Comics: People On Paper (MGM/1945)

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 2 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great posts about print cartoonists.

ASIFA-Hollywood Board Member, Bill Turner was watching TCM the other night when he spotted a program that he knew would be great for the Archive...


This is a 1945 MGM short subject that shows the top newspaper cartoonists of the day at work in their studios and homes. Bill instantly recognized several cartoonists that we've featured here on this blog in the past few weeks. (Click on the picture to see our article.)


Milton Caniff
(Terry and the Pirates, Steve Canyon)


Hal Foster
(Prince Valiant)


Chic Young
(Blondie)


Al Capp
(Li'l Abner)
But that's not all... The film also includes footage of Bud Fischer (Mutt & Jeff), Frank King (Gasoline Alley), Chester Gould (Dick Tracy), Dick Calkins (Flash Gordon), and Harold Gray (Little Orphan Annie). There's even a little bit of animation of Li'l Abner at the end! Check it out...


"Passing Parade: People On Paper" (MGM/1945)
(Quicktime 7 / 24 megs)

PLEASE NOTE The text and media files on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog are not to be duplicated, redistributed or hosted on other websites without the prior written permission of the Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood.

Thanks to Bill Turner for taping this for us!

For more on newspaper cartoonists, see... Gene Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning Part One: The Men Behind The Newspaper Comics, Part Two: How To Get Ideas / Studies of Comic Strips, Part Three: Single Panel and Sports Cartoonists and Part Four: Editorial Cartoons and Comic Books

Also see... Cliff Sterrett's Polly & Her Pals Part One, Part Two and Part Three. Also see... Milt Gross Sunday Pages Part One, Part Two and Part Three; and Rube Goldberg's Side Show.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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Cartooning: Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning Part Two

This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see reason number 8 on our The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for links to more great info on the history of animation told through the careers of great animators.



BLONDIE, BRINGING UP FATHER, HENRY, MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN, DICK TRACY, GASOLINE ALLEY, PRINCE VALIANT... Studying The Comics Pages

We continue with the section on newspaper cartoonists from Gene Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning 1950. Today, there are three articles on how to get fresh ideas, Byrnes goes through the newspaper analyzing the appeal of various comic strips, and Chic Young and Hal Foster are featured.

HOW TO GET IDEAS
By Dana Coty
I don't have much information on Dana Coty (Dec. 19, 1901 - March 19, 1962) aside from the fact that he worked at Disney in the mid-30s, and was a story man at Famous Studios.



J. N. Darling (Ding)
on EDITORIAL IDEAS
"Ding" Darling was a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist for the Sioux City Journal, The Des Moines Register, the New York Herald Tribune and the New York Globe. His editorial cartoons dealing with conservation causes were a staple of the opinion sections of many papers for decades. He passed away in 1962.



IDEAS FOR ADVERTISING CARTOONS
By Sam Cobean
Sam Cobean was an inbetweener on Snow White, barely surviving on $16 a week, when he joined the strikers fighting for the creation of the Screen Cartoonists Guild. After returning to work when the contract was settled, Sam realized that Disney was not the place for him and took a job as a copy boy at the Washington Post. There, he developed an interest in political cartoons. During the war, he worked in a unit producing training cartoons and pamphlets along with cartoonist Charles Addams. Addams introduced him to the editor of the New Yorker, and Cobean's cartoons appeared there for many years afterwards. In 1950, he created a book of cartoons, titled "Cobean's Naked Eye" which was a bestseller. He died in a car accident in 1951.



STUDIES OF COMIC STRIPS
In this section, Gene Byrnes analyzes the style and appeal of various contemporary newspaper comics. The most interesting thing about the strips he features is the high level of draftsmanship, and the diverse variety of styles and approaches to the medium. Newpaper comics were once considered the pinnacle of cartooning... but today, they have plunged to its nadir. Comparing Prince Valiant to Drabble or Bringing Up Father to Cathy is a depressing task. It's shameful that so great an artform has been allowed to deteriorate so far. I hope there are aspiring cartoonists out there who are willing to take up the difficult task of restoring the comics page to its rightful place in American culture again. This overview is a good place to start investigating the forgotten art of newspaper cartooning.








SUNDAY PAGES
Featuring Chic Young & Hal Foster


Chic Young was born in 1901 and began his career as a newspaper cartoonist in 1923. His first strip for King Features was Dumb Dora and in 1930, he created the strip, Blondie, one of the longest running newspaper comics of all time. He drew it until he passed away in 1973, and his son, Dean continues to write it to this day. Blondie was hugely successful and spawned film and TV adaptations.



Hal Foster was raised in the wilds of Halifax, Nova Scotia where he was an avid boater and outdoorsman. He dropped out of school in the ninth grade and began a course of self education studying sketching and anatomy. He set art aside to become a hunting guide and gold prospector, but at age 28, he decided to devote his life to a career in art. He received classical training at the Chicago Art Institute, the National Academy of Design and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. In 1927, he was contracted to do a comic strip adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes. 1n 1937, Foster introduced an original property, Prince Valiant, the most successful adventure strip of all time. Foster produced the strip for over 40 years, passing away in 1982.




Other artists featured in this section are Jimmy Hatlo, Otto Soglow, George McManus, Chester Gould and Frank King... all worthy of spending a few minutes Googling and reading up on.






The posts I present here at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive blog aren't intended to be the last word on any subject, particularly one as large and multifaceted as the history of cartooning. My hope is that you use these posts as a springboard for your own investigation. Take the names and examples I present here and start searching the web for more... scour bookstores and flea markets... and expand your frame of reference beyond just what is presented here. I wish I had a source of "hot tips" like this when I was first starting out. Take advantage of this great resource we're building.

Many thanks to Marc Crisafulli and David King for sharing this great book with us.

If you found this post to be interesting, see... Gene Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning Part One: The Men Behind The Newspaper Comics

Also see... Nat Falk's "How To Make Animated Cartoons" Part One: The History of Animation, Part Two: The Cartoon Studios, Part Three: How Cartoons Are Made, Part Four: How To Draw Cartoons and Part Five: How To Animate. Also, see... Willard Mullen on Animals.

Thanks
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive

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