Month: November 2015


Farewell Yogi


felix-11-19-to-11-25-34.jpgFelix is from 11-19 to 11-25-1934 this time around. Messmer continues the story of the disgruntled magician’s rabbit from last week, using the magic hat to protect the rabbit from pursuing hounds. Felix then secures a berth with a society dame who is trying to lose weight. The Sunday page is loaded with action as Felix shoots holes in his master’s coat. Check out the 8th panel, Felix trips on a rug in a wild drawing showing him putting the bite on the shotgun as he falls; it’s true cartoon exaggeration.

myrtle-8-23-to-8-29-48.jpg In Myrtle from 8-23 to 8-29-1948, Myrtle just does gags “Right Around Home”. I love Myrtle’s reaction as she inhales soapy water from a bubble pipe in the 8-26, and Sampson trying to “make a noise like a rabbit” in the 8-27 is right in character. The Sunday page is beautifully staged, as always. I like Myrtle’s little sit-down machine that picks up lost golf balls on the green at the local driving range.

 krazy-11-30-to-12-5-42.jpg Krazy is from 11-20 to 12-5-42 this time. World War 2 completely takes over the story, as Mrs. Kwakk-Wakk is featured, fighting enemy (probably Japanese) submarines. There are a lot of references to periscopes, and Ignatz uses one in the final panel of the 12-5 strip.

yogi-12-5-65.jpg We bid farewell to the Yogi Bear Sunday pages in this blog, as we post three out of the four Sundays from December, 1965. I haven’t seen the fourth one in years, I look forward to Yowp’s blog at http://yowpyowp.blogspot.com/. Keep checking in with him, for soon he will post all the December Yogi pages in black and white from good quality scans. It’s obvious that the Christmas strip is missing here. Art is probably by Jerry Eisenberg and Iwao Takamoto.

yogi-12-12-65.jpg I really admire the mobile gags in this one. Alexander Calder’s mobile sculptures were popular in the U.S. in the 1960s, so Yogi figures out a practical way to use the large shapes to substitute for fishing lures. There’s even an underwater cross-section in the final panel, featuring some rather confused fish.

yogi-12-19-65.jpg The last Yogi strip for this post is the full half-page version of the 12-19-65. Yogi figures out how to use beaver tails for snowshoes, to get to the market for them. He thoughtfully orders a bag of wood for between-meal beaver snacks. Yogi has never been a really good fit for my blog, but I wanted to give Yowp’s blog a little cross-promotion, so I ran the color pages to complement his black and white scans. I still have a soft spot for the early Hanna-Barbera TV cartoon characters, and Yogi has a claim to part of that spot. Look how long I’ve held on to these old Sunday pages! I find myself doing vocal impressions of the character from time to time, it’s usually his embarrassed laugh: “Hee-ee-ee-ee-ee!” Daws Butler could really inject a note of the hard-sell carnival shell-gamer into Yogi and Hokey Wolf. Yogi managed to come off lovable even though he was a “con-bear”, with no respect for authority. Art Carney’s Ed Norton role in “The Honeymooners” certainly cast a long shadow over the Bear, our family loved Ed Norton. I also tried to imitate Yogi’s special walk and vocally replicate the syncopated tympani and coconut shells that set the rhythm. Now I’ll close the memory book on the Bear, I’ve just run out of the stuff (strips).

I had a pleasant time at the CTN expo at the Burbank Marriott Inn over Nov. 20th and 21st. It was hot and crowded in the tent where they put Jerry’s table, but we were right across from Pixar and Cal Arts’s stands, so a few stray dogies ambled by. I managed to sell three cels from Itza’s cartoons. Old friend Steve Stanchfield bought one. Remember you can buy our cels right through this website, just go to the home page: www.itsthecat.com, and visit the art gallery. If you would like custom made cel set-ups from favorite scenes, just write us here at the blog and we’ll get them for you. $80.00 buys a matted cel set-up with a reproduction background, the original pencil drawings from which they were traced, and a DVDr of the finished cartoon. Get a unique gift for the holidays for your cartoon loving friends. There aren’t many production cels on the market anymore.ctn-expo-table.jpg

Back From Ojai-On to the CTN Expo!


mark-on-trail-ride-ojai.jpg We’re back from Ojai California! Cathy and I had a great time painting and looking that beautiful valley over. I took a 90 minute morning ride on Molly (that’s her above). She was a very gentle horse, only galloped two or three times. We rode through a beautiful oak forest in the Tico Tico mountains. Visit Ojai soon, ride a horse, you’ll be glad you did! The Ojai Film Festival didn’t do as well for me, only 10 people showed up for my “workshop”. The film clips from my career didn’t project really well half the time, due to poor computer mastering. It’s always better to project directly from DVDs, folks. It also helps to have the color adjusted well on your DVD projector.

Look for Itza and me at Jerry Beck’s table at the CTN expo in Burbank, 11-20 and 11-21-2015. I’ll have cels for sale from Itza’s cartoons and I want to meet all my hundreds of blog readers, so get on down!

felix-11-12-to-11-18-34.jpg Felix is from 11-12 to 11-18-1934 this time. Messmer does a funny 6-day continuity with Felix displacing a rabbit from a magician’s act and learning how to disappear. I love the 11-17 as the rabbit re-enters the story line and clobbers Felix for taking his job.

myrtle-8-16-to-8-22-48.jpg Myrtle is from 8-16 to 8-22-1948. The first three days are an inspired little fantasy in which Bingo actually talks to Myrtle in English. Freddie has to bribe Bingo so that he WON’T talk and spoil his card game plans.

krazy-11-23-to-11-28-42.jpg Krazy originally ran from 11-23 to 11-28-1942. World War Two has really taken over the continuity this week, as planes, tanks and bombs are gag foils. Ignatz starts bombing Coconino from his little airplane with bricks. In the 11-24, Offissa Pupp gives Krazy a helmet to protect him from the “mice” missiles. The Kat’s dialog is partially blocked in the last panel; it should read: “Rain on the roof, how nice.” I hope you have enjoyed all the comics this time, remember to click the thumbnails to enlarge. See you at the CTN Expo!

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