Category: Uncategorized
Rosebud Welcomes Spring
 Cathy loves this little girl. Her name is Rosebud and she’s a rescue. She fell from the back tire of a bus in Springfield, Illinois, to the horror of two women who took the 8 week old kitten to a local animal shelter. She was adopted by Teresa Gregoir, who says that Rosebud has become the “bosscat” of her two Toms at home. The affectionate Rosebud likes to roll on her back and look up as if to say: “Look at me, I’m beautiful!” She has a face to launch a thousand kits!
 Felix is from 1-8 to 1-14-33 this time. In the Sunday, Messmer has fun drawing outlandish dogs and rabbits for a Magician’s act. In the dailies, Felix is jealous of little Doris, Danny Dooit’s new love. We’ll see if the spirit of altruism hits Felix next time and he will accept Doris as a pal.
 Myrtle is from 10-11 to 10-17-1948 this batch. No Hyacinth this time. I like the 10-13 as Myrtle’s Mom lolls all over the easy chair like a teenager figuring out a math problem. Bingo is funny in the 10-16 as he wears all of the necktie salesman’s product. The Sunday is a flight of fancy, as Freddie dreams that he is back in prehistoric times, complete with a dinosaur.
 Krazy is from 1-18 to 1-23-43 on this tour through the Coconino. The first three strips are about a guard shack and a sleepy Offissa Pupp, and the final three revisit the Draft Board as Krazy tries to rob the coop by drafting eggs, including an “addled” egg and a Chinese thousand year old Duck egg. Herriman is beginning to blend his brand of nonsense with the topicality of the war.
Felix Travels Back to 1-1-1933
Felix projects back in time to Jan. 1, 1933! He is once again the family pet of the Danny Dooit family and having his problems with space and feline respect. Felix could be a fanciful adventurer and traveller, but his 1930s strips were really family strips, the most common and most profitable newspaper comics format. In the 1920s, domestic situations were less common, but by the time of Bringing Up Father, and even more so, Blondie in 1934, a cast of Mom, Pop and 2 kids were comic gold. Sometimes Felix is crowded out of his own strip by the family or machinations of the human characters. We’ll see how he prevails in 1933.
 Speaking of family strips, here’s Myrtle from 10-4 to 10-10-1948. My favorites are the 10-8 and 10-9, as Myrtle is reduced to knitting at home as Sampson deserts her for a Boy Scout meeting, and when Myrtle is given the go-by as Sampson declines to offer her a ride on his new bike. Her retort is pure Dudley Fisher: “I hope you fall off and break the continuity!” Hyacinth the Cat is not with us this time, not even in the Sunday page, as Myrtle performs an unlikely Juliet to Sampson’s Romeo in amateur theatrics.
 Krazy dailies are from 1-11 to 1-17-1943 and continue to reflect World War 2. Krazy is now in charge of the Coconino draft board and is trying to recruit early birds, worms, snipes and several comical dog characters. I especially like the dogs in the 1-14 and 1-15 strips, as they remind me a bit of Segar’s Wimpy. These dogs are the type to dive for half-finished cigar butts, like Uncle Willie in the Moon Mullins strip and Barney Google in his down and out phases.
Your Comics Page 2-23-2016
 Felix is from 12-24 to 12-31-1934 this time. The 12-31 daily strip is displayed BEFORE the 12-30 Sunday page. The Sandusky Register did not publish on Christmas Day in 1934, so the Felix daily from that date is missing. If anyone can supply the missing daily, you’ll get a lifetime subscription to the Catblog. Felix is struggling mightily to keep his happy new home with the Dooits. He even makes himself into a footstool for Father Dooit in the 12-31. Felix seems to have crossed over into Bringing Up Father territory in the 12-30 Sunday, as he clobbers the Millionaire’s wife with a snowball, stopping her 0ff-key singing, much to the joy of Mr. Millionaire. If you want to continue reading Felix in date order, go to May 27, 2011 in the archives and click on the thumbnails. If you come back here next time, Felix will be skipping back in time to Jan. 1st, 1933. I’m curious where he was living then.
