Mark Kausler’s CatBlog

 Man, these blogs are just a lot of damned hard work sometimes! This thing is running away with itself, but I just love these old strips and the early work of famous animators, so here we go again with the L.A. Junior Times from 1926! There’s a cover up there from Feb. 28th, 1926, by the pioneering comics editor and cartoonist, Chase Craig! I like the collage he brings to the design, like no other cover designer I’ve seen so far. He received the grand total of ten dollars for his design, large money for a kid in 1926. There are two “Al Falfa” strips by Chase from Feb. 14th, 1926 and an “Archy Jr.” strip by Chase’s pal, Al Perez. Al puts Chase in his “Archy Jr.” strip and makes fun of the “Al Falfa” character. I wonder if Chase knew about FARMER Al Falfa? I love these strips not so much for the jokes, which are strictly Capt. Billy material, but for all the comaraderie and high energy in the Junior Times strips. Note also that Chase had his own fanzine he published from his home in Texas called “Cartoonist and Illustrator”. I have never seen an issue of that ‘zine, have you? For a real jolt of L.A. history, check out “Bobbie’s Clown” from March 7th, 1926 by Bobby Richards. The Clown and his pal visit the Chaplin studio over on La Brea as Charlie films “The Circus”. The first panel is quite authentic, that’s the way the entrance to the studio really looked. I’ve also posted three Fred Moore cartoons, two strips, from Feb. 28th and March 21st, and another 10 dollar cover design, from March 28th, 1926. I don’t quite know what Fred was trying to imply here, did the Times Junior Club eat up it’s members? Even at this early stage of his life, Fred Moore liked cute, appealing characters, and his little cat on the Jr. Times cover is very cute. Fred drew a lot of little kid gags in his comics, these two look like they were stolen from an old Gus Edwards stage routine. Weren’t these kid cartoonists lucky back in ‘26 to have Aunt Dolly of the L.A. Times? She really cared about the kids and promoted their work every way that she could. She threw lavish parties for them downtown with guests like Hoot Gibson and Tom Mix, full jazz band orchestras and all the food the kids could eat! More about the Times Junior Club cartoonists next post.

Here’s Barker Bill, from 4/18 to 4/30/1955. The Hippo is in big trouble as she swallows a watch with a radium dial. The midget buys a Geiger counter from Col. Whetwhistle and finds that the Hippo is radioactive! A bunch of gangsters kidnap the Hippo to mine the uranium out of her (they think). Puddy and Barker Bill trail the Hippo to the gangsters’ hide-out. The strip from 4/28 is very blurry on the copy I have here (from the Boston Globe). Here’s the dialog: Gangster: “Another juvenile delinquent, disgustin–” Moll: “Leave the poor kid alone and get goin–” Gangster: “Here goes Moll with her mudderly instincts again–” Moll: (to midget) “Diddums baddums man hittums itty bitty darling–” Midget (thinking): “Humiliatin’–But I better play along–” Puddy (to Bill):”Hey–this gives me a hot idea, Bill–Bzzz–” Puddy figures out a pretty painful way for them to escape.

Felix from 7-15 to 7-21-1935 has Felix and Danny still on the Ape’s island trying to re-join the Captain’s company. But the Professor’s explorers are cut off from the Captain by a giant Armadillo, who does not suffer cartoon cats gladly. Felix flies up in the air on a giant bird to signal the Captain with cigar smoke sky writing (it’s fun to see Felix smoking), and then temporarily blinds the Armadillo with pepper bombs. Will the Professor cut Felix some slack for these brave deeds? In the Sunday, Felix reforms a robber by giving him a nightmare in which all his body parts are wanted by various dentists and doctors and Indians of Dreamland. The robber is scared straight.

 In Krazy, from 5-26 to 5-31-1941, there are two phony brick gags, two “chiggen” gags, featuring incubators and an aborted ”tryst” turned into a “twist” ending by Ignatz. Herriman continues to suggest a stage setting for the Coconino Kast by popping floorboards and rugs into his foregrounds whenever he can. I especially like the 5-27, with it’s dirt path, cobblestones, floorboards and hedge that falls out of the last panel, while the big tree trunk remains stationary.

