Month: September 2012


So Long For Awhile (’til Oct. 14th)


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yogi-10-14-62.jpgyogi-10-21-62.jpgyogi-10-28-62.jpg We won’t be around for a couple of weeks, so to tide you over, we risk enraging Yowp by posting the Oct. 1962 Yogi Sundays a little early. I’ve included a scan of the original art for the Oct. 7th episode, drawn by Harvey Eisenberg. It’s a bit choppy, because the original was so huge that I could only scan it in little pieces, then assemble it like a puzzle. Harvey did the art for the entire month’s worth of strips.

myrtle-4-21-to-4-26-47.jpg Myrtle, from 4-21-47 to 4-26-47, I like Sampson kicking the radio in the 4-21 and all the references to neighbor Smaltz in the 4-25 and 4-26 strips. The little bird characters that Fisher drew so well make some appearances too. We’ll see you anon, I’ll be painting up the coast with my wife for awhile. ‘Til then, browse the archives and copy your favorite strips.

Junior Times in January 1927 Pt. Two


jr-times-alex-perez-cartoon-1-16-27.jpgjr-times-bob-wick-photo-1-30-27.jpgjr-times-hezy-tate-de-lara-1-16-27.jpgjr-times-jim-dandy-reden-hezy-tate-de-lara-1-30-27.jpgla-jr-times-hezy-tate-de-lara-and-fishy-tales-ellis1-23-27.jpgla-jr-times-pearl-handle-1-16-27.jpgjr-times-pearl-handle-de-lara-1-23-27.jpgjr-times-pearl-handle-de-lara-2-1-23-27.jpgla-jr-times-pearl-handle-de-lara-1-30-27.jpgjr-times-tjc-drawing-by-salkin-1-30-27.jpgla-jr-times-louie-salkin-tiny-brains-1-23-27.jpgjr-times-morey-reden-cartoon-1-30-27.jpgjr-times-frank-tipper-drawing-1-23-27.jpgjr-times-ernie-nordli-cover-1-23-27.jpgjr-times-cal-howard-cover-1-30-27.jpg Here is part two of the January 16th, 23rd and 30th 1927 issues of the Junior Times. Alex Perez leads off with his cartoon about a meeting of the Times Junior Club. He shows a meeting between Aunt Dolly and Bob Wickersham (she calls him “Wicky”), and Manuel Moreno, Secretary of the Club,  is caricatured. There’s also a photo up there of “Wick”, when he was running for President of the T.J.C.. There are new episodes of the comic strips “Hezy Tate” and “Pearl Handle” by Phil De Lara, “Jim Dandy” by Morey Reden, “Fishy Tales” by I. Ellis and “Tiny Brains” by Louie (Leo) Salkin. You’ll see a new year’s drawing by Frank Tipper in which 1927 is a ringer for a kewpie doll. As a coda, don’t miss the 10 dollar prize covers by Ernest (Ernie) Nordli and Cal Howard! Note that Cal has created an “infinity” cover.  All these artists didn’t know it in 1927, but they were about to enter the animated cartoon profession, kicked off in 1928 by a new “talkie” cartoon featuring a musical mouse.

Flintstones Sept. 1962 for Yowp


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flintstones-9-9-62.jpgflintstones-9-16-62.jpgflintstones-9-23-62.jpgflintstones-9-30-62.jpg In answer to Yowp’s post today, here are the third-page versions of the Flintstones Sunday comics from September of 1962. I was comic-cuttin’ crazy in that halcyon year, spending hours trimming strips out of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Globe-Democrat. In retrospect, my time would have been better spent in drawing my own cartoons! I couldn’t see ahead to this bloggin’ era we live in now, so all my strip cuttings have use now as visual backstops for other blogs. Make sure you click “Yowp” on the blogroll over to the right, and you will see the 1/2 page versions of these strips in black and white. Our family loved the Flintstones when they first aired in 1960. My Grandma Vera laughed at the way Fred WALKED! I have no idea who drew these particular pages, not Harvey Eisenberg anyway. I didn’t save as many of these pages as Yogi Bear, perhaps the Globe-Democrat dropped the strip after only a few years. You’ll find that most comic strips that were TV or radio centered only lasted about as long as the heyday of the show from which they were derived. I’m enjoying doing more posts, for now. Just click on the thumbnails to see them larger.

L.A. Junior Times Jan. 1927 Part One


jr-times-i-ellis-cover-1-9-27.jpgjr-times-dunk-dank-ellis-fido-bark-wick-hezy-tate-de-lara-1-2-27.jpgjr-times-fido-bark-2-wick-1-2-27.jpg

jr-times-happy-new-year-wick-1-2-27.jpgjr-times-pearl-handle-de-lara-1-2-27.jpgjr-times-pearl-handle-de-lara-2-1-2-27.jpgjr-times-pearl-handle-3-de-lara-1-2-27.jpgjr-times-hezy-tate-de-lara-1-9-27.jpgjr-times-de-lara-tjc-drawing-1-9-27.jpgjr-times-highshine-joe-reden-1-2-27.jpgjr-times-reden-store-cartoon-1-2-27.jpgjr-times-macy-morehouse-1-2-27.jpgjr-times-going-up-by-frank-tipper-1-9-27.jpg The blog strikes again with more cartoons from the kid cartoonists of the Los Angeles Junior Times! This time we have the goods from Jan. 2nd and 9th, 1927. The lead-off spot is given over to Isadore Ellis, who was one of the great Looney Tunes animators. He was paid 10 silver dollars for this cover of three funny cats singing about a dog who didn’t belong to the T.J.C. We have Ellis’ “Dunk Dank”, a Bob Wickersham “Fido Bark” and a Phil De Lara “Hezy Tate” episode from Jan. 2, 1927. The Times liked “Fido Bark” so much that they ran two of him in the Jan. 2nd issue. We also feature a Wick “Happy New Year” drawing, three “Pearl Handle” panels, another “Hezy Tate” strip (Jan. 9th), and a T.J.C. booster drawing, all by Phil De Lara. There’s also a “Highshine Joe” and a grocery store gag by Morris Redensky (Reden), a Lee Morehouse “Macy” strip and another T.J.C. promo drawing by animation pioneer Frank Tipper. Remember to click on the thumbnail images to see them larger.