 Myrtle is from 9-27 to 10-3-1948. The dailies tell a continuous story about Bingo talking “real human speech”. Of course, it’s just a gag that Sampson and Myrtle have cooked up, Sampson hides in the closet and talks, while Bingo stands in front of the closed closet door and mouths the words, in an attempt to fool Myrtle’s gullible family. I chuckled at the 10-2, as Bingo gives out with some naughty words. Look at the strip to find out why. Isn’t that lighting effect beautiful in the second panel of the Sunday page? Alas, Hyacinth isn’t with us this time.
 Krazy, from 1-4 to 1-9-1943 still reflects wartime conditions. This time it’s blackouts. Wardens would go around neighborhoods in the WW 2 days, making sure everyone turned their lights out or drew blackout curtains over the windows so that enemy planes would think there were no houses under them. In Coconino County, the citizenry seem to think that if they walk around with blindfolds on, they are sufficiently blacked-out and no enemy can see them. This all leads up to the 1-9, as Krazy points out that blackouts don’t apply to him as he can see in the “dokk”. I love the last panel as an unseen Kat converses with “Mr. Owl”, who has Ignatz with him. Mr. Owl explains to Krazy that he is Ignatz’s “eyes..in the dark”. There is a sinister undertone to this strip, as Owls feed on mice, and maybe Ignatz just escaped becoming owl chow, thanks to Krazy’s natural night vision goggles.
Pow-ah
 Hey, don’t ever let ’em tell you that solar power is easy. We had some panels installed on the roof and it took from last July to January of 2016 to complete the job. The roof had to be re-shingled, then we had to design the system (which took a lot of emails), then they put on the panels, then upgraded the meter to 200 amp service, then installed the inverter to change DC to AC power, then the Glendale Water and Power folks had to inspect the system (3 trips), then install a second meter, then give PTO (Permission To Operate). I threw the switch myself to turn the system on. We are now actually generating power from the sun! The photo above was shot before we got the official PTO. The inverter we got has an outlet on it which you can plug things into during the day if the electric grid does a Ken Lay and shuts down. This was my first brush with solar power and I was very excited and happy! The guy on the right side of the photo is an electrician who works for the solar company we used, Solar Optimum. They STILL aren’t through! A special little computer reader has to be installed to keep track of our generation and usage. Everytime I look at the panels I remember the Bell System Science Series show: “Our Mr. Sun” from 1956, SIXTY years ago. This wonderful TV show, directed by Frank Capra and Bill Hurtz (animation),
 predicted that the solar energy from Mr. Sun would solve the Earth’s fuel problem and even predicted the Solar Battery! After all this time, there still isn’t a really efficient and low cost Solar Battery, but the Tesla company is working on one. Hopefully Big Oil won’t buy up the patent THIS time! At last, part of the scenario of “Our Mr. Sun” is a reality.
 Felix, 12-17 to 12-23-1934, features Felix’s happy reunion with the Danny Dooit family, and their cantankerous Dachshund. Plenty of long dog gags here. In the Sunday page, Felix continues to stay with the Millionaire’s family, feeding his bonanza of fresh milk to his alley cat buddies.
 Myrtle is from 9-20 to 9-26-1948 this time. I like the 9-24, as Myrtle discovers a box of candy on the upstairs bed, then has to pretend she knows nothing when Freddy asks her about it. I like the little coy pose she does in the last panel. Myrtle’s bare head makes a rare appearance in the 9-22 as her hat flies off in surprise when the clock Sampson is repairing strikes 13. In the Sunday, Hyacinth the cat holds her nose at Myrtle’s fish catch in the second panel.
 Some WW 2 “Spy” points get made in the Krazy dailies from 12-28-1942 to 1-2-1943. Ignatz is in the “Sicritt Soivitz” and gets all his information from the “Grape Wine”. Check out Garge’s mastery of knife technique in the 1-1 and 1-2-1943 strips, especially the final panel of the 1-2, as a character emerges from the “Grape Wine” who reminds me of Winston Churchill. The delicate knife scratches look like fine branches of ferns that surround the “Churchill” character. Probably by this time in his career, George Herriman’s arthritis problems were starting to affect his drawing, as was the reduction in daily strip space caused by the wartime demand for newsprint.
