"Morty the Dog" Cartoonist Steve Willis

Steve Willis, whose comics I remember from the "black and white explosion" of the 1980s, talks about his life and his choices in the video below.

While attending Evergreen State College, he worked along side fellow students Matt Groening and Lynda Barry. After he left Evergreen, he was approached by Esquire magazine. They liked his cartoons, except for the art and stories, he says. He was part of Clay Geerdes' newave network, and produced most of his cartooning in the early 1980s.

Steve works full time as a librarian now, and cartoons in his spare time. We get to hear his views on creativity and see him draw. The video runs about 9 minutes.



Related: Steve writes about his Evergreen College years.

Gerald Scarfe Interview

Below is Al Jazeera TV Riz Khan's interview and overview of the British cartoonist Gerald Scarfe. It's in 2 parts; about 20 minutes total in length.

While perhaps best known for his work on Pink Floyd's "The Wall" album and subsequent movie, Mr. Scarfe's CV includes many other projects over his 40 year career, such as plays, books, ballet, theatre, opera, and so on. He's a regular fixture in the Sunday Times, as well as a frequent New Yorker magazine illustrator.

Gerald Scarfe Interview Part 1



Gerald Scarfe Interview Part 2

Eric Decetis "Best Selling Greeting Card Cartoonist"

Eric Decetis is a cartoonist. His name didn't sound familiar. But his cartoons are.

He's the guy who drew those ... uh ... "doggy in the crack" cartoons. I see them in the big bookstores. They're on calendars, shirts, Halloween Costume (Really!), etc.


Here's a TV interview with him, where he talks about his education (a science major), how he gets his ideas, etc.

Erich Sokol Playboy Cartoons

Above: lush color detail from one of Erich Sokol's Playboy cartoons.

I don't go to the ASIFA site as often as I should. It's not that I don't like it -- far from it -- the site's great! One of the best! But I wind up having all my time sucked away oohing and aahing over the wonderful work there. Today: A generous helping of Erich Sokol's cartoon work for Playboy. And there are more links to Sokol there as well.

Big hat tip to Journalista!

Do You Cartoon?

It's 2 weeks and 2 days until the deadline for the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship.

The Professional School of Cartooning 1947 UPDATED

From the pages of the Eli Stein Cartoons blog, comes scans of gag cartoonists and their cartoons. It's all from a brochure for The Professional School of Cartooning circa 1947, run by cartoonist/editor Lawrence Lariar.

"LARIAR SOLD THIS COMIC TO SATEVEPOST

"Lariar's smart, stylized cartoons are a model for many beginners, and his drawings of cute girls are familiar to all. He will criticize your drawings personally!"

Part of the fun is attaching faces to names like Henry Boltinoff, Ed Nofziger, George Wolfe, and Adolph Schus. (No good link found for Mr. Schus, unfortunately.)

Eli, thanks so much for bowing to pressure to scan more of this great old ephemera!

To the right, an ad (Is that a Lariar-drawn cute girl?) from an advertisement in Popular Mechanics Magazine (September 1948) from this page at the Modern Mechanix site.

Related: Eli Stein on the four cartoonist Roth brothers.

UPDATE: The one and only Orlando Busino passed along the below email with additional information on Adolph Schus. Thank you very much, Mr. Busino! Here's Orlando:

Here's a bio. from Lariar's book, BEST CARTOONS OF THE YEAR 1943 :

ADOLPH SCHUS

Born on New York's upper east side. . . lived in Wembly, a suburb of London, where he spent a good deal of his childhood. The zeppelin raids on London during the first world war, sent the family back to America. Except for a year on the continent, during which time he art-edited a publication published in Paris for Americans abroad. He has

been residing in New York. Married a Rochestarian in 1938 and their son was born in 1943. Just before the blessed event they bought a home in Harmon-on-the-Hudson, where Schus will continue to do cartoons for the country's leading magazines.

European Cartoon Center Tour Video

Did you know that there's a European Cartoon Centre in Belgium? I didn't -- not til I saw the below video tour from a European TV show. Looks like a beautiful place! And saying "Centre" instead of plain old "Center" is just so classy!




