of being the Chapter Chair of the National Cartoonists Society Long Island Chapter for a while.

I was pretty nervous about being the ringleader of what's called the Berndt Toast Gang; a legendary group of Long Island cartoonists. Getting up to talk about chapter business, in front of the likes of Scaduto, Giella, Drucker, Orehek, Sy Barry and others, was daunting. I tried not to let it show. the first couple of months I had that whole I'm-not-worthy feeling.

Out of the blue, Al Scaduto called me after a get together. Since I was still on the Long Island Expressway (or, the Long Island Parking Lot, due its reputation for gridlock), he'd leave a message, telling me how much he and his fiance Claire enjoyed themselves at the BTG lunch. And he always thanked me for being responsible for such a relaxed atmosphere at the get togethers.

To get a phone call like this made me feel great. Al was always a gracious gentlemen. He would always ask after me, and my wife, and ask how things are going. And he would listen to the answers.

Al was very much part of the heart of the Gang. He will be missed.

Above right: a small selection of a large number of originals that he brought in last year to show the Gang.

A hat tip to Journalista! where I first saw mention of the CT Post article.

Related links:

Memories of Al Scaduto

Some Al Scaduto Links