So Long, Carson
 I’m very sorry to report the passing of a real cartooning icon, Mr. Carson Van Osten. The L.A. Times Obituary writer can’t seem to decide whether Carson left us on November or December 22nd, 2015, but this Obit. didn’t get published until January 10th, 2016. Carson started out animating or assisting, maybe both. I can’t remember if he always worked at Disney’s or not. Perhaps I met him during my freelancing years in the 1970s and 1980s. He got kicked upstairs at Disney’s, becoming a model trouble-shooter on all the classic characters, especially Mickey Mouse. In 1988, I was doing some animation on the “Mickey’s 60th” TV special. One of the segments of that special featured Mickey’s visit to the “Cheers” bar. If you look at the snapshots above, you’ll see Kirstie Alley and Ted Danson with Mouse stand-ins, arranged so we animators could gauge the relative sizes of Mickey and the “Cheers” cast. I remember it was kind of risque to have Mickey in a bar setting, I hadn’t seen “Plight of the Bumble Bee” at that point, or the idea of the mix of alcohol and Mouse wouldn’t have seemed so radical. To the right of the Cheers snapshots, you’ll see a rough sketch that Carson drew of Mickey in a casual outfit, complete with tennis shoes. The notes in red, are in my friend Sam Cornell’s printed script. Sam directed the “Cheers” sequence, and I seem to recall he was quite taken with Ms. Alley. Carson worked on many Disney television projects, merchandise designs and notably, the comic strip department. If you look around the Internet, you’ll probably find some of Carson’s wonderful “style guides”, which not only featured Disney character drawing hints, but advice on how to make an effective panel layout, the “silhouette” rule, and other theories. I didn’t realize that Carson had gone to Disney Paris, in 1994, or was voted a Disney Legend this past August. Carson was a very talented cartoonist, and evidently a painter of miniatures as well. (Read the Obit.) In addition, Carson was a heckova nice guy, a very patient teacher and very fast on the comeback, especially when defending his drawing expertise. I haven’t seen him since 1988, but I’ll always remember. This little post is designed as a memorial to Carson; who should be remembered by anyone who admires good Disney-style drawing in the classic manner. Adios, good friend.
 Felix, from 12-10 to 12-16-1934 has Felix emerging from his hollow tree hiding place and attempting to return the stolen jewelry that the robber put into the tree. It turns out that the jewels belong to the Danny Dingle family! Felix is reunited with his favorite family at last. In the Sunday, Elmer the millionaire kicks Felix out of his house, and back IN to win a bet with his wife. Felix now has TWO families, Daily and Sunday.
 Myrtle’s from 9-13 to 9-19-1948 this post, a bunch of non-continuity gags this time in the dailies. The Sunday features Hyacinth the Cat in a non-speaking role as the neighborhood meets the local Weatherman. I admire the way Fisher designs the Sunday pages so that the reader can start anywhere on the page, with any balloon, and understand the story.
 Krazy, from 12-21 to 12-26-1942, the characters keep busy for “Our Duration”. Mrs. Kwakk-Wakk in the 12-21 is thought by Krazy to be a “Snoopa”. The brick is delivered by air on the 22nd and 23rd, and Offissa Pupp’s Jail goes plastic, followed by Ignatz’s Brick on the 24th and 25th. Durable goods made out of plastic were considered very newfangled in the 1940s, reference the Donald Duck cartoon, “The Plastics Inventor” (1944) with the Duck’s all-plastic airplane that melts in water. Ignatz actually pulls a rifle on Offissa Pupp in the Dec. 26th strip, but the Pupp ignores him. I hope that Carson read my blog from time to time, he was a great fan of Gottfredson and Barks.
Out with the Old, in with the OLDER
 Happy 2016, gentle readers! Here is Felix from 12-3 to 12-9-1934. All the dailies are set near Felix’s new home, a hollow tree. In the 12-7, we see a typical Messmer human (a burglar, naturally), made of very rounded shapes. I love how the checked pants define his stomach and legs in the second panel. This story continues soon. In the Sunday, Felix loses another home as he sets up listening tubes for his alley cat friends, which they use as kitty entrance pipes. I love Messmer’s knack for designing cartoon cats, you can see that in the third panel and in the last row.
