Chuck Jones' A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1971)

OK, it's the Holiday season. Let's go watch an Oscar-award-winning adaptation of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, executive produced by Chuck Jones with the voice of Alastair Sim as Scrooge! For now, there's only one -- just one place -- to see this: YouTube.

It's not on DVD. Ands that's crummy. This show has some serious pedigree; the guy who brought us THE GRINCH (the cartoon, not the Jim Carrey monster) is the executive producer and it's directed by the animation director of WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. I remember seeing it in 1971, and once or twice since then -- but only by chance. It's not a holiday TV tradition ala CHARLIE BROWN or those Rankin Bass puppet specials or the MISTER MAGOO special. Go figure!

YouTube's rules means a 28 minute vid has to be sliced up into smaller segments. Here are the links if you have the time to watch.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL Stave One

A CHRISTMAS CAROL Stave Two

A CHRISTMAS CAROL Stave Three

A CHRISTMAS CAROL Stave Four

Thanks to Grant Miehm for reminding me of this special, which I had forgotten about until now!

Warren Miller Cartoons

"Good morning, Harry Chadwick. This is your id."

Some terrific Warren Miller cartoons here from his 1970 collection PRINCE AND MRS. CHARMING.

Miller was a New Yorker mag mainstay in the 60s and 70s. although he is still around and still producing work, the NYer mag is not buying much these days. These cartoons are a reminder of how good he is.

H/t to Journalista! for the heads up.

EDIT: Oops! I meant to thank Comics Reporter for the heads up. But, hey, Journalista!'s a great site anyhoo.

Caricatures of Cartoonists

The Entrecomics site presents Cartoonists' Self-Caricatures.

Tip of the hat to Dirk Deppey at Journalista!

Valé Paul Rigby | The Godfather of Editorial Cartooning

Via Jason Chatfield comes this tribute video to Paul Rigby as shown at the 23rd Annual Australian Cartoonists' Association Stanley Awards.

Thanks so much, Jason, for making this available to all of us!

Mike Lynch Cartoon in December 10, 2007 Wall Street Journal

"Remember to ask about Santa's needs."

Above is the finished cartoon of mine as it appears in today's Wall Street Journal. This is a redraw of a cartoon that I submitted to the Journal a few months ago. I had to redraw it for them because my original was horizontal, whereas their space is square. They asked me to do the redraw. I hate redrawing. Hate it. Just am not interested in redrawing at all and hard to pep myself up to do it. Bored silly, I am. I guess that's why I had to put in the one kid sticking out his tongue (bottom left), which was not in the original version. I wanted to put something fresh in it.


Above is the original; the one I first mailed to them. I drew this in 2003, and I submitted it a couple of times a year to various markets. I don't know what made me draw those really big candy canes on Santa's chair!

I like the sentiment of the mother. Poor Santa! One of the occupational hazards of being him is having to listen to all these dang kids tell him their selfish wants all the time! What about him?!

Related: Richard Thompson talks about redraws at his Cul de Sac blog. You would be a fool not to bookmark Richard's blog! A fool!

Al Scaduto Links

Photo of Al at his drawing board by Whitney Kidder-Alvarez for the Connecticut Post.

Al Scaduto passed away on Friday due to complications from a medical procedure. He was 79.

Chris Mautner at Newsarama has a good rundown of links to remembrances, including the Comics Curmudgeon meta-post, that has .

Editor & Publisher announcement

Al Scaduto's National Cartoonists Society page

King Features bio

Al Scaduto 1928-2007 (Updated)

Just got word that Al Scaduto passed away yesterday. He was 79. I have no more details at this time.

Al Scaduto was one of the nicest guys ever and I am glad to say he was a friend. He brought his love of singing to every get together of the Berndt Toast Gang, giving us all a chance to hear his lovely voice sing a couple minutes of opera.

He was generous with his time and stories of cartooning. He had been with King Features for over 60 years, soon after graduating from high school. He went from being an assistant, to actively taking over Jimmy Hatlo's feature THEY'LL DO IT EVERY TIME.

Al went to high school with Joe Giella, Sy Barry and Emilio Squeglio -- fellow cartoonists and fellow Berndt Toasters -- and they shared their friendship with all of us.

I will miss him very much, and this is all damn hard to take in.