I've looked at the Web site and I'm ready to go and visit. Sure looks interesting. Lots of gorgrous, color, wordless, single panel cartoons. The hardest cartoons to do!

Let's load up the Mike Lynch Cartoons Bus and visit. Then, afterward, if you all behave yourselves, we'll have mussels and frites!

W.L. Evans Cartoon Course 1913

Good ol' Mark Anderson has some great toys. Toys that you and me would mercilessly kill each other for, should he make us fight to death to own them.

The nice thing is that he shares his toys. In this case, he shares a copy of the W. L. Evans' "Advantages in Cartoon and Caricature Work," a correspondence cartooning course from 1913.

"A good many people have an idea that it takes a person of phemominal [sic] mind to draw cartoons, that cartoonists are people of fine education, etc.

"THIS IS NOT TRUE."

This, of course, explains why cartoonists squander their money on buying the Brooklyn Bridge, trading the family milk cow for the magic beans, and still believe they can make money on the Internets!

Thanks for sharing this, Mark!

Related: For assistance with your education, if you wanna be a cartoonist and are in school (regardless of your major), take a look at the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship.

Lynn Johnston Ending FBoFW Hybrid Strips

According to this article, Lynn Johnston is bagging her hybrid strip idea and just letting the FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE go into reruns.

I thought the hybrid was an odd idea, but recently she's been doing a strong mix of new material, moving the story of Elizabeth forward in particular, with a little bit of the old cartoons from the early 1980s. But the hybrid idea is like oil and vinegar. A big problem is that early FBoFW looks jarringly different than older FBoFW.

It's too bad that there will be another rerun on the comics pages. But the newspaper comics are like TV now: something for everyone. So, she'll join the late Mr. Schulz in being kinda the Nick at Nite of the comics page.

H/t to Journalista!

Mick Stevens' Studio Tour Video

New Yorker cartoonist Mick Stevens is behind the camera as he walks you through his studio in this 6 minute video.



Related: Mick Stevens is the "Cartoonist of the Month" at the New Yorker Blog.

GINGER MEGGS Cartoonist Jason Chatfield

From the Australian Sunrise TV program: Cartoonist Jason Chatfield talks about taking over the GINGER MEGGS comic strip. GINGER MEGGS, which began in 1921, is a legendary strip in Australia. It's in about 120 markets.

James Kemsley took over the strip in 1984. He passed away last year, but before he died, he cited Jason as the man to take over Meggs.

I met Jason in 2006, at Bunny Hoest's party, and he's a heckuva nice guy. Congratulations on your success, Jason.

The video runs about 5 minutes.

The Spooky Opening of GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1946) David Lean

For your Friday viewing pleasure ....

Here is some serious atmospheric Victorian spookiness from the opening of David Lean's GREAT EXPECTATIONS. It runs just under four minutes. Yeah, it's quite spooky, even if you're watching it here, on that dinky YouTube screen on your computer monitor.

I was thinking about the Chuck Jones produced CHRISTMAS CAROL special and that, really, Dickens was great at doing up these kind of Victorian, chilling moments. Add in a great visualizer like David Lean, and you got a classic graphic moment.

This was a childhood memory for me. I first saw it on a small movie screen in the basement of our house in Lawrence, Kansas. I was in the lower to middle grades at Deerfield Elementary school. My Dad, the university professor, had rented the flick for one of his classes. In this pre-home video time period of the 1970s, to be able to watch a movie in your own home was rare and decadent ,and the only people who did that were either in Hollywood, or Had Serious Connections. Dad had connections!

Another linky: the opening to GREAT EXPECATIONS is one of The Guardian's Top 100 Movie Moments. Actually, it's #89. I think it should be higher.

Related: BFI David Lean page.

Robert Benchley and Fred Allen

The Isn't Life Terrible blog (love the name!) has a remembrance about two now-nearly-forgotten men of comedy: Robert Benchley and Fred Allen: part one, part two.

Of the two guys, I'm more familiar with Fred Allen. His sarcasm, his nasally tone, all combine to make a very funny title sequence to the movie IT'S IN THE BAG, which you can see in part two of the above blog. It's worth clicking on even if you've never heard of Allen or Benchley. Even if you have a disdain for these gentlemen, go take a peek. [EDIT: Unfortunately, the title sequence was taken down. Netflix does have the entire movie available to stream.]

