To Each and Every One

We--being Bernita, Jim (that's me) and Bella (yes, she is our recently acquired canine over whom we get more than a bit silly at times) wish you the very best during this multi holiday season. Please pick one that suits you perfectly.   


Shown here is a card, a sequel to the English version which I did at least fifteen years ago. I believe many a parent will relate to the scene depicted.

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VINCENT continues his adventures at the International Brotherhood of Magicians convention in Portland, where, to my knowledge the IBM convention never actually took place. But hey, this is only a comic strip; anything can happen.

Dogs have been on my mind of late so I dug out another oldie from the AD LIBS file written by Len Bruh (AKA Larry Hurb) and illiustrated by yours truly.

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Not everyone looks upon snow with a negative eye.Here's proof positive (at least 90%)

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In parting-- would you say that my picking up ten pennies while walking with Bella this morning is a sign that the economy is improving?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

WAIT! I almost forgot: The publisher of ComptorEdge.com informed me yesterday that the price of That Does Not Compute! has been reduced just in time for gift giving!  99 cents, fer gosh sakes! More than 150 cartoons about computers and computors . . . oh the trials and tribulations. Please take a look anyway. Jack Dunning wrote most all the gags. I did all the cartoons. Want a sample?

Click here to see the sweet deal:  www.computoredgebooks.com  Or Copy and Paste if need be.

Thanks for stopping by.

Talk to you next year.

Jim

Jim's MONTHLY MUSES

Well, sometimes the muses are fewer than the pictures--which may be be
 photographic or cartoonish. Either of the two latter categories will be
easier for you.  And maybe for me too.

DID WE LEARN ANYTHING YET?

Yes, we did learn something at the PetSmart Pet

Training Program. We learned that teaching a dog 

is not easy. But it's rewarding. And we do believe 

Bella is making progress. We are also.

That's the little lady craming for the final exam 

which took place Sunday, November 6. Note the  look of intense concentration on her face.

Shortly after the ordeal: the Reward.

Now see the proud look of acheivment on her face. Or is it boredom?

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Moving on ---- to Portland, of all places, we catch up with the VINCENT aggregation as they finally enter the hallowed halls

 of the magic convention.

Next, LI'L ONES, WEE WOMEN AND something for the cat lovers watching.

That's it for this time.  Bella just requested a walk. 

Til soon, Jim

Meanwhile

Vincent, the Magician realizes that he and his

entourage, consisting of his long suffering wife 

Wanda and sometimes insufferable maid Agnes,

have arrived at the wrong city. There is no Magic 

 Society Convention here!

Not to worry. A quick trip cross country to New England and Presto!

We'll be staying on target with our friends as they enjoy the next few days in their magical Nirvana.

Meanwhile-----again----it's almost seven weeks since the adoption of our youngster. The three of us are getting along fairly well. Fifth week of Obedience School (for Bella) coming up Sunday. The opportunity to capture a  family portrait hasn't happened yet. But we have plenty pictures of our teenager.

We've not seen a LI'L ONES or WEE WOMEN cartoon in a while, so let's take care of that right now.

 And with that, it's time for me to go as well.

Til soon, friends,

Jim

Gone to the dogs . . . or vice versa

It was just this morning, as we walked toward the court, that my tennis nemesis---when informed that Bernita and I had adopted a dog from the animal shelter in Carlsbad---asked: “Why would you want to do something like that at this stage of your lives?” Thankfully, he didn’t say “ . . . at your age.”  More than once, I’ve mulled that question around in my own skull and finally come to the reasonable answer, “Why not?”


Bella, our two, or three year old---both ages were on the documents we received from the shelter---is obviously happy to have had the invitation to be part of the Whiting household. We don’t know her former owner(s) but I’ll speak well for what training was given our little lady. Bella knows when it’s necessary to “take a walk outdoors” and looks us straight in the eye and vocalizes a most plaintive plea when it‘s time to pee. It was her idea to sleep in our bed, but we nixed that quickly and she’s apparently just as happy on a nice mat at the foot of the bed. She has another pad downstairs which is convenient for daytime naps. There’s no begging at the table either. Well, most of the time. She either sits  a few feet away with a rather despondent dog look on her face or she retreats, defeated, to the under-the-stairway daytime pad. As mentioned, most of the time. Still not comfortable about meeting other canines, Bella will, we hope, become more sociable in that area after some sessions in Sunday School, (dog obedience) which starts at PetSmart in a few days. 

