Scott Bateman: “USA Today swiped my weather map graphic,” then apologized

Scott Bateman's graphic (left) from his Tumblr account as he posted it on Friday; the USA Today swipe, with cleaned up language, from Tuesday.

USA Today copied a graphic from Scott Bateman's Tumblr site and published it on Tuesday. This was done without Scott's permission or knowledge.

When Mr. Bateman, along with a lot of other people, saw the similarity, the newspaper admitted what they are calling "our oversight."

The Jim Romensko blog has more details, including this quote from the caught-red-handed USA Today:

Mr. Bateman’s map was an inspiration for an effort that fell short of our newsroom publishing standards. As soon as we realized our oversight, we took immediate action to correct our mistake. We apologized to Mr. Bateman and are addressing the situation both internally and externally to give the artist the credit he deserves and to set the record straight for our readers. We do not take these incidents lightly.

This is deplorable. Apologies … but where is the money? Will the creator be paid? No mention of that.

Hat tip to Matt Wuerker

Happy Birthday, Peter Arno

It would be his 110th birthday today.

Michael Maslin, who has a bio of Arno in the works, weighs in and quotes many New Yorker cartoonists on the man.

Here's one of my favorite stories about Arno: "Peter Arno's Favorite Part:"

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.

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

Arno would draw and redraw his cartoons sometimes dozens of times. There is a 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 10 or 11 years ago as part of a National Cartoonists Society Connecticut Chapter speech he gave.

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

After sitting down, having a drink and talking shop, Arno asked, "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 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 original, 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.

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."

October 1960 STARE Magazine Cartoons

Mom always told you it wasn't polite to STARE -- by extension, STARE Magazine is impolite -- and not the kind of thing your mom would approve of.

It's sexy, but in a kinda retro Austin Powers "Oh, behave!" way, with a lotta cheesecake photo essays with titles like "Cutey and the Cuticle" and "Overly N. Dowd." You get the picture. It was also a cartoon market. It was also -- surprise, surprise -- published by Marvel Comics.





STARE, Exciting and Lively Picture Pleasure! (yes, that's the whole title from the indicia) Volume 7, No. 3, October 1960 is copyright 1960 Timely Publications (now better known as Marvel). Steve Andre was the editor.


The digest-sized mag had a lot of "good girl photos," as well as over a dozen cartoons by cartoonists I have heard of, and cartoonists I have not.



Above is an atypical photo. This is Sylvia Steele, who, I know little else about.




I admire how the cartoonist Beattie is able to draw the frilly underwear and the folds in the doc's clothing.


Above: this is a poor reproduction from this yellowing magazine. The girl sure doesn't look like the kind you want to take home to mother!



Above: Henry Boltinoff, a prolific cartoonist if ever there was one, shows us the goofy-headed love life of the nerd. A tip off: the bow tie.


I don't know who Max Porter is but he knows that by putting black spotting in the boss' suit and in the woman's dress, our eyes will see who we are supposed be paying attention to, and readily get the gag.


Above: a really breezy pen (or brush) style overshadows the weak gag. Look at the juxtaposition of bodies. The cartoonist (I can't guess his name from the signature) knows his anatomy. No pun intended.

Edit: My friend Ger Apeldoorn IDs the cartoonist:

The cartoonist whose signature you can't decipher is Albistur. He is a frequent guest in the Humorama books and I have seen him around at other places too. His name stuck to my mind, because he turns up as a serious artist in Simon and Kirby's Mainline books, especially Police Trap.

"Axsen" (?) gives us a typical goofy gag.


Above: some great black and white work in another so-so gag. Like I said, this copy of STARE has seen better days and some of the scans are not the best, regardless of Photoshop tweaking.


I really admire the working in of the shadows here, helping to pop put the figures.


What's fun about these cartoons are the sexy women who look like they enjoy being naughty. They also seem to all wear the same dark, clingy dress, with bodies like Bill Ward drew.


Above: a boss chasing the secretary cartoon. Sadly, like many corporations nowadays, the boss is outsourcing the job of chasing.

-- This was an edited encore presentation of an entry originally published on June 20, 2008.

DEAR GERTROOD by Wendell Ehret

Just wandering around the Laconia Antique Mall on Saturday, and I came across this book, DEAR GERTROOD. Lovely cover.

Wendell Ehret is the fellow who wrote and illustrated this oversized hardcover. I flipped open the book to a random page.

It was full of cartoons by Mr. Ehret. More than cartoons; this was Mr. Ehret's way of wooing his own real-life "Gertrood." Most of the book was in black and white, with wash. But there was the above color section.

The cartooning looked very much like an animation style popular at the time.

The book is a collection of cartoony love letters from Sergeant Ehret to Gertrude Rubin, "a topaz-eyed model." They met at the USO at Fifth Avenue and East 65th Street, in NYC, where she was a Junior Hostess.

From her introduction to the book:

"Before I knew it, we were dancing. He said he was Wendell Ehret. He was very tall, and I noticed that he had blond hair and blue eyes. 

"Speaking with a Western drawl, he began to tell me about himself and he said that was a Cartoonist. I suggested that we sit down for a while -- I wanted to hear more. All of a sudden he pulled out of his pocket a drawing of a girl dancing with a soldier. 'Here's some of my work,' he said. 'And look,' he added with boyish enthusiasm, 'you're just the same type of girl in my drawing, and you've got a bow in your hair just like hers!' I was flattered and excited."

They met several more times. Ehret told her he took a cartoon correspondence course and that cartooning was his hobby.

Soon, the army sent him overseas. And he started sending letters.

"The first letter was held up by the Censor, because Wendell is connected with the Animation Unit and his work is a military secret. But afterward the Censor began to look forward to the cartoon-letters and to wonder what Wendell was going to draw next."

She adds that "the cartoon-letter was too good to keep to myself. When I showed it to Look Magazine, they asked at once for permission to print it."

It's a good story. These letters and drawings are pretty slick-looking finished drawings. Hard to believe he could achieve this consistently while serving in Africa and India. But, hey, if he was right there, in the animation unit, with all those pens and brushes and so on … I can see how it was do-able.

Their popularity spawned by the Look Magazine article became the book DEAR GERTROOD.

The Web has very little information on Wendell Ehret -- aside from some sites selling this book. The guy has skills. As of the book's writing, he was still stationed in India.

What happened to him? What happened to Gertrude Rubin? I am hoping someone will see this and know the answers.

Video: Cartoonist Dan Piraro Talks About Changes in Technology

Via tHeprestijj.

Cool Record Album Covers January 4-5, 2014

It's important have some inspirational graphics around. Here are some terrific old album covers, mostly from the 1960s, that I have seen and snapped. It's not about what the recording is, but the image on the album itself. Most I took a picture of as slyly as possible while in a secondhand thrift or antique store.

And if you want to know what Ken Griffin playing ice skating organ music sounds like, well, here ya go:



Hat tip to PeterRabbit59 for the vid.

Related:

Laconia and Bridgton Antique Shop Graphics, December 6 - 7, 2013

Cool Graphics I Saw At Antique Shops

Laconia Antique Center July 28, 2013

Maine Antique Stores July 14, 2013

Antique Store, Bethlehem, NH

Antique Store, East Rochester, NH

Snowstorm January 2-3, 2014

Some photos of snow taken at below zero temperatures these past two days.

Here's Friday, January 2:

It was easy to find a space at the parking lot at the Market Basket grocery store.

Friday, January 3, 2014. Time to snowplow!

Snowy woodpile:

OK! Time to go in now.