Yeah, it's a crying shame that some of these comics of the past are forgotten now. But that's arguable since there are blogs like the above-named that remind us of the past. Don Brockway, the mind behind the Isn't Life Terrible blog writes:

Those of us who admire entertainers of yesteryear often have a tendency to drift along with the undercurrent of melancholy that is the wake of the public's fickleness in its never-ending search for new amusements. Younger fans who missed the heydays of their idols often make substantial efforts to seek out the portion of the work that survives, then use it to proselytize on behalf of their hero. They shake their heads sadly when few join them in their celebration of those who reached incredible heights of popularity in their own day... only to arrive at a near-total indifference and anonymity in ours.

Above photo of Fred Allen and his wife, Portland Hoffa, from Comedy-o-Rama's Fred Allen tribute page.

My favorite quote from Allen's book TREADMILL TO OBLIVION.

Like Allen, my great grandparents were in vaudeville.

1000 Jokes No. 79 Sept.-Nov. 1956 Part Two

This is the second part of Dell's 1000 Jokes magazine, the No. 79 Sept.-Nov. 1956 edition. For part one, please go here.

While I won't be scanning all 1000 jokes, here is a healthy sample for your viewing pleasure. Let's start with an advertisement that let's everyone know that there's Amazing Proof That Anyone Can Play Music, even Lawrence Welk!

"And I say, as a husband, you're a shining example of a horrible example."

A sketchy, loose, spare gag cartoon. I like how simply this cartoon was drawn. No background, no major details (not even those little lines to denote columns in the newspaper he's holding). By his beard stubble, and the way he's slumped in his chair, we can discern this is the end of a bad working day and the Mrs. is just piling on an insult in what promises to be a bad evening. I can't make out the signature.

"I hope you don't mind. My husband is getting so he hardly notice me any more."

Mort Temes, a prolific gag cartoonist who, so I've been told by colleagues, is alive and well and retired somewhere in the Garden State, contributes the above. Another marriage-in-trouble joke, but a funny idea I've never seen before.

OK, let's cleanse the cartoon palate with some classified ads:



John Gallagher submits that the old timer getting paroled here is in for some massive cultural trouble. Wait until he finds out about Women's Lib and Hillary Clinton and all that!

"We brought the Smiths. They were eating with us when suddenly we remembered we were supposed to be having dinner with you people."

Jack Tyrrell's gag made me smile so I had to include it. I love the squashed hats on the guys, like they just mashed them on their heads and raced over.



"Besides writing the script for the show I have to prepare material so he's the life of every party he goes to!"

Reamer Keller, another new Jersey cartoonist, contributes the above cartoon that certainly brought the WGA strike to mind. I like his loose style.

"Lois, I was wondering .... when my boss comes to dinner tomorrow .... what I mean is .... uh, would you mind ...."

Above: Harry Mace gives us a sense of what a 1950s upscale suburban living room interior looks like in this rather oddball gag.

We now break for an ad:

"I'd like a new suit -- but let me warn you -- I'm fussy!"

Orlando Busino, the one and only, nails it. I like imagining snooty Mr. Fussy here, walking around town in his undies.

"Gosh, I'm sorry, but I ate one -- then I just couldn't seem to stop ..."

Looks like an early Herb Green cartoon. I'm glad he wrote PEANUTS on the bags since I couldn't tell what they were. IMHO, we need to see piles of empty shells and the trainer's enlarged belly for this to scan.


Above: Bob Schroeter with a silent golf gag. I like the succession of expressions on the golfer's face, from expectant in panel one, to downright disgusted.

"Bob and Ruth must have gone over their heads with they bought this place."

Al Kaufman, another prolific gag cartoonist that I see in most every collection of the era, contributes the above. I like these kind of gags that address a still-common problem of living beyond one's means and then suggesting a silly solution.



Above: along the same vein of solving life's problems with silly (yet, at their root, practical) suggestions, Bob Barnes (signing with a stylized "B B"), contributes "Necessity: The Mother of Invention."

