Marc Deckter Challenge Bonus Round

This past weekend, a few more great supporters stepped up to bat to help us buy hard drives to back up the digital treasures we've collected over the past couple of years. The Marc Deckter Challenge is officially over until the next fundraising drive in the Spring, but I cajoled Marc into sharing some more wonderful comic strips from his collection with us to celebrate the support of the following great folks... our new Archive Hero, Barbara Miller, Cameron Bowes, Amir Avni, Keith Fuselier, Michael Bunker, Patrick Sevc, and Lou Copeland. Thanks for your help! It's greatly appreciated.

SALESMAN SAM
By C. D. Small
Created in 1921 by cartoonist George Swanson, Salesman Sam chronicles the life of Sam Howdy, a salesman at the J. Guzzlem General Store. The strip pioneered the screwball school of cartooning that gave birth to Milt Gross' Dave's Delicatessen and Bill Holman's Smokey Stover. Swanson refined the cartoon "take", a device later taken to extremes at MGM by cartoon director Tex Avery. It's likely that Avery was a fan of this strip, because it also includes another favorite Avery comic device, the sign in the background wryly commenting on the action.

In 1927, the popularity of Salesman Sam led King Features Syndicate to hire Swanson away from the Newspaper Enterprise Association. NEA continued the strip after Swanson's departure with magazine cartoonist, C. D. Small. This is one of the rare examples of an artist picking up another artist's creation and actually amplifying and improving it. Archive supporter, Mike Fontanelli speculates that perhaps the reason that this strip isn't as well known is because of comic fans' natural aversion to strips being continued by syndicates without the original creator involved. Thanks to Marc Deckter and the contributors to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, now the true story can be told.










MILT GROSS DAILIES
Around 1931, Milt Gross took an unique approach to his daily newspaper comic strip. Instead of establishing a title and set of characters, he established several titles and several sets of characters. The Meanest Man featured a mysterious little man in black who secretly sabotaged people in everyday situations. I Did It And I'm Glad starred a little milquetoast whose frustrations erupt in violence. Draw Your Own Conclusion set up a comic situation and left the payoff to the reader's imagination. Banana Oil coined a phrase which meant pretty much the same thing as "hogwash" or "hooey". Here's a heaping helping of prime daily Gross...













Thanks again to all of the great folks who supported the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive during the Marc Deckter Challenge. We promise to give you more than your money's worth over the next six months.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
.

Stumble It!

Marc Deckter Challenge Day Four

This great Milt Gross Sunday page is brought to you by a contribution by our friend in Milan, Italy, Alfredo Guisepp Castelli.

Today marks the fourth day of our bi-annual fundraising drive. We had great response today, so there's a lot of exciting things to see- so much in fact, that I'll be rolling over a couple of contributors' comics until Tuesday. The material Marc Deckter is sharing with us here is truly remarkable, and your contributions are greatly appreciated. There's still time to do your part and contribute to help us purchase hard drives to carry us through the next six months of digitization. Here's how it works...

THE MARC DECKTER CHALLENGE
One of our most steadfast supporters is Marc Deckter. Marc is allowing us to digitize hundreds and hundreds of rare 1930s Sunday pages from his extensive collection. Last year, Marc issued a challenge to readers of this blog. Today, he is challenging you to help again.

Contribute $20 to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive through the PayPal link below, and Marc will provide us with a vintage Sunday page to publish here on the website. Donate $50 and he will share three of them... donate $100 and he will allow us to post eight pages. Purchase one of these hard drives and have it shipped to the Archive, and Marc will post FORTY rare Sunday pages! Marc has classic Otto Messmer Felix the Cat, Chic Young's Blondie, Cliff Sterrett's Polly and Her Pals, Milt Gross Count Screwloose and other great pages ready to go. All you have to do to see them is contribute. As the total rises, Marc is prepared to throw in some extra treats, like he did last year. When you contribute, everyone benefits.

IT'S TIME TO SUPPORT THE ARCHIVE

TODAY'S CONTRIBUTORS
Today's contributors also happen to be good friends of mine. First is cartoonist Sherm Cohen. For Sherm, Marc has picked a real rarity... Salesman Sam. Dating from 1930, these dailies by C. D. Small are not well remembered. But they sure are great! I'll have more on this pioneering strip in the near future.







The next batch of classic Felix strips is sponsored by our new Archive Hero, Dino's Pizza. Located just a few blocks down Burbank Bl at Hollywood Way, Dino's is my favorite lunchtime hangout. They make the best pizza in town. Thanks, Dinos for your support (and your great salads too!)










Here are two treats from Marc as an extra bonus for these good friends...




WANT TO SEE MORE?
If this site has provided something of value to you through the hundreds of articles we've posted over the past couple of years, this is your opportunity to give something back. Every day for the next week or so, I'll post the names of the folks who are contributing to make this site possible along with the Sunday pages they sponsor. Please consider joining in and doing your part. If you believe in what we're doing at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive and you have benefitted from our posts in the past, you'll want to contribute so we can bring you even more.

If you can, link to this post from your website or blog. Encourage your friends to join in the challenge. Let's all pull together, and take this project to the next level.

I'll be back in the Archive on Tuesday preparing a batch of great vintage comic strip Sunday pages courtesy of our latest Archive Heros, Chappell Ellison and Brian Homan.

Thanks!
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
.

Stumble It!