Coming soon, Part TWO of the kid cartoonists’ output from Jan. 1927. They wore out a few Estabrooks that month. As I said in previous posts, 1926 and 1927 were the prime years in the Junior Times for amateur-turning-pro cartoonists. In 1928 there were fewer cartoons published, and in 1929, the fashion turned to puzzles and “find the hidden Chinese fishermen” type drawings. Keep reading and commenting, folks, and I’ll try to post more often.

Felix and Krazy Purr Again


krazy_vintage7-28-41.gifkrazy_vintage7-29-41.gifkrazy_vintage7-30-41.gifkrazy_vintage7-31-41.gifkrazy_vintage8-1-41.gifkrazy_vintage8-2-41.gif The blog is back with cats! Krazy (7-28 to 8-2-1941) is rife with bricks and Ignatz gags. I especially like the 7-30 strip, Ignatz is leaving the house and warns Krazy to “don’t let the candle go out.” Krazy promptly locks the door and the candle stays in!

felix-9-16-35.jpgfelix-9-17-35.jpgfelix-9-18-35.jpgfelix-9-19-35.jpgfelix-9-20-35.jpgfelix-9-21-35.jpgfelix-9-22-35.jpg Felix (9-16 to 9-22-1935) has the sailors constantly changing their opinion of Felix from jinx to good luck charm, since he found an ancient hollow idol in the underground city. The idol has a curse on it and seems to cause a volcano to erupt in a beautifully rendered panel in the 9-19, and the frightened sailors high tail it back to the ship, leaving poor Felix to paddle his way out of there in the hollow idol. The idol becomes quite a prop in the strips to come, don’t miss ’em! In the Sunday, Felix continues to stay at the professor’s house and get injections to make him think he’s had a chicken dinner. Felix finds a fluid to make him invisible and get past the professor to some real chicken, but the Prof. feeds a mouse with “Powite” solution and Felix is punched to pieces.

     I’m playing catch-up with the blog now that it’s back up, and soon I’ll do another “Junior Times” post (they are the hardest to do). Until then, thanks everyone for being so patient and continuing to read the Catblog.

It’s Great to Be Bloggin’ Again!


cat-and-cactus-drawing.jpg The Blog froze up about August 28th. A lot of “Deprecated” messages appeared on the top of the page and I couldn’t figure out how to get them off. The entire site was frozen, and I couldn’t access any of the controls, post or edit comments. I appealed to many people for help, and many tried, thanks Adrian, Charles and Thad! Greg Ford, as usual, was the biggest help. He remembered that our web host is GoDaddy.com. The kind people at GoDaddy were able to talk me through the reset process for WordPress, on which this blog is written. Seems I have an old version (5 years old) of WordPress which wasn’t syncing up with newer Plugins and fonts. Now I’ve been updated to Vers. 2.1.3, and you will notice that the masthead and type font is just a little different. I only have two Plugins on the site, both of which are not activated. Whew! The things you have to know just to run a blog! Thanks again kind friends, for putting up with my extreme ignorance regarding the fine points of Plugins and Vers. 2.1.3!

myrtle-4-14-to-4-19-47.jpg I’m not going to do the full quota of comics this time, I’ve been off the blog for so long that I’m going to sashay into it kinda gentle-like. Here’s Myrtle from 4-14 to 4-19-1947 by the great Dudley Fisher. My favorite from the week’s batch is the 4-16, which contains a special preview of “what a Dickens” Myrtle will be like when she’s 16! She has a figure, but even better is the stretched-out pose that Fisher uses to show her energetic attitude.

yogi-9-2.jpgyogi-9-9.jpgyogi-9-16.jpgyogi-9-23-62.jpgyogi-9-30-62.jpg I felt very unhappy that I couldn’t post the Sept. 1962 Yogi Bear Sunday pages due to the blog freeze. Here they are at last, in response to Yowp’s post of Sept. 2nd. They all seem to be by Harvey Eisenberg this time. The 9-30 strip is rather poignant, as President John F. Kennedy would be shot down Nov. 22, 1963, a little more than a year after this strip was published. Caroline Kennedy, who is the little girl in the last panel of the 9-30 Yogi page,  is still around, is a political presence, and a supporter and severe critic of President Obama. Please click the blogroll to the right of the page, to go to Yowp’s website and read his comments on these strips.

     I’ve missed, and haven’t missed writing this blog these past few weeks. It can be a time-consuming task to put this little squeak together. Some nice readers wrote to me and said they would miss this electronic rag if I quit doing it, so for them I’ll continue as long as the software lets me! I’ll try to get some more of my favorite (and yours) Felix, Krazy and L.A. Junior Times comics back here (where they belong) very soon. Computers can still be very formidable critters to deal with at times, especially when you can’t figure out what “Deprecated warnings” mean, let alone “Codex”. Good luck with your blogs, you content providers! See you soon.

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