"That all depends. Which ocean did you wish to face?"

Al Johns shows us that help ain't what it used to be.


I can't resist another Orlando Busino gag. And it's another one making fun of snooty nose-in-the-air types. Even the chi-chi poodle is pointing her nose in the air! (How does she ever find the fire hydrant, then?)



"She still loves you, doesn't she, Rudy."

Dick Ericson's cartoon took me a moment before I saw the shattered glass on the newsstand floor and actually had that "aha" moment when I got the gag. Maybe the lack of a question mark in the gag line cause me a bit of confusion.


"Dinner ... movies ... and THEN what?"

Sharp line work by Harry Mace as he give us everything: foreground, background, and the three players. I like the touch of Dad's pipe and jar of tobacco by his easy chair.


Above: this worldless Gallagher gag shows us a faux pas that would maybe go unnoticed in the 21st century. Men were more chivalrous back then. Clicking on it gives what I would guess is pretty much the actual size of the original. I admire Gallagher's cartoony line.


Stan Fine with a big multi-panel gag with a cooties-fearin' pre-teen boy at the movies.

"I'll say this for Elsie ... she certainly has an open mind ... and it goes well with her mouth."

I can't make out the signature here, but this is the kind of gag that editors would not buy today. It's insulting to women, maybe even misogynistic. Regardless, I liked the wash technique -- and it seems there's a suggestion of, well, how to put it? It looks like her skirt is not opaque, y'know?

Legendary cartoonist christens USS Georgia with drawing

Alan NeSmith writes about Jack Davis for the Tribune and Georgian in an article titled Legendary cartoonist christens USS Georgia with drawing.

Hat tip to Journalista!

Bob Zahn July 6, 1934 - January 6, 2008

Playboy cartoonist Bob Zahn died on Sunday, January 6, 2008 at the Hospice Care Unit at Citrus Memorial Health System in Inverness, Florida.



Bob lived and cartooned in Syracuse, NY. He was a commercial artist with General Electric there for 35 years, drawing cartoons in his spare time. He drew even more once he retired. He had a syndicated panel, titled "Bigg's Business" from 1972 to 1979. Five years ago, he and his wife Donna moved to Florida.

According to friend and fellow gag cartoonist Randy Glasbergen, when Bob loosened up his style, he would sometimes sign his single panel cartoons "Carroll."

I didn't know Bob, but I've seen his cartoons in Playboy, and other publications like Good Housekeeping and Reader's Digest. He did a prolific number of golfing cartoon books, as well as greeting cards. The energy and verve he felt for cartooning came out in his clean, fun line work. He influenced a number of cartoonist colleagues.

• The Bob Zahn site is here.
  
  
• Bob Zahn cartoons at Cartoonfile.net.
  
  
• UPDATE: A profile by Tom Spurgeon at ComicsReporter.com
  
  
• The obituary from The Citrus County Chronicle Online:

Carroll Robert Zahn Jr., 73, Beverly Hills, died Sunday, Jan. 6, 2008, at the Hospice Care Unit at Citrus Memorial Health System in Inverness.

Born July 6, 1934, in Phoenix, N.Y., to Carroll R. Zahn Sr. and Eva (McKay) Zahn, he moved here five years ago from Central Square, N.Y.

Mr. Zahn retired from General Electric’s military equipment manufacturing division as a commercial artist with 35 years of service.

His enjoyments in life were drawing, spending time with his family and his dog, “Abby.” Other enjoyments included spending time with his Florida friends with whom he enjoyed dinners, playing cards, golf and fishing.

Mr. Zahn was a nationally known cartoonist and published several cartoon books.
He was Catholic.

Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Donna J. Zahn; two sons, Thomas C. Zahn and companion Michael McGuirl of Syracuse, N.Y., and Michael R. Zahn and fiancée Cherie Sutton of N. Syracuse, N.Y.; one daughter, Kelly A. Bogart and husband Jeff of Redwood, N.Y.; one brother, Richard C. Zahn and wife Beverly of Tarpon Springs; five grandchildren, Aubree, Sarah, Lauren, Zachary and Dawna; one great-grandchild, Jalen; and best friend, Vincent Frey of Arizona.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to Hospice of Citrus County, P.O. Box 641270, Beverly Hills, FL 34464.