UPDATED December 9, 2007:


Photo: Al Scaduto sings at a recent Berndt Toast meeting while girlfriend Claire kvells. ("Kvells" being a Yiddish word meaning to rejoice and be prideful.)

"'What I like most about being a cartoonist is starting with a fresh piece of paper and ending up with an idea,' he said. 'You're the writer, the actor and the director. I never thought about retiring. I enjoy what I do.'"

- Al Scaduto, from a February 11, 2007 Connecticut Post interview written by Dirk Perrefort.

A few more notes about Al Scaduto, perhaps the last, great "bigfoot" style cartoonist. A guy who knew Milt Gross, for heaven's sake!

These are all notes I made from the Berndt Toast Gang meetings. The BTG is the nickname for the National Cartoonists Society Long Island chapter. I was chapter chair for about five years.

+ + +

Back in 2005, Al told the Gang about The School of Industrial Arts reunion. SIA was founded by four young art teachers in 1936, who built desks from old orange crates and plywood. Even though it’s changed its name to the High School of Art and Design and moved from its former Civil War hospital building to a modern building on Second Avenue, it’s still referred to as SIA by those who graduated.

After the graduation ceremony from the High School of Industrial Arts in 1946, Al's father told him he would starve. That same year, Al started at King Features. By 1948, he became a full time assistant for Ben Dunn, but still found time for lots of other work. A multiple winner of the NCS Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for the strip, he’s been soloing on They’ll Do It Every Time since 1989. Not bad for a boy from the Bronx!

+ + +

OK, we have a number of BT Gang traditions. The group has been meeting in one shape or from since 1966. For instance, every month we ask someone to bring in some samples of their work. Al Scaduto brought in dozens of originals from his years on They’ll Do It Every Time, Sick magazine, Little Iodine and so many, many illustrations. A Certain Major Syndicate surprised Al with a beautiful cake that was inscribed ”Congratulations Al from your Friends at King Features.” Al told us a little about his career. After the graduation ceremony from the High School of Industrial Arts in 1946, his dad told him he would starve. That same year, Al started at King. By 1948, he became a full time assistant for Ben Dunn, but still found time for lots of other work. A multiple winner of the NCS Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for the strip, he’s been soloing on They’ll Do It Every Time since 1989. Not bad for a boy from the Bronx!

Photo: Children's book illustrator and current Chair Adrian Sinnott, Al Scaduto, Mike Lynch from a May 2007 get together.

And another Berndt toast tradition (actually, more of a running gag): Al Scaduto announces that he has brought a guest. This happens every time, and every time, he introduces the fellow sitting at the same table: “Jumpin'” Joe Giella. Then Al tells a disparaging joke at Joe’s expense. This is all forgivable since we all love Joe and the joke is an old joke. On those rare occasions when Al can’t make it, we all worry that there will be no one to introduce Joe.

+ + +

On April 24, 2006, legendary cartoonist Creig Flessel wrote a letter to me (on real paper, since Creig's not an Internet-kinda guy) about what he's up to

I keep busy doing watercolors and cartoons for local residents and our grandchildren. Tell Al Scaduto (my mentor) that I'm concentrating on my cartooning and he is my god.

+ + +

Al had this to say in the days after Jay Kennedy's death:

"Many years ago, when I was still working at Bob Dunn's office up at King Features on the 17th floor, Jay Kennedy was assigned the job of Comic Editor. He was always very 'low key' and a true gentlemen, with a tremendous knowledge of comics. I met him several times, either at cartoon conventions or at King Features affairs, as well as at NCS meetings and, of course, at Bunny Hoest's Annual Bash. Talking to him on the phone one day, he praised me by saying, 'Al, you do a handsome feature.' I'll truly miss this gentle man."

+ + +

Photo: a display of some of Al's originals on a display table at our January 25, 2007 get together

Al was just a very sweet guy. He would call me from time to time, to let me know how much he enjoyed the monthly BT meetings. He would drive from his home in Connecticut, pick up his girlfriend in Tarrytown and then drive out to Huntington, Long Island. When new or wannabe cartoonists would drop in, he would always spend time with them and ask them more questions than they would ask him.

He was an integral part of the Berndt Toast heart, and he will be missed.

Al, we were all kvelling when you were around. We'll miss the cartoons and the music and the man so dearly.