 Myrtle is from 9-6 to 9-12-1948 this time out. The first two dailies form a story, as Myrtle sticks her tongue out at Bingo, and Sampson follows suit. The 9-9 has some of the unique Dudley Fisher gag timing, as Bingo holds a dime in his mouth to fool Sampson, only to swallow the ten cent piece in the last panel when Myrtle is paying for a soda! The Sunday is a two-panel masterpiece of composition and story. You can almost start anywhere on the page and get a main story point (the burglary), and all the character’s reactions. Hyacinth the cat makes a rare appearance in the second panel on the right hand side of the page.
 World War Two, referred to by Garge as “Our Duration”, continues to set the background for the gags in Krazy Kat from 12-14 to 12-19-1942. Even the peaceful Krazy does soldier duty for Kokonino Kounty in the “Lend Patrol” in the 12-14. There are references to “Dim-Outs”, “Second Front”s and in the 12-17 to 12-19 dailies, Ignatz proves to be an inexpert parachutist. Ig manages to sneak a brick past Offissa Pupp in the 12-19, by parachute!
Thanks all youse guys and gals, for sticking with the Catblog throughout 2015. We’ll sho try to give you the mosta of the besta in the coming year.
Christmas Present
 Here’s wishing the best of the Holiday Season to all my readers wherever you are! As a special “gift”, I’ve put up these two sides from Walt Kelly’s series of cardboard records for the Story Book Record Company. He recorded these in 1946, early in the wave of post World War 2 children’s records. He did 16 sides in all, they only run a little over a minute per side, because they turn at 78 RPM. These two stories, The Lion and the Mouse and The Traveling Musicians are good examples of Kelly reading and performing in his hysterical and histrionic acting style. Mike Barrier in his 2015 volume called “Funnybooks”, tells the story of these recordings on pages 226 and 227, get your copy for Christmas! What I love about these records is that I got to experience the younger Walt Kelly when he had his full range of bass and treble and could do squeaky mouse voices or grumbling, roaring lion voices and narrate the story in his “normal” tone of voice. As you listen to these, imagine you are watching Kelly pitch a storyboard, his pitching style was probably quite a lot like these records sound. His voice changed considerably by the time he recorded “Go Go Pogo” and “Lines Upon A Tranquil Brow” for the 1956 record album, “Songs Of The Pogo”. His energy fell considerably, he can barely bellow out “Break Out the Cigars, This Life is For Squirr’ls. We’re off to the drugstore to whistle at girls.” I won these records on Ebay, and digitized them from our old 78 turntable. The sound has an electronic “hum” in it, and The Traveling Musicians has a skip or two, but these are only cardboard base records with plastic grooves laminated on to them, so just go along with them. Consider it time travel! Click on the line below; that should get you over to the Archive.org website, where you will see a player bar. I hope you will enjoy them.
https://archive.org/embed/WaltKellyReadsChildrensStories
 Felix is from 11-26 to 12-2-34 this time out. Felix loses his home with the wealthy dieting lady and her family after eating up too much of his mistress’s food. I love the 11-28 as Felix does a gag from which Tex Avery spun a lot of comedy gold in his 1940s MGM cartoons. The old “Hospital Zone” joke, as Felix gets swatted by a cop’s club and runs into the woods, before he can say “OW”. Tex used this in “Rock-a-bye Bear” for instance, as Butch the Bulldog has to continually run out of the sleeping bear’s hibernation house so that he won’t scream “OW” or “YEOW” and wake the bear up. The pose of Felix in the third panel of the 12-1 was duplicated on a strip of wallpaper designed for a child’s room in the 1930s. The Sunday page continues Felix’s adventures with the wealthy tycoon who adopted him. Felix scares a burglar away with a pair of huge arms which he accidentally broke off of a statue.
 Here’s Dudley Fisher’s “Right Around Home” from 8-30 to 9-5-1948. This time, Freddie worries about his bald spot in the first three dailies, and Myrtle has a problem with moving her chair, so that her Mother Susie can sweep under it, in the next two dailies. In the Sunday, “Bingo’s Birthday” Bingo and his dog friends have a picnic lunch, while Hyacinth the Cat, next door, misses her date with Thomas, the pet cat of Freddie and Susie’s next door neighbors.
