Happy Mews Year!
If y’all can lay off the spirits long enough to read my blog, here’s the last of my Webb Smith articles from Aug. 21st, 1927 called “Premier Foils Sol on Sword”, originally published in the Los Angeles Examiner.
Felix is from 8/3 to 8/9/1936 this time. Snobbs the butler’s troubles with Mrs. Boo’s baby continue, and Felix goes fishing with Mr. Dooit. The Sunday 8/9 page is beautifully drawn as Socky the bodyguard gets in to the act, punching out Joe the Tailor, who has to prove his identity the hard way!
Krazy Kat is from 1/22 to 1/27/1940 this time. Mrs. Kwakk-Wakk and Ignatz fool around with the pun: “You Can’t Shoo (shoe) a Horsefly”. This same line was used in the Max Fleischer Color Classic of 1940, “You Can’t Shoe A Horsefly”, featuring the song of the same title by Sammy Timberg. My guess is that the gag was started on radio in 1939! The next two days are taken up by a visiting ventriloquist who makes eggs and bricks talk, and then some brick gags. Ignatz gets a rare sock on 1/26.
Here are the first 5 “Patrick” daily strips by Mal Hancock, carefully cut from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch by yours truly. These are almost certainly from 1965, 10/25 to 10/29. Mal Hancock drew several daily strips, Patrick was the second one he did, it lasted until 1969. I thought of it as the “Anti-Peanuts”, Patrick was mean and maladjusted and proud of it. I love the cartooniness of the drawings, and how Hancock uses lettering as almost another character in the strip. Mal or Malcolm Hancock, was born in 1936 and died of cancer in 1993. He suffered an accident as a teenager which paralyzed him from the waist down. He evidently was in quite a lot of pain throughout his short life, which may have influenced the sardonic tone of his humor. He was best known for his magazine cartoons for the National Review, and other magazines. This shows what the Post-Dispatch comic section did to a lot of the dailies; they printed them in color! I spent a lot of time (too much time) cutting these out and storing them in envelopes. At least you can see them in good scans and in color this way, instead of (ugh)Â microfilm!
Hey Folks, it’s story-telling time once again! I thought I’d kick off 2010 by telling you one of my favorite stories from the book “Short Stories for Short People” by Alicia Aspinwall. Alicia was a great fantasist, and unjustly forgotten today. “Short Stories” was published in 1896, and was in it’s 24th printing by 1929. The story I will read to you is called “Tula Oolah”, the story of a tiny elephant that Celia and Soft-Eyes the seal found on the beach. (Original illustration by Marie L. Danforth):  This is my clumsy way of trying to preserve the oral tradition in story-telling. Our world is so media-cluttered that I fear we are losing our ability to just sit down with each other and tell stories. I have so many favorites that will never have a chance to be filmed or animated, so maybe I can spark your imaginations in this way. “Short Stories for Short People” was introduced to me by our beloved Bristol School (Webster Groves, Mo.) librarian, Miss Bedell.  Miss Bedell read to us, as I remember, several times a week in her magical school library in a special period, usually at noon. She didn’t teach a class formally, but just tried to give us a love of literature. She was a stern, strict disciplinarian who ruled by sharp looks and a commanding voice. She often stayed after school, re-binding the books herself with special cloth and glue. Her indoctrination into books didn’t quite work on me, I love literature, but it’s mostly antique juveniles that fill my cup with joy. How many of you remember collections of stories like “Told Under the Magic Umbrella”, or Andrew Lang’s “The Blue Fairy Book”? I hope you enjoy “Tula Oolah”, I’ve recorded it with a new digital microphone, with as few mistakes as possible: http://www.zshare.net/audio/707198640d964d03/.
Enjoy! We’ll see you again soon.
David Ice says:
Hi Mark,
I doubt if you remember me, but I met you when you came to San Diego State University and did a talk–about 1975. I kept in touch and even visited you a few times when you were at your bungalow off of, what was it, Hyperion? I just remember it was right off the end of the Glendale Freeway.
I was the film student who was really into collecting cartoons. (Also a frustrated animator!) I later went to USC and then became a Sound Editor at Fox and from there moved to all the other studios.
I would always look for your name on credits, and I think the last time I saw you was at the crew party for PRINCE AND THE PAUPER. I was sound editor for reel three and you told me you animated the owl at the coronation.
That was the only animation I ever sound edited, and it really gave me renewed respect for the art form. In terms of sound, everything is foreshortened! An explosion only lasts a precious few exposures, but the sound effects lasts for several feet! It was a real challenge for me to cut things down to a few frames-worth and still capture the reality of the sound, but fit the cartoon action. When I was doing that reel, it took me 3 weeks to edit 6 minutes! I remember editing the scene where Goofy grabs Donald by the throat. My only sound was a vocal from the actor. I added a realistic “grab” sound, then added a juicy squish to that, then added a sort of–pardon the expression–balloon fart (stretching the neck of a balloon and allowing a little air to escape.) Four sound effects for about 4 frames of action. And when you see the final result…yeah, that’s what Donald sounds like when you grab him by the neck.
I was delighted to watch the pencil test of IT’S THE CAT. What a wonderful effort and so beautifully realized! I can’t wait to see the follow-up!
I’ve retired back to Phoenix but still keep my fingers busy playing harp (who’da thunk it?) and doing some videotape editing. It’s great to find you online and just wanted to say hi and that I’m always watching for your name!
David Ice
Paul Etcheverry says:
Happy New Year, Mark – hope to see ya sometime in 2010!
– – – – Paul
Mark says:
Hi David,
Glad you are playing the harp in Phoenix. Sorry, but I don’t remember you or speaking at San Diego State in 1975 (35 years ago). I hardly remember the wrap party for THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER. My wife and I encounter it’s director, George Scribner, every once in a while when we are out plein air painting. George is a good painter, and we’ve been to an art opening of his. I’m glad you liked the pencil test of “It’s ‘The Cat'”, and the closely-matched action. I’m really hoping the next cartoon, “There Must Be Some Other Cat” will be finished this year. “It’s ‘The Cat'” used to be on-line in color, but the two sites it was on failed with paid downloads. It’s now streaming for free, but I won’t say where, since I don’t approve of the presentation! Thanks very much for writing, I’m so sorry my memory is so poor.
Regards, Mark
David Ice says:
Great to hear back from you, Mark! To be honest, I would have been astounded if you remembered me! I was sort of an inbetween in your life’s journey, flitting by in an eyeblink. Is George any relation to Rod Scribner from the early WB cartoons?
I’ll keep looking for you in the credits! I just finished directing/shooting a “live action cartoon” for my wedding group, “How NOT to have a Wedding.”
David Ice
Mark says:
Hello again David,
George and Rod Scribner are not related, and poles apart in animation philosophies. Hope your wedding “cartoon” turns out to your satisfaction. My next “credit” will (God permitting) be on “There Must Be Some Other Cat”!
All best, Mark