 Here’s Myrtle (Right Around Home) by Dudley Fisher, from 1-18 to 2-14-1947. Next post we will get into a more regular sequence with the dates, this time we skip a lot. Bingo the merry dog is featured in the 1-18, 1-31 and 2-8, and Myrtle’s mischievous traits are revealed in the 2-7 (she plays poker better than her Dad) and the 2-14, in which she tries to start a fight between the neighbor and her Dad just for her own amusement. I love the pose that Sampson takes in the second panel of the 2-10 as he gives out with a loud “Whoop”! Fisher’s strips are full of beautiful, flexible character poses and wonderful arrangements of his character groups, with great harmony of design. Most cartoonists today have no concept of a flexible spine in a character, mostly they stand stiff as flagpoles. Composition, character groups? Mostly the same arrangements over and over again.

 Readers, I’m gonna beat Yowp to the punch. Here’s the May, 1962, Yogi Bear Sunday pages. They are from 5-6 to 5-27. I’m sure he will have good notes on these soon over at his blog, so just keep clicking on “Yowp” over on the Blogroll, and keep tabs on him. I put one over on the old hound this time!

People, I’m exhausted, but you can catch more craziness on the Cat’s new Facebook page: www.facebook.com/someothercat . There, you will see drawings and a few cel set-ups from the short currently before the cameras, “There Must Be Some Other Cat”. Itza (the Cat’s name) would love to be “Friends” with you over there. Humph, I’ve been doing this blog for five years, where are all my “Friends”!?

Until the next time, Bullet your Heart and Hall Lugea!

Do you recognize this wonderful layout style? It’s the 3/4 downshot, one of the most difficult angles to stage action from, done to perfection every week in a Sunday page called “Right Around Home with Myrtle”. This episode was probably drawn by Bob Vittur, but the feature was originated by a cartoonist named Dudley Fisher. Starting this post, the Cat and I will start reprinting some of the daily episodes of the strip, starting Jan. 13, 1947:

I love the character of Little Myrtle, and you’ll get to know her better through these dailies, scanned from newspaper clippings. I’m starting out just posting a few at a time, as the first few weeks of the strip in this collection skip quite a few dates. There IS a little bit of continuity, but it’s mainly the adventures of Myrtle, Freddie and Susie (her parents), Sampson (her lisping boy friend), Slug (her brother), Alice and Archie (the birds in the 1-25 above) and the funny canine characters Bingo and Junior. The Sunday pages mostly “star” the 3/4 staging in one large panel, but the dailies are more intimate, and Myrtle’s tomboy, energetic personality comes to the fore. I like the way Fisher uses Myrtle’s hat as a “bubble” around her face, you can’t tell it’s much of a hat until she turns profile, but that’s part of the abstraction in Fisher’s cartooning. Like Patrick from 1967, Myrtle is a disruptive force in her parents’ and neighborhood’s lives. UNlike Patrick, she is never mean or mean-spirited, just a lot of fun. The characters in “Right Around Home” know they are in a comic strip, and comment occasionally to the reader about that. A lot of people seem to enjoy this comic, hope you will too. The cat character in the strip is named “Hyacinth”, by the way.

Recent finds in the L.A. Jr. Times!

 Bob Clampett draws Aunt Dolly, 12-6-25

 The first two Fred Moore comics from the Junior Times, 1-17 and 2-7-1926. The last panel in the 1-27 is illegible.

 The earliest Larry Martin comics, from 11-15-25, he called himself “Buster” in the first one.

 Cartoonist Alex Perez makes Chase Craig into one of his characters, 2-7-26.

 George Manuell 12-13-25,  Ray Patin 12-20-25, Frank Tipper (?) 11-8-25 Manuel Moreno doing a parody of the 1925 hit: “Doodle Doo Doo” as a salute to the Times Junior Club, 12-27-25. It just gets better as it goes along folks! Too many interesting comics to post!