 Krazy is from 12-7 to 12-12-1942 and continues Mrs. Kwakk-Wakk’s Submarine Spy Center from last time. I love the last panel in the 12-8, as Offissa Pupp is shocked by an electric eel. The original art from this panel, is a great Herriman “scratch-off” demonstration. Garge paints a lot of solid black in the panel in question and begins to carve out his delicate cross-hatched look with a steel etching needle. He apparently lost his scratch board, so he had to start over again. So the next time you lose your scratchboard, just paint a puddle of ink on a piece of Bristol board and scratch! You’ll be walking in the foot steps of giants and scratching with the best of them.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all, Feliz Navidad and Prospero Ano Nuevo! Mark
Farewell Yogi
Felix 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.
 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 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.
 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.
 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.
 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.
Back From Ojai-On to the CTN Expo!
 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 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 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 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!
OJAI FILM FESTIVAL and A FOND FAREWELL
 In Felix, 11-5 to 11-11-1934, the homeless cat tangles with a snake charmer and a real snake, and figures out how to get a free meal from the mind reader, Madame Seezall. Felix has found a new home in the Sunday page and makes friends with a new little boy, but accidentally lets a flock of Messmer owls into the joint in the last two panels.
 Myrtle this week is from 8-9 to 8-15-1948. The 8-10 episode originally appeared on my birthday, 67 years ago. Lots of good Bingo gags this week, and Hyacinth the cat dominates the 8-14 as she puts the grip on Bingo’s tail through a hole in the fence. Watch for her in the “Our Ice Cream Social” Sunday page, as she again attacks Bingo’s tail, starting to tie a big knot in it.
 Krazy is all about Kommandos in the strips from 11-16 to 11-21-1942. The word “kommando” in German means “Unit” or “Command”, but was sort of re-defined in English as an undercover soldier or spy. Offissa Pupp, Ignatz and possibly Krazy are in disguise for most of the week. The War subtly enters Coconino again, but Garge doesn’t take it too seriously.
 Here’s the penultimate appearance of Yogi Bear in this blog! In the November, 1965 Sunday pages, Yogi plays baseball with Huck, Quick Draw, Boo Boo and Baba Louie in the November 7th episode. That’s a great pose in the 5th panel as Yogi swats the ball, but a rather strange result as he supposedly smashes the bottom of a glass bottom boat with the fast moving spheroid. That would have to be some crazy hit to loop around and smash the glass bottom from the top! Ranger Smith appears in the 11-7 and 11-14 strips and his wife appears in the 11-28, featuring another tiny bit awkward gag as Yogi puts in strings of lights for the Ranger Ladies Annual Outdoor Dance. Mrs. Smith and the other girls look like typical Hanna-Barbera women, probably Iwao Takamoto’s designs. The 11-28 really looks like Willie Ito’s drawings, as Yogi dreams about Cindy Bear in the first panel. The Bunny, Owl and drowning man also look like characters that Willie could have designed. Sometime next month I’ll post the last Yogi Sundays that I cut out of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in December of 1965. Yowp has tapped into a New York newspaper site that has beautiful copies of the half-page Yogi Bear Sundays in black and white, so from now on visit his blog for more adventures of that braggin’ bruin. His address is www.yowpyowp.blogspot.com.
     Itza Cat and I will be at the Ojai Film Festival in Ojai, Ca. on November 7th, 2015. We will be presiding over an Animation Workshop at the Art Center Gallery. For more info go to http://www.ojaifilmfestival.com/workshops/. The great Jim Keeshan (he’s related to Bob Keeshan of Captain Kangaroo and Clarabelle Clown fame) will be interviewing me about my career. We’ll be showing a lot of animated cartoon clips from stuff I’ve worked on since the early 1970s through 2011. So if you are around there on Nov. 7th, please drop by, it’s only 15 little dollars.