Links:

Mark Evanier on Al

King Features bio

Comics Curmudgeon, with a comment from one of Al's daughters.

Holiday Cards and Shopping

Correspondent Martha White writes that "year-end photocopied brag sheets and e-cards can never replace the original handwritten holiday note" in this article from the Christian Science Monitor, which includes the above card.

"My grandfather, a prolific letter writer – his updated "Letters of E.B. White" goes into paperback this month – managed a personalized, printed card in 1950 with his own verse and a drawing of his dachshund puppy descending steep stairs – a feat that occasionally resulted in a nose dive."

And good ol' Alan Gardner The Daily Cartoonist purveys cartoonist-related sites that have holiday card themes.

Tom Spurgeon serves up a mega-list of cartoon related items that are on the market in his Comics Reporter Holiday Shopping Guide. Not for the weak of wallet! And it's so big that, even after a minute or two with my high-speed cable connection, it's still loading the page.

Big hat tip to dear ol' Dad for the E.B. White link. Thanks Dad!

Related: E.B. White Quotes.

Bikini Audacity

BETWEEN FRIENDS creator Sandra Bell-Lundy writes about good comic strip writing, a bikini, and its relation to human rights.

In this entry, she honestly talks about the value of writing to please yourself, and what she learned from the late Jay Kennedy. Here's Sandra:

If there's one thing a cartoonist has to learn, it's that you have to write for yourself and that your work is not going to appeal to everyone. When I was working with my editor, Jay Kennedy during the development stage of my cartoon strip, I would fax my ideas to him and he would call me back with a critique of my work. He'd tell me why this strip worked and that one didn't and if he thought a particular strip was very funny. Every so often, I would catch myself writing my strips according to what I thought Jay would find funny. And you know what? ...not once did he tell me that the strip I wrote trying to appeal to his funny bone "was very funny". After a few times, it dawned on me that I should just write what I thought was funny. If someone else found it funny, well...consider it gravy.

It's so hard to be a cartoonist because, despite the fact that there is a skill set that you can learn (learn to draw, learn to write), there is NOT a standard operating procedure to apply. A cartoonist has to offer something unique -- and, harder still, a cartoonist has to self-generate all this.

Related: No Ta-tas or Pee-pees in Children’s Publishing, But Most of All, No Balls? from the Chronicle Books blog by Melissa Manlove. It's about a terrific series of children's books, all ready best sellers in Europe, that were not printed in the US (until Chronicle Books picked them up) due to "American prudishness."

Don Martin Sound Effects

Darren Garnick, of the Nashua Telegraph, writes about the life of "MAD's Maddest Cartoonist" Don Martin.

He talks about the new big 2 volume slipcased Don Martin collection of cartoons. I agree with him that it's a trip down memory lane -- and I also agree that a lot of cartoonists love Martin. So many of were MAD readers. I remember copying his characters when I was a wee lad.

Below is a sidebar from the article, which mentions a site I visit all too little. So here, via Mr. Garnick, are a few of the fantastic Don Martin sound effects as documented in Ed Norris and John Hett’s Don Martin Dictionary:

• Ack gak gark! Man having a heart attack.
• Blorf breedeet: Gagged man trying to talk.
• Clink cloink bzzt: Putting money in Vend-O-Hair machine.
• Grunch grunch gashlikt! Sculptor pressing thumbs into man’s head
• Snap ploobadoof: Wonder Woman releasing her Amazon brassiere.
• Spa-zunch: Superman swatting a fly on Lois’ back.
• Spaloosh: Mafia informant dumped in river wearing cement shoes.
• Stroinggoink: Olive Oyl falling down a sidewalk grating and being saved by her nose.
• Thwak: Tooth being knocked out of mouth with a hockey puck.
• Tip-tippity tap: Tadpole tap dancing.
• Unklik: Man being released from dungeon wall.

More at the Don Martin Dictionary!

And it should be noted that Don Martin's original Signet paperback books (CAPTAIN KLUTZ, DON MARTIN FALLS 13 STORIES, etc.) are not included, despite the book being touted as a complete collection. I have heard that the book is all ready sold out, so I hope that this other material will be reprinted in 2008!