 In Barker Bill this time, from 4-4 to 4-17-1955, the Cold War moves in on the story. Russian Spies Dripsky and Bugovitch want to cop Col. Whetwhistle’s Boo-Boo Tonic to disguise themselves as plants to be placed in Washington D.C. hotel lobbies. That way, they can overhear state secrets! Barker Bill and Puddy are on the job, though, and foil the spie’s plot. Puddy is made an honorary member of the K-9 Corps for his service. The supply of Barker Bill Sundays just about dries up this time, in the 4-10, Puddy is scratched up by a lot of alley cats, and in the 4-17, Puddy tries to eat a dinosaur skeleton.

 In Felix, from 7-8 to 7-14-1935, the serpent vine story continues as Danny escapes and saves Felix. Felix is given credit for the discovery of the vine by the Professor, but in the 7-11, Felix could care less about his discovery, he just cares about his recovery. A sailor who is an expert wrestler tackles the vine next. In the Sunday, Felix again plays God from Dreamland heaven as he changes the life of Tommy, the little lier by giving him a fantastic nightmare. I like the panel where the God-Devil Felix lies in wait for Tommy with a Candy Box containing a vicious leopard!

 Krazy from 5-19 to 5-24-1941, features the brick, both rubber and clay types. I love the gag in the 5-24 where Mrs. Kwakk-Wakk asks Krazy if he ever gets headaches from all the brick punishment that his cranium takes. Krazy responds by using a barrel to protect his body! What a mahogany head!

Speaking of cats, my cartoon cat, who now has named himself “Itza”, rebelled against me and escaped to Facebook. I don’t feel comfortable on Facebook, I don’t like to be that easily available on the ‘net, it scares me! But Itza is fearless where the Internet is concerned. He’ll still visit here from time to time, but if you want to see him all the time and maybe write to him, go to www.facebook.com/someothercat and you’ll see what the great webmeister Charles Brubaker and Itza cooked up! There are some drawings and cel set-ups from TMBSOC there as well. I really didn’t want to post any links to Facebook, but Itza threatened me with a loaded cactus.

 In reading the L.A. Junior Times through Proquest, I keep coming across the childhood drawings of famous cartoonists. Now I’ve found the earliest Bob Clampett drawing published in the Junior Times, June 21st, 1925. It appears to be a self-caricature of the young cartoonist as a pirate, finding a Junior Times Club button on a desert island. The drawing is labelled: “The Treasure” and was drawn by Bob at the tender age of eleven! By 1925, the Times Junior Club, or “T.J.C.”, was a thriving org., loved the world over, or at least as far as Chicago, where the The Chicago Tribune, which contributed many features and comic strips to the L.A. Times,  held sway. They gave cash prizes for original stories, poetry, art and comic strips to the children who sent them in to the Times. They helped poor children, gave big dances at the Times building for all the kids, threw elaborate Christmas parties, and made it a lot of fun just to be a kid. A lady named “Aunt Dolly” was the lynchpin of the T.J.C., and seems to have been well-loved and respected by the aspiring cartoonists and authors in the Junior Times audience.

 This little strip, from June 12th, 1925, is the earliest actual comic that Bob Clampett drew. It’s especially interesting, because at age eleven, Bob already thought that little babies and black characters were funny. The style of art seems patterned after Hardie Gramatky’s, but unlike most of the comics that the Junior Times published, Bob is trying to do a gag with his strip. It’s interesting how the little black baby, “Rastus Sampson”, resembles Bosko, long before Bosko was in production. The timing between the third and fourth panels is also quite sophisticated for an eleven year old kid. The reader can imagine the outrage of the dowagers in the baby contest audience as they chase the British dandy up the telegraph pole. There is some fine print in the Dandy’s dialog balloon that I can’t make out, after “But my dear ladies–”. This strip anticipates the “Black Beauty” gag in “A Coy Decoy”, and of course, “Baby Bottleneck”.