  A dear friend of Itza Cat’s, and a cherished Ailurophile, a wonderful lady named Ronnie Scheib has left us. She and her S.O. Greg Ford, struggled against her cancer and fought it off for awhile, but eventually poor Ronnie succumbed to it. Ronnie was a good friend for many years and dearly beloved by Greg, who was constantly at her side for the last several years both in the hospital and at home. Ronnie had one of those soft New York accents that was very pleasant to listen to, a bit like Harpo Marx’s speaking voice by some accounts. She was a very good film reviewer, she and Greg collaborated on many columns for Daily Variety for a number of years, you may still find some of her by-lined reviews on-line. Ronnie travelled to many film festivals to see cinema for her columns, often working from hotel rooms and “faxing” them in to Variety. Her knowledge of cartoons was vast, she loved them almost as much as Greg and I did. She appears on camera in the documentary FORGING THE FRAME, which Greg Ford produced and is on Popeye the Sailor DVD Volume One 1933-1938 on Disc #2. I’m so glad she participated in this one, as her on-camera appearances were rare. She sits on a beautiful overstuffed chair and comments on Winsor McKay, Felix the Cat, Koko the Clown and many other early New York animated personalities. She holds her own quite well alongside such animation wiseguys as Michael Barrier, the late Michael Sporn, Mark Langer, John Canemaker and many others. Itza and I will miss you, Ronnie, wherever you are. Thanks for your support and encouragement over the years. We love you!
Your Comics Page 9-29-2015
 Here’s Felix, 10-29 to 11-4-1934. Felix visits the county fair this week. Lots of sideshow type fun at the carnival, such as the grouchy fat man who trips over Felix in the fat man’s race, then rolls over the finish line. He’s grateful to Felix and calls him a lucky cat in the 11-1. Watch that snake charmer in the 11-3, he comes back into the dailies next week. In the Sunday from 11-4, Felix is happy to be back on dry land and takes shelter in a pet store. There, he is observed by a rich dowager and her little boy, Milton. The dowager buys Felix for Milton but his father “don’t approve of him–bah”, as he exclaims in the last panel. I love how merry Felix looks even though he isn’t in a loving household like Danny Dooit’s.
 Myrtle is from 8-2 to 8-8-1948 this time out. In an idea that Ward Greene originated in his “Happy Dan, the Whistling Dog” short story from 1937, Myrtle decides to teach Bingo to whistle. (Ward Greene’s story inspired the Disney feature cartoon, “Lady and the Tramp”, and in comic strips, Greene created Scamp, the strip about Tramp’s little son.) Almost immediately, Bingo begins annoying the community with his new skill. Slug thinks that Bingo is his girl in the 8-6. Apparently, Slug and his girl have a secret whistle signal to each other and Slug winds up kissing Bingo after hearing his whistle. Even Junior, Bingo’s canine sidekick develops a super powerful whistle in the 8-5 that nearly busts Myrtle, Sampson and Bingo’s ear drums. The Sunday shows Mac and Freddie camping out with a 1948 television receiver and a portable refrigerator while everybody else prefers a primitive campsite.
 Krazy is from 11-9 to 11-14-1942 for this round. Garge continues the Cow Jumped Over the Moon jokes from last week. In the 11-12, the cow and a hen seem to be imitating Frank Nelson from the Jack Benny program as they both use his catch phrase, “DO I!” The shifting Coconino backgrounds are outstanding in the 11-13, especially the mountains evolving out of clouds in panel two, and the mesa emerging from darkness in panel four. In the 11-14, Krazy reacts in a Yiddish accent to a grandfather clock that chimes 13, as he cries out: “I Dun’t Billiv It”!
 The Ranger and the Indian tribe appear twice in the Yogi Bear Sunday pages from October, 1965. The cartooning is good in these strips, might be by Iwao Takamoto or Jerry Eisenberg, or a combination of both. Yogi’s solution for getting his head caught in a bee hive is very similar to Groucho getting his head caught in a big jar in “Duck Soup”, they draw faces on the surface of the hive and big jar to disguise themselves. In the 10-21, the Ranger tries to tie down an apple tree so that Yogi won’t bump into it and smash the greenhouse glass panes with the apples. In “Moon Mullins” fashion, Yogi trips on the rope and smashes the next two greenhouses in line with the apple missiles. We’ll have more comic delights here next time.