Little Lulu Exhibit

The sons of LITTLE LULU Creator Marjorie Henderson Buell donated her papers to Harvard last year. LULU paper ephemera will be on display at the Schlesinger Library thru March 29, 2008. More information, including the hours of the exhibit, is here. And, if you go there today, there's a reception this afternoon, between 4 and 6pm.

Here's a detailed list of what the Library has from the press release:

• Cartoons and comic strips including eighteen of Buell’s earliest cartoons, among them the very first cartoon she drew before age seven; original “Little Lulu” and “The Boy Friend” sketches; and the entire collection of “Little Lulu” comic strips published from 1935 to 1969, appearing first in the Saturday Evening Post and then in national newspapers.

• Personal correspondence with publishers, agents, fans and colleagues. Also included are fan magazines and Buell’s personal notebooks.

• Official business documents including original contracts with Rand McNally, Milton Bradley and Paramount Pictures. Also included are royalty statements, licensing agreements and copyrights.

• Lulu merchandise and memorabilia including toys, sheet music, children’s books, comic books published in multiple languages and Kleenex advertisements.

What's missing is the name of John Stanley, who, along with Irving Tripp, wrote and drew the bulk of the LULU comic book stories. I don't mean to diminish Ms. Buell's work, but it was Stanley who created the whole world of Lulu. I hope that there's an acknowledgment to his work in the exhibit.

Dark Horse Comics is reprinting the LITTLE LULU comic book series. Their 17th volume is below, with #18 (previewed at their site, click "Next Page >>" at the top right of the cover) coming out next month.

Snow Snow Snow

Can't blog. Busy snowblowin'!

Glad to report that there has been -- so far -- no loss of life nor limb, as so graphically pictured on the snowblower warning label.

Best Thanksgiving Cartoons

We were around the Thanksgiving table, talking cartoons. The one and only Stephanie Piro invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner with her friends and family. So, if there's more than one cartoonist at the table, then, of course, there is going to be cartoon talk.

"Here are the 4 best Thanksgiving cartoons," I announce, loudly and boorishly, letting everyone know that two of them are mine. "There's the one of the Mayflower sailing toward America with a big sign, 'Contents May Settle' on the back." I drew this up (see above) and then took it out of circulation when I saw that the cartoon had been done all ready! I saw it in an old collection of cartoons later, and I just did not know it had been done before. These things happen!

"And then there's the one of all these turkeys at a party, all wearing those little nametags that say 'Hi, I'm Tom,' 'Hi, I'm Tom,''Hi, I'm Tom.' This is by my pal Mark Anderson.

"And then there's one where a turkey is being X-rayed at the doctor's office and the doctor turkey is pointing to the patient turkey's solar plexus and saying, 'Well, Bob, here's you problem: your internal organs have been shrinkwrapped!'" I drew that one a couple of years ago, and it appeared in, of all things, a higher education journal. And I can't find a copy of the cartoon just now.

"But the best one I've seen," I continued loudly, for tryptophan has zero effect when I'm hepped up on Cartoon Talk,"is Roy Delgado's cartoon from the November 21, 2007 Wall Street Journal."

Roy is, as I've mentioned before, on a one-man mission to sell a cartoon to The New Yorker.

This makes over 19,500 cartoons REJECTED by The New Yorker in my lifetime. If they ever DID buy one, I'd probably have a heart-attack! I can't win either way!

I read his Roy Delgado Blog to check his progress!

The Great Ham Caper

My wife wrote a poem for Christmas 2006. It's about us and the cats. I thought it was fun, and maybe a bit indulgent. To my delight, Stacy's poem got a lot of kind emails. Hard to believe that since then we've moved and gotten another cat.

For auld lang syne, here it is again:


The Great Ham Caper
Words by Stacy Lynch
Pictures by Mike Lynch

’Twas the week before Christmas
When Rufus and Sam
Hatched a devious scheme
To make off with the ham!

The ham that would grace
The holiday table!
Roo was the brains.
Sam, wiry and able.


They devised a plan
Of Goldbergian proportions
With pulleys and weights
And kitty contortions.

And on Christmas day
They’d eat until stuffed
(The very idea
Made their tails slightly puffed!)

’Til then, they’d lay low,
Little angels to see.
But that made us suspicious –
Wouldn’t you be?


