Mark Kausler’s CatBlog

Christmas Presence

 It’s hard to believe that the Catblog hasn’t had a new post since October! So I’m present, front and center for the Holidays. This is a Christmas card rough featuring Lil Bub and Grumpy Cat, the famous Internet video felines. What? You’ve never heard of them? Well get over to You Tube and do a search! They are the cartooniest live action cats you’ve ever seen. Cathy and I love Lil Bub, look at the August post to see her Birthday drawing of Lil Bub. She’s funny looking, with huge eyes and short, stubby legs but she seems a very agreeable puss. I love the video of her sleeping in front of a fireplace, purring as she sleeps.

 Here’s Felix from 3-5 to 3-11-1933. In the Sunday, Felix knocks himself out trying to impress his haughty girlfriend, who finally thaws out when the Wonderful Cat finds a treasure map! I love that pose in the last panel as the couple stroll down the primrose path and Felix says “Stick to Me and you’ll wear diamonds”. In the Dailies, Felix and Danny find Col. Snooper’s plane as they continue their Arctic exploration. I like Danny’s sentimental attachment to Doris, his home girl, as he sculpts her out of snow in the 3-6.

 Myrtle is with us, originally from 12-6 to 12-12-1948. I love the timing in the 12-7 as Bingo is banished from a comfortable chair to the floor, when Myrtle describes the dog’s current mischief, including chewing the leg off a kitchen chair! The 12-8 is very funny too, as Sampson hurries Myrtle off to a party without checking to see who is throwing it or where it is. Sampson’s hair becomes a question mark as Myrtle asks him “Whose party are we going to?” The Sunday involves the whole neighborhood as Susie tries to balance the checkbook.

 Krazy does a whole week of strips submerged from 3-15 to 3-20-1943 as World War Two creeps into Coconino. The animals are deeply concerned about Uboats and Japanese submarines, although most of the boats turn out to be watermelons and squashes with periscopes stuck into them. I especially like the 3-20 as Offissa Pupp pulls an extra-long periscope out of the water with his crook.

 Here’s your Christmas Present! It’s the Barker Bill Sunday page from 1-2-1955, signed by Paul Terry but drawn by Bob Kuwahara. It was featured in the New York Daily Mirror concurrently with the Barker Bill TV show which featured a lot of the early black and white Paul Terry-Toons. You may remember the theme song: “Who’s the man in the big black hat, and who’s the man who is round and fat, He’s the man you are looking at, his name is Barker Bill!” You’ll notice that Puddy the Pup from the mid-30s Terry-Toons is Bill’s confidant and smarter sidekick in these pages. In this one, Ali K. Zam, the circus magician, gets beaten up by the strong woman; Phyllis Fezeek. As we continue this neglected old blog, you will see some earlier Barker Bill Sunday pages, from 1954. The best of the Holidays to all you readers. As Walt Kelly used to say, “let nothing you dismay”.