Your Comics Page 9-15-2015
 Felix from 10-22 to 10-28-1934 features a horse that Felix is grooming for racing at the County Fair named Dobbin. Dobbin can’t race because the judges grabbed his horse shoes for a pitching contest. The 10-26 features a black guy who is confused with an eggplant and in the Sunday page, Felix gets booted back to land after consuming the entire day’s catch of fish. Dig that cat design in the “Laura” topper, he resembles Krazy just a bit.
 In Myrtle, from 7-26 to 8-1-1948, Sampson sews up Freddie’s shower curtain and turns on the cold water after Freddie refuses to talk to him, Susie spanks Myrtle for sitting in the corner instead of standing in the corner in the 7-31, and in Dudley Fisher fashion, this action occurs BETWEEN panels three and four. In the Sunday, the whole town goes on a picnic by the lake and Myrtle goes skinny dipping, refusing to come out even when it rains.
 Krazy, from 11-2 to 11-7-1942, has Garge in a literary mode, doing a whole week’s worth of strips based on the old nursery rhyme; “Hey, Diddle Diddle”. The cows and the bull in the first 4 strips sport rather outlandish feet, more like human hands than hoofs. Krazy tries to jump over the moon in the 11-6 and Offissa Pupp is definitely not the little dog who laughed as he truculently jails the dish for “kidnaping” the spoon! CU soon!
Your Comics Page Marches On! August 30 2015
 In our comics this time, we start with Myrtle by Dudley Fisher from 7-19 to 7-25-1948. The first three dailies center around a weird character called Mr. Dinglebott who causes a handyman to hold on to the wrong end of a soldering iron in the 7-21. There is a good example of Dudley Fisher’s gag timing in the 7-24 daily. There’s a comic strip “stage wait” in the last panel as Myrtle busts open the front door on her way to rip her rival for Sampson’s affections, “Gussie”, to pieces! The Sunday features a visit to the zoo, with plenty of downshot antics in the Monkey enclosure.
 Felix comes to us from 10-15 to 10-21-1934. Felix is back on the farm in the dailies, but runs into raging pork as he tries to balance out the lives of two farm pigs, one fat, one only plump. In the Sunday, Felix is beyond the 12 mile limit as he tries to trick his way into port, even impersonating two sharks with his ears placed just below the water’s surface.
 In Krazy, from 10-26 to 10-31-1942, Ignatz and Offissa Pupp continue to be at eternal cross-purposes to defray the brick from reaching Krazy’s noggin. I like the 10-29 as Pupp flies his own plane and nabs the brick in mid-air; just look at that beautiful cross-hatching surrounding the aircraft. I also like the 10-30, as a flea who looks like he escaped from Garge’s illustrations for Don Marquis’ “Archy and Mehitabel”, charges Ignatz and winds up hitting bottom in a deep canyon. Krazy’s special language is evident in the 10-29 as he completes the thought, All Wool–“and not a Yodd Wide.”
 Yogi continues his Jellystone adventures in all four Sundays from September, 1965. I like the gag in the 9-26 strip as Yogi fakes a feathered head-dress to gain entry into the Indian Pow-wow. I think it’s a beaver strapped to Yogi’s hat, isn’t it? Yogi drives a runaway bulldozer and flies a park helicopter upside down. He also figures out a way to cheat at archery, driving Ranger Smith loco. I suppose the art on these is mostly by Iwao Takamoto, but they could also be by Willie Ito or Jerry Eisenberg, depending on who’s commenting. Remember to visit Yowp-Yowp’s H-B blog at www.yowpyowp.blogspot.com , for more anaylsis of these comics, if you’re lucky!
Charles Schulz, Theresa and Yours Truly
 Here’s a scan of an old slide that my brother discovered in the family archives, and it prompted this reminiscence:
The San Diego Comic-Con was at the El Cortez Hotel in 1975, and I went there with my dear friends Vincent and his first wife, Theresa, Davis. I knew that Charles Schulz was to be a guest, and I brought a copy of the first “Peanuts” book with me in case I had the good luck to meet him–and behold(!) I spotted him striding fast across the lobby of the El Cortez, and I practically tackled him. I was lucky to find Mr. Schulz by himself, armed with felt tip pens. I asked for his autograph and timidly requested a Snoopy–He looked pretty annoyed–but obliged me–you can see the drawing above. Later on, Vincent talked Mr. Schulz into posing for this slide–of course Theresa was pretty enticing in her girl scout outfit, so once again Mr. Schulz obliged us zany fans.