 These three little panels were published, July 19th, Sept. 25th and June 28th, 1925. The first two are by Bob Clampett, and the third is by Chase Craig, later editor at Western Printing and Lithographing, and Carl Barks’s boss for a while. In the first one, Bob seems to be presenting a typical 1920s Harold Teen type, celebrating with the “gang” near the L.A. Times building downtown, in the second one, Bob is promoting the Junior Times “Comics by Club Cartoonists” page, and Chase Craig is doing the sort of one-world boosterism so typical of the L.A. Times all through the years. The talent latent in these kid cartoonists of the 1920s, continues to impress me. I hope to find more.

 The crazy continuities continue in the Barker Bill strip from 3-21 to 4-2-1955. Puddy the Pup finds the missing Pom-Pom the performing Poodle, and she’s had a litter of pups! Puddy’s laryngitis keeps the suspense going for a while, will he speak in public or not? A new story starts April first, as a medicine showman appears selling “Whetwhistle’s Wonderful Elixir” made from the sap of the Boo-Boo tree. If the customer drinks the elixir, it makes him or her want to chew wood! I’m expecting Woody Woodpecker to get involved in this story somehow!

 In Felix from 7-1 to 7-7-1935, Felix finds the missing Danny Dooit by trailing the turtle that inadvertently kidnapped the boy. Felix rescues Danny from a rushing river, but both the Cat and the Kid are trapped by the horrible serpent vine in the 7-6. The Sunday page is full of kid antics as Bobby Dazzler trades blows with a bully, and Felix saves a boy from becoming obsessed with firearms, by giving him a bad dream. Winsor McCay continues as ghost-writer for Messmer, (strictly a fabrication).

 Glass-blowers, “chiggin”s, bread upon the waters and shoeless dogs inhabit the Coconino stage this time, from 5-12 to 5-17-1941. Speaking of stages, the lower third of the Krazy daily in 1941 is usually taken up by Herriman’s drawings of floorboards, footlights, prompter’s boxes and little staircases, implying that the desert cast is really doing their little gags for the reader on an ever-changing theater stage. As 1940s newspapers continued to crowd daily strips on to a single page, the lower third of the strip was often cut-out to make room. Garge was being creative with that lower third, and using it as a stage was an expendable way to get around comic strip butchery, without sacrificing the gag.

 Patrick is from 3-13 to 3-18-1967 this time, and we continue to see the rise of Nathan to the starring position. He has three strips mostly to himself. Godfrey also tries to play baseball in a snowstorm, and Patrick thinks that St. Patrick’s day is named for him in the 3-17. Nathan proves ironically prophetic in the 3-18, as he thinks: “I hope the world can wait until tomorrow.” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch did not wait, but dropped “Patrick” after this strip was published. Next time I’ll be presenting another favorite kid strip, many years older than Patrick, by a fine cartoonist.

Yowp has put up black and white, edited versions of these four Yogi Bear Sunday Pages from 4-1, 8, 15 and 22-1962 on his blog. I, as usual, take the bait and post these four clippings from my collection to augment Yowp’s post. I am missing the strip from 4-29, you’ll have to visit Yowp’s blog to see it, just click the link over to the right side of the page. By the way, don’t forget to click the small images to enlarge them.

A big tip of the Cat’s whiskers to Margo Burns of New Hampshire, who purchased a cel from Sc. 22 of “It’s ‘The Cat’”. You should have your cel and complimentary DVD of the cartoon by now, Margo. These cels are still a grand bargain, my readers, for the list price, you get free shipping, a free copy of the DVD, and the cel and (usually) the pencil drawing from which it was traced! It’s almost as good a deal as a membership in the Times Junior Club! Just go to http://www.itsthecat.com/Gallery-FilmArt.htm and find a cel that you like. Our new production can use the donation, and you will get a beautiful cel from the first cartoon that Greg Ford and I produced. If you want to contribute to our Paypal account, like our friend Bill Warren so generously did, just go to kausler@att.net over on Paypal, and contribute anything you can spare. If you contribute at least $200.00, you will receive screen credit on TMBSOC. Thanks, and keep reading!!