So we snooped and we sleuthed
And uncovered their caper -
“The Ham-Stealing Plan”
Diagrammed on a paper!

“No silly cat’s gonna
Steal my roast beast,”
Exclaimed Mike. “Just watch,
I’ll ruin their feast!”So he countered their scheming
With mad plans all his own
And all I could do
Was inwardly groan!

Who’d win this contest
Of wits they were planning?
Would Mike, Roo or Sam -
Be last man or cat standing?

As Christmas day dawned
The four of us waited
For the ham to be served
With breaths that were bated.

But before the main course
Could even be plated
Their plans took a turn.
Some say it was fated...

What happened to stop them
So cold in their tracks?
Why, cat-nip and husb-nip
(in big canvas sacks)Was all that it took
To stop their foul warring.
And they rolled and purred
And drooled on the flooring.And as long as I kept
My fingers and toes
Away from a hubby and two cats
In nip’s throes -
My own Christmas day
Turned out merry and calm;
The ham moist and succulent,
The champagne, a balm.

When they “awoke”,
hostilities abated,
We all ate some ham
And went to bed sated.

And such peace we wish
To you and to yours:
An end to fighting;
An end to wars.

Happy Holidays!

Mike and Stacy and Rufus and Sam

James Kemsley Passes Away

Sad, shocking news. Australian cartoonist James Kemsley, best known for his work on the Ginger Meggs comic strip, passed away today due to complications from motor neuron disease. He was 59.

Mort Walker Interview

Mr. Media interviews Beetle Bailey creator Mort Walker here. And there are a couple of other cartoonists who added some questions for him:

Ray Billingsley, creator of the “Curtis” strip and an old friend of Walker’s, kindly contributed questions today. So did a newer member of the fraternity, Mark Tatulli, creator of “Heart of the City” and America’s fastest-growing new strip, “LIO.”

The thing I like about the Mr. Media site is that you can choose to read an interview or listen to it.

Above photo of Mr. Walker stolen from Tom Richmond's blogarino.

Canadian Chapter National Cartoonists Society 2007 Holiday Party Photos

Photo: the skilled hands of illustrator Patricia Storms hard at work at the NCS Canadian Chapter Holiday Party. She never takes a day off. Let that be a lesson to us all on how to get ahead!!!

Debbie Ridpath Ohi reports on the National Cartoonists Society Canadian Chapter Holiday party that was held on November 30, 2007. The event was held in Toronto and organized by chapter chair John Martz.

A tip o' the Canadian toque to Ms. Storms!

Star Wars Deleted Magic part 1

Here is something interesting for those of you (like me) who haven't heard of this project. Filmmaker Garrett Gilchrist put together a version of STAR WARS (1977) incorporating alternate takes and filmed but deleted scenes. It's "a look behind the scenes at what didn't make it to the final cut of the Star Wars trilogy."

STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC

Submitted for your weekend viewing pleasure ....

STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC (2005?) is a version of STAR WARS (1977) that's full of filmed alternate takes, actors speaking through imperial soldier masks and c-3PO masks, and deleted scenes re-cut in according to early existing script drafts.

It's "a look behind the scenes at what didn't make it to the final cut of the Star Wars trilogy," put together painstakingly by fan and filmmaker Garrett Gilchrist. I was hooked early on. Here's the first couple of minutes via YouTube:




I'm not a huge WARS fan (more of a TREK guy, as ya'll know), so this was all new to me. Better watch this now as those YouTube folks tend to yank vids like this. It's in 17 parts:

1. STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC 1
   
2. STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC 2
   
3. STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC 3
   
4. STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC 4
   
5. STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC 5
   
6. STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC 6
   
7. STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC 7
   
8. STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC 8
   
9. STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC 9
   
10. STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC 10
    
11. STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC 11
    
12. STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC 12
    
13. STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC 13
    
14. STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC 14
    
15. STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC 15
    
16. STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC 16
    
17. STAR WARS DELETED MAGIC 17
    

Eldon Dedini Illustrations 1959

Via Goofbutton.com comes copious scans of a Dedini-illustrated 1959 paperback book.

And there's a book's worth of Dedini cartoons, from FEETS & CHEEKS, also scanned in by those lovely folks at Goofbutton, here.

H/t Comics Reporter!