Charles Schulz is an early example of a comic strip fan becoming a member of the fourth estate–after all, his nick-name was “Sparky”-after Billy DeBeck’s “Spark Plug”. What a great thrill it was to meet him–going to the Comic-Con with Vince and Theresa was an annual event in my life for about 5 years. You should have seen Vincent handle all those famous cartoonists–he was never intimidated and his humorous appearance was a great ice breaker. Those days are gone forever–but I’ll always remember.
 In Krazy this week–from 10-19 to 10-24-1942, there’s plenty of slapstick in the 10-19 as Krazy socks Ig with a rock in retaliation–only bricks are pleasurable to KK. I love the “ZIZ” lettering in the 10-20 as “Kapri Kornus” the goat, butts Ig. There is kwirky kat langwitch in the 10-21 as KK says “Paul Troom” as code for “poltroon”. Ignatz paraphrases the early 1940s song hit: “I’ve Got Spurs” in the 10-22, and the brick-tossing coconut monster in the 10-24 is a vintage Herriman Horror.
Myrtle from 7-12 to 7-18-1948 features a story that lasts until 7-16, of a broken dinner plate. Sampson tries to replace the prized plate that Myrtle broke, but secretly “borrows” the plate from Bingo! If you find Sampson’s lisp annoying, you’ll love the 7-17 as Myrtle does something about it. The Sunday page is called “Ship Ahoy!!!” and features Dudley Fisher’s patented two panel down shot layout, as Myrtle hooks an extremely powerful fish.
 “Just a rolling stone, that’s me” Felix from 10-8 to 10-14-1934, features the homeless puss taking up with a sculptor, then a hypnotist. I love the statue coming to life in the 10/9, as Felix, hiding in the clay, brings it to life. Felix uses the old mirror gag in the 10/13 to turn the hypnotist into a chicken. The Sunday page looks like Felix is going home at last, but he is a Cat without a Country as the Captain of the ship is too cheap to pay import duty on Felix, so he is repatriated to the sea.
Thanks to all you readers for sticking with me. I just turned 67 on August 10th and will soon qualify as the world’s oldest boy cartoonist. C Ya!
Mr. Sun Delivers!
May 10, 2016
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Mark
Gentle readers, Mr. Sun has really delivered the power! If you examine the statement above on the bottom, we generated 54 Kilowatt Hours more than we used. That power is now “banked” in the Glendale Power Grid for us to draw upon when we need it. The chart on the top took me awhile to figure out, but the “APR 16” Bar really says it all, we actually posted negative use for electricity in the current billing cycle! The Bar shrunk to a little blue rectangle at the bottom of the chart. Of course, you know that Kilowatt Hours are a measure of the power our Solar panels generate, and Watts or Watt Hours are a measure of the energy actually USED. Just think, ONE Kilowatt Hour is enough energy to power a TV set for 10 clock hours, a radio for 20 hours and a computer for 5 to 10 hours depending on how much the computer is doing. What I don’t understand is: Why aren’t MORE people doing this? WHY are people content to permit the big oil and coal companies to frack, drill, strip-mine and remove mountain tops when they can generate their own Kilowatt Hours and run a surplus? Why do the idiots still shout “Drill, Baby, Drill!”, when they could power an electric car from solar energy? More of us should have converted to Photovoltaic Panels 20 years ago, then maybe Global Warming wouldn’t be the problem that it is for us today. Readers, if you can look at the charts above, and NOT even CONSIDER what Solar Power can do for you, and for the EARTH, then your subscriptions to the Catblog are hereby terminated.
I apologize for the long absense. I deserve to lose all my readers for this, I still enjoy blogging, but it’s a lot of effort for a little screed that you get for free. I used to print a hectograph newspaper when I was a kid and tried to get 3 cents a copy for it. Most of the time I was lucky to sell them for a penny. I used to print about 25 copies an issue. This here blog could be read by millions of people all over the world, but generates not one penny in income. Don’t get me started on the Domain Name fees!
Love Yez, Mark