The Garden As of Mid-June

Above: the before and the after of planting the heirloom tomatoes and some other stuff. Well, not much to see here. And it's not even pretty what with the weedcloth on it, huh?

The excitement was Sunday night, when, in the dark, a bear came wandering by and took out the feeder. The bear ate the seed and the suet and pretty much destroyed the suet holders.

There may have been two bears; a mom and a cub. The moon had not risen, but when the bear left it sure looked like a twosome ankling it down the driveway.

I was able to repair the feeder (although one suet cage was irreparable), so all is well. For now ...

Oh, here's the garden even further back in time, around June 12th:

And lastly, from May, some endangered ladyslipper flowers growing in the wilds of the woods:

PUNCH Cartoonist J.W. Taylor

Here's a post from five years ago. Although it's mostly about J.W. Taylor, a British Punch Magazine cartoonist, it opens with a want list of cartoon books. There are five items that I said I would like to see, and most of them are now a reality. That's pretty amazing!

Here is the edited entry from 2011:



Today I am celebrating the cartoons of J.W. Taylor, a cartoonist that's not well remembered at all, except by me. And maybe, after a moment of looking at his gag cartoons, you'll like his work and remember as well.

Like a lot of gag cartoonists, I discovered his work in collections of gag cartoons. I began to recognize his style and I loved his sense of humor and his broad, bold, economic ink line. When Tom Spurgeon at Comics Reporter asked his weekly "Five for Friday" question yesterday (Five For Friday #120 -- "Name Five Archival/Translation Projects That Aren't Happening Right Now (As Far As You Know) That You'd Love To See)," I emailed a list:

1. The Complete SKIPPY by Percy Crosby (EDIT: IDW is publishing this series and it's now on its third hardcover collection. Visit Joan Crosby Tibbetts' Skippy site for all the info.)

2. The Complete Virgil "VIP" Partch (EDIT: Fantagraphics has published a bio of Partch, as well as a new collection of his cartoons.)

3. The New Yorker Cartoonists Do Newspaper Strips (WHITE BOY by Garrett Price, THE SMYTHES by Rea Irvin, etc.) (EDIT: WHITE BOY in its entirety was published by Sunday Press last year in a gorgeous hardcover volume.)

4. WHERE'S NEMO? The "Other" Dream Strips (NIBSY THE NEWS BOY by McManus, MR. TWEE-DEEDLE by Gruelle, THE NAPS OF POLLY SLEEPYHEAD by Newell, etc.) (EDIT: Sunday Press has published just that in its large FORGOTTEN FANTASY collection of comic strips.)

5. The Complete J.W. Taylor (a great unsung British gag cartoonist for PUNCH) (EDIT: Not yet. I would love to edit this and/or buy it.)


I could blog about any one of those five topics, but it's the last one on the list -- the relatively unknown Punch cartoonist -- that I want to talk about a little and then show some of his terrific cartoons. (And maybe make a case for having a collection of his work.)

Who was J.W. Taylor? I'll share what little I know. First, his cartoons (especially the talking dogs ones and the beer ones) are very funny.



John Whitfield Taylor was a full-time schoolmaster who also cartooned. He attended the University of Manchester, and was head of the art department at Portland House School.



The little that I have found out about his life, I grabbed from the Comics, Cartoon, Caricature scan site at Dr. Chris Mullen's Visual Telling of Stories pages.


These J.W. Taylor cartoons are from two big hardcover collections of general gag cartoons from the 1950s: THE BEST CARTOONS FROM PUNCH (copyright 1955 by Bradbury, Agnew and Company, Ltd., the US proprietors of PUNCH) and CARTOON TREASURY edited by Lucy Black Johnson and Pyke Johnson, Jr. (copyright 1955 by the Johnsons).




Above: perhaps his most reproduced cartoon.

"All of his drawings are done at weekends, but throughout his working week he makes copious notes and rough sketches in a notebook which he always carries around with him. 'I attend seriously to business at educational conferences and head teachers' meetings, but I have sometimes been known to doodle on the agenda paper.'" Weekly Illustrated, The Artist and His Humor Series #14, June 1955 article by David Clayton.

"Full-time comic artists, far from resenting the success of an amateur in a highly-competitive field, are full of praise for his work. One professional, Bernard Hollowood ("Hod"), says, 'I collect genuine 'Taylors' as a connoisseur. His captions are slick and economical. The disarmingly simple brush lines of his drawings match the captions in clarity and vitality." - ibid.

"So we bought a couple of hens and I was to write a humorous best seller about our misfortunes -- but it didn't work out."

Above: parents don't change.

"All right, Brannigan -- we know you're in there!"

Above: one of my personal favorites.


Above: a rare multi-panel.