Today, March 27th, 2012, I’m celebrating five years of writing and editing a “blog”. As a special contribution, GREG FORD, my producer on the short cartoon: “There Must Be Some Other Cat”, has sent the first 100 feet of color shots! When I started the CATBLOG, I had no idea which direction it would take, and I knew next to nothing about computers. If truth be told, I had a very strong aversion to the Demon Machines. I didn’t even know how to resize photos and art work so that they could be “published”. I still don’t know how to do a lot of stuff, never got microsoft word or photoshop, but I have word perfect and irfanview, both are free programs and do what I require.

I started out kinda high falutin’, publishing photos of places that Cathy and I have visited for painting trips. Soon, cartoons and comic strips crept into the mix, and now it’s about 90% comic strips. I can’t really make a good defense of reprinting old comic strips, it’s just that I love so many of them, and I’m trying to help them to be remembered. I tried to do a feature for a while where I read DOROTHY PARKER and some of my favorite children’s lit. aloud, but I’m not a great reader, and I got very little response. Again, too high-falutin’.

The CATBLOG was really supposed to be a production journal of the motion picture cartoon: “There Must Be Some Other Cat”, or TMBSOC for short. However, due to fate, TMBSOC and “The Cat” and especially my good friend and producer Greg Ford, have gone through 5 years of hard times and privation. Greg and “The Cat” have lived through a horrible economic crash, the death of cel animation (due in part to these here demon computers), a devastating apartment fire that Greg and his girlfriend Ronnie Schieb managed to survive, the bankruptcy of Kodak and the looming end of all types of photographic film (again, thanks to the demon machines) and now, health problems have affected Ronnie’s life and consequently, Greg’s life (not due to the demon machines). Through all this and more, TMBSOC proceeded at a Snail-Cat’s pace for the last 5 years in the Manhattan jungles. As you can see by the above frame grabs, “The Cat” is beginning to emerge. The scenes really look beautiful projected on 35mm FILM, and I’m so grateful that Greg and many stalwart artists still cared enough to put their best efforts into what seemed like a doomed enterprise.

This Blog has chronicled the passing of many loved ones, friends (Vincent Davis, John Bohnenberger), family (my mother), and animals (Crispy, Little Grey). It has made new friends for me, and regretfully lost some. One of the most popular posts was the article about my visit to Ollie Johnston’s house after he had moved in with his family in Oregon.

(”Here’s the Pitch” Department) Dear Readers, if you can, please buy a cel from “It’s ‘The Cat’” over at http://www.itsthecat.com/Gallery-FilmArt.htm. If you don’t like the prices, make an offer! We’ll be glad to listen. Also, if you care to contribute any production money directly to “There Must Be Some Other Cat”, you may PayPal it to us at: kausler@att.net or just write to me at: Mark Kausler, 1632 Loma Crest, Glendale, Ca. 91205-3710. Any contribution over $200.00 will get you a screen credit as an “Ailurophile” (Cat lover). Now is the time! The cameras are actually rolling and we need your help. Thanks so much!

 In Barker Bill this time, from 3-7 to 3-19-1955, there is a daily missing, 3-8, and a Sunday out, 3-20. It’s easy to follow the conclusion of the Gelt’s story without the 3-8, the Gelt turns out to be a “hen” and lays an egg. In the story starting on 3-16, Puddy falls in love with the new Circus star, Pompom the poodle. In order to impress her, Puddy decides to speak in public for the first time, and perform “Paul Revere”.

 In Felix, from 6-24 to 6-30-1935, Felix and the Professor’s party search for the missing Danny Dooit, and Felix accidentally discovers a rare cannibal plant. In the Sunday, Messmer continues the attractive 9 panel layout from last week. I love the giant Dream Control machine in the second panel, and the silhouette of the little boy against flame in panel five.

 In Krazy this time, from 5-5 to 5-10-1941, gag-a-day continues. I love the crocodile design in the 5-5, Krazy knows that the croc is crying because he’s ugly, and diplomatically says so in the last panel.