Chas. E. Davis Funeral Home with Crematory, Inverness.

Eli Stein on the Four Cartoonist Roth Brothers

Gag cartoonist Eli Stein blogs about the Roth brothers, who, under different names, cartooned for the major magazine markets. In his entry, he shows us some sample pages of their art & photos that were part of a brochure for Lawrence Lariar's The Professional School of Cartooning circa 1947-78.

Eli, I loved that story from your 1983 Israel trip!

NYC: Artists Against the War Reception Tonight

If I lived in NYC, I would be at the Artists Against the War reception at the Society of Illustrators tonight.

1000 Jokes No. 79 Sept.-Nov. 1956 Part One UPDATED

Here is 1000 Jokes, a Dell magazine that sold for 20 cents 52 years ago. Since we got a large, bulbous-headed naked Bob Hope coming out of a voting booth, I thought this appropriate fodder for NH Primary Day blogging.

Here are the first 2 pages. Ads, of course. Click on any of these pages to super-size the live long day outta them:



And, then, below, finally, the beginning of cartoony goodness -- and what a beginning! A full page Chon Day cartoon.

"It's all tied up at seven-seven, folks, with a half a pint to go."

"Don't argue with him. Let's plug him."

Above: a cartoon by Gallagher. In a perfect world, there would be a hardcover collection of Gallagher's animal cartoons.

Above: cartoonists Pete Wyma and Bob Schwartz Schroeter with two good ones. Schwartz' Schroeter's cartoon is especially risque. OK, so far this has nothing to do with the NH Primary, but isn't it fun? Hang on. Hope is coming ....

Above: cartoons by Vahan Shirvanian and Stan Hunt. Like I said, you can click to get a huge size. I have not read any of the jokes on these pages, just the cartoons.

And below is a our man, Mr. Hope, quipping politically:



Below: Virgil Partch contributes the visuals to some amusing stories by Avery Weeks. Mr. Partch's work has aged better than Mr. Weeks':


And, closing out today's peek at 1000 Jokes, is a full pager by the one and only Jerry Marcus:


Related: Cartoonist Eli Stein on 1000 Jokes:

Payment was very small, but it always left me with a feeling of satisfaction to be accepted by fellow cartoonists.

Related: Cartoonist and former New Yorker magazine Cartoon Editor Lee Lorenz talks about doing the magazine rounds in NYC back in the day in the February, 14 2000 NY Times:

After the New Yorker stop, they moved on: Collier's, The Saturday Evening Post, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, Ladies' Home Journal, American Legion, True, Cavalier, Playboy. ''At the end of the day,'' Mr. Lorenz said, ''you'd go to '1,000 Jokes,' published by Dell, and the editor would sop up whatever was left.''

UPDATE: I've corrected lady boxers cartoon credit to Bob Schroeter (see above). My thanks to Orlando Busino for correcting my error. Orlando adds:

Bob Schroeter did the two lady boxers ( wrestlers?) gag. Unfortunately he did not have a clear signature and may be doomed to forever be referred to as Bob Schwartz. Bob was a good cartoonist and a very nice guy who worked as cartoon editor for King Feature's LAFF-A-DAY .

Thanks, Orlando!!!

Don't Name Your Comic Book Character "CLINT"

Hat tip to John Klossner! See you tomorrow, John!

The old story goes that there are certain words that are forbidden in comics. I mean, other than those 7 dirty words.

Chief among the forbidden words in the history of comics is the name "Clint."

This link is on a couple of sites. I'm not sure where the blog page is from, other than it's related to U. Penn., but it tells why the name "Clint" is not used. Ditto the word "flicks." I think you can see why above.

The panel above looks like a Simon and Kirby illustration. I think I first heard about this CLINT/FLICK stuff years ago from Archie artist Stan Goldberg (whose first job was in the Timely Comics' bullpen's offices in the Empire State Building assisting Carl Burgos -- so Stan should know). Never saw any examples before now.

- Originally posted by Mike Lynch March 29, 2006.