"One misses a lot -- being brought up to appreciate it."

The above gag works if you understand there's a can of Sterno with an open flame under that coffee pot!










I hope you enjoyed seeing this man's work. J.W. Taylor deserves at the very least a cyber-salute here for his modern, breezy brush style, spot-on expressions and great gag writing.

Above: the Weekly Illustrated article, with cartoons.

Note: this is an edited version of an earlier piece. The above was originally presented here on December 7, 2011. And I would be glad to edit that J.W. Taylor book, OK? OK!

This Week's Warm Up Drawings

Here's a collection of some warm up doodles from the week. These are just little stream of consciousness drawings I sketch first thing to get the pen and the mind flowing ....

Bunny Hoest Signing New LOCKHORNS Comic Panel Book

Huntington, Long Island: Bunny Hoest will be signing the new book collection of Lockhorns comics Thursday evening! THE LOCKHORNS is written and drawn by Bunny Hoest and John Reiner.

Bunny will be signing her new collection of her favorite classic cartoons from THE LOCKHORNS starting at 7 pm this Thursday, June 16th at Book Revue, 313 New York Ave, Huntington, NY 11743.

Al Capp's SHMOO Comic Book #5 April 1950

The Magic Whistle blog scans in the first half of the SHMOO #5 comic book, dated April 1950, and (as the credits show) drawn and written by Mr. Al Capp's staff.

The Shmoos were a big deal -- a big merchandising spin-off -- from the LI'L ABNER comic strip. I am thinking that the Shmoo craze is forgotten now, never to reemerge.

SOUTH SEA CARTOONS compiled & edited by Harold Myers

A selection of desert island cartoons from SOUTH SEA CARTOONS, a well-used Ace Paperback, compiled and edited by Harold Myers and copyright 1955 by Avon Publications Inc.

This book, as you have astutely observed for your own self, is a theme book. There are challenges with this narrow and not so deep theme. You will realize within moments why there aren't any companion cartoon cliche books from Ace like THE BIG BOOK OF BOSS CHASING THE SECRETARY AROUND A DESK CARTOONS or PRISONER SHACKLED TO THE WALL CARTOONS, etc.
"What goes on on a desert isle -- and what comes off???" reads the back cover blurb. Above is an unsigned (and well drawn) wordless cartoon the epitomizes the tone of the book. Ahh. The 1950s, back when being pervy was fodder for laughs!

"Been here a while?"

I really like a lot of the line work in the cartoons. It's crisp and looks professional. Problem is -- most of these cartoons are unsigned. Those that are, I don't know the cartoonist.

"Keep it up, Dearie, the wind is rising"

Above is a cartoon that had an interesting gag -- and it reminded me of brass player cartoony pal Mark Anderson as well.

"Oh no! Not chewing gum here too!"

The woman in the background seems greatly amused by this fellow getting annoyed. One touch that I liked was the drawing of the clenched hands; each one in a slightly different position, just like it would be in real life. The cartoonist who drew this is not afraid to draw. A good working-in of the palm in the background; a necessary visual tell to let us know we're on a desert island.



Above: a rather lush and large island, with the typical gag of the desert island guys and gals.





Above: one of my favorite cartoons from the book. There's another cartoon that has a similar gag (see just below), but this one (one of the few to showcase that a woman also has her needs) is put together with such an expert reclining figure. Look at her dainty left foot, dangling languidly, as she smilingly daydreams.

"But aren't there any male mermaids?"

Does it make sense for a desert island to have a cactus instead of a palm tree? It's the only cactus in the book, except for the partially obscured on on the cover.

"Alright, already! Have your daily track workout, but not all day!"

It's good to keep yourself in shape. Above, a good gag about what to do with all the time on your hands when shipwrecked.

"Dearie, I have some great news for you!"

Another cartoon about what has gone on over time on a desert island.

"And now the mast is installed and all we need is a little bit of cloth."

Looks to me like he has on more than her. I look at this art and am confounded by the crosshatching. Is it a sky effect? A twig canopy?

"I don't know why we're running ... in a week we'll probably be chasing him."

Another concession that sex runs rampant on these "nautical but nice" (quote from the frontispiece) South Sea islands. A nice conceit that the lady chasees may soon become future chasers. One mistake: cropping off the top of the seminal palm tree. Now it doesn't read like a palm tree and the only way I know it's an island for sure is because it appears in the book SOUTH SEA CARTOONS.

"Hands off! It's for Daddy's birthday!"

And, last but not least, let's include a cannibal gag. If SOUTH SEA CARTOONS were published today, there would be Lost and Gilligan's Island references in place of these politically incorrect cartoons.



-- Edited from a April 29, 2008 blog entry.