 In Patrick, from 3-6 to 3-11-1967, Nathan stars in two strips, and Patrick and Godfrey dominate the action the rest of the week. In the 3-8, Patrick works in a little political satire, commenting on the campaign fund-raising efforts of Senator Phil A. Buster. I’ll bet that Patrick would have taken great delight in today’s Super PACs! Remember to click on all the above images to enlarge the strips. By the way, who knows how long the archives to this blog will exist, so if you like the strips, download and save them for yourself! We have the complete Felix strips from 1936 in here, the almost complete “Marvelous Mike” strip, and quite a chunk of “Patrick”, amongst other rareties. Do yourself a favor, save them or lose them!

I had such a long rant today, that it crowded out the L.A. Jr. Times comics, to be continued in the next post. 

 We lead off again this time with more strips from the 1924 L.A. Junior Times. Hardie Gramatky and Manuel Moreno produced more work than any of the other kids and managed to get something in almost every issue of the Junior Times. They were paid the whopping sum of $2.50 for every drawing published. Hardie started a feature called “Captain Kidd” in the 9/7/24 issue. From the outset, Hardie has a lot of maturity in his cartoon style, the way he arranges panels reminds me of Roy Crane’s “Wash Tubbs”. Hardie also drew the cover of the 7-13-24 issue, which starts our post this time. Manuel Moreno continued with two comic strip series, The Boy with the Answers, and “The Tuttlems”, which seems to be his version of “The Bungle Family”. I love the characters ‘plopping’ out of the panels on the punch lines. The dates of Moreno’s strips are, respectively, 7/20, 7/27, 8/3, 8/10 and 8/17/1924. As a coda, I’ve included an early strip by Gilles de Tremandan, an Aesop Fable gag featuring the Fox and Crow, published 8/31/1924. Gilles was 15 when he drew this, by the early 1930s he was animating at Disney under the name “Frenchy” (on the drafts, anyway). The old timers always said that they “drew better” than the young whippersnappers, but if you study the childhood drawings of the first wave of old master animators, their drawings look mostly untrained and immature. They learned a great deal in a short time, thanks to the intensive atmosphere of the Disney studio.

Barker Bill is from 2-21 to 3-6-1955 this time. Dog Biscuit the horse gets a new pair of glasses and gets circus ambitions almost right away. They discourage the stage struck horse by encouraging the fat lady to ride Dog Biscuit bareback! The Gelt re-enters the story line as a Treasury Man shows up to question Bill about the expense of feeding the money-eating critter. In the Sundays, Gertie the Hippo in the 2-27, resembles the proud lineage of Terrytoons hippopotami, especially in her egg-hatching pose in the last panel. Little May is in the 3-6, as the Circus Problem Child once more. The strips here come from Winnipeg and Boston, hope you enjoy them.

 Felix is from 6-17 to 6-23-1935, and continues the mad adventures of Danny Dooit and the crew on the Ape’s Island. The giant Duck from last week is here again, still with the walky-talky in his tummy. The island parrots pick up his repeated “Hellos” and broadcast them all over the place, frustrating the old explorer. About this time, Laura is replaced as the top feature on the Sunday page by “Bobby Dazzler”, a ‘Skippy’ like small boy, designed by Otto Messmer. The parrot gag in the dailies almost seems like a farewell to Laura parrot jokes, but it’s probably just a coincidence.

 Krazy, from 4-28 to 5-3-1941, is quite shocking! All the gags deal with cats’ fur being a good conductor of electricity, until Offissa Pupp figures out how to electrify Ignatz’s brick to discourage him from throwing it. I love Pupp’s understatement in the 5-2, “I expect him to drop it.”

Patrick, from 2-27 to 3-4-1967, features gags with Godfrey, Elsa and Nathan. Nathan has half the strips, from 3-2 to 3-4, in which he is slowly going mad. Poor Nathan thinks there is a time bomb inside of him, and you can see the result of his hallucination in the 3-4. The strip is slowly starting to shift it’s focus to Nathan, perhaps Hancock found a baby confined in a playpen to be stimulating to his imagination. By the way, I’ll run out of Patrick strips in two more posts, but I have something rare to take his place. The next post should pop up on the 27th, the fifth anniversary of this foolish enterprise called a blog. We started March 27th, 2007. See you then!