Enough with the words. Allow us to introduce you to Senorita Bella.

We looked at dozens of dogs before two of them made the cut. As we passed the cages the animals seemed to be saying “Pick me! Pick me!”  My thoughts went back to the mid 50s and a cartoon spread which Collier’s published. 

Life---in our case--- has just imitated art, and my mind recalls myriad moments when mammals (dogs, this time) have held center stage. The following examples were taken from files older than you; some of you, anyway.

My favorite . . . though not totally reflecting my sentiments:

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This cartoon suggests a dog's misguided protective instinct.

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And this one shows a dog's complete devotion to his master.

Someone once said ---or might have said, if they were not completely sane--- "One can't have too many dogs." This might be proof.

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A natural response to an overpopulation of dogs

 might be this poor man's.  

                                                           

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We'll catch up with VINCENT the Magician next time.as he enjoys the great Magic Convention 

Remember:

A dog has lots of friends because he wags his tail and not his tongue
Til soon,
Jim

ME TARZAN . . . YOU JANE.

Way long before Superman, Batman and others of their breed were saving girl reporters or police commissioners’ daughters, Tarzan was rescuing one particular damsel from myriad menaces in the steaming African jungle. The Ape-man, as his creator Edgar Rice Burroughs had christened him, had a twenty year head start over the modern day comic book heroes. And Tarzan was the man I admired most in my pre-teen years.
I was fifteen years old before I stopped clipping the Sunday comic strip Tarzan from the Elmira Sunday Telegram and pasting it into what would eventually become a four-scrapbook series. It constituted part of the Jimmy Whiting Tarzan Collection. You might say I was a true Tarzan aficionado. That weekly full page, full color dosage, the work of writer/artist Burne Hogarth not only transported me to places both exciting and vicariously dangerous; the drawings were spellbinding. Hogarth was in his prime in the early 40s and I worshiped his artwork. Many years later, it was such a treat to meet this comic art icon and to be on the staff of Cartoonists & Illustrators School in New York City with him.


Each Christmas I received a Tarzan book to add to the Collection. I joined the Tarzan Clans of America; my Official Guide is #90. In it I learned how to form a Tarzan Clan; what the Duties of Officers --including the Medicine Man, Scribe, and High Priest are. I even learned, by virtue of the guide’s English-Ape Dictionary, how to use words just as Tarzan did in talking with apes from the tribe of Kerchak.  How’s this? Tand-ramba! po! Popo ut! That means: Get up! Hungry! Eat corn!

By the way, several years ago I saw this booklet listed in a price guide. 1939, Mint condition: $1000. Mine could be described more accurately, Tattered and Torn

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Never, ever missed a Tarzan movie starring Johnny Weissmuller, the champion Olympic swimmer who is still the most identified player of the jungle man. I wrote to him--Weissmuller--not Tarzan, and received a nice picture.

A lesser known celluloid Tarzan sent an autographed picture AND a nice hand written letter which encouraged me to work hard in school and keep physically fit. The letter almost made up for the disappointment I felt upon seeing Glenn Morris’s leopard slippers. Look at this. Can you imagine?!

Every once in a while I’m pleased to see a magazine article or watch a special TV program devoted to some aspect of the Tarzan phenomenon; we’re only five years from his 100th anniversary. 
One last thing:  I really think that--in my youth--I did a terrific Tarzan yell. (More correctly, I should say “victory cry of the bull ape.”) Yes, I’m confident it was even better than Carol Burnett’s rendition. 


But the pipes are old now and the cry is more like that of a baby’s than an ape-man.


Swing by on your vine to my wala (house) next time, OK?


Jimmy Whiting

You’re such a card!

After a three weeks hiatus I’m back with new resolve; there shall not be such a protracted interval before our next visit. So there!


Should someone comment, “You’re such a card!” don’t be offended. I googled the phrase and truly, more than anything else, it’s meant to be a compliment.  If you accept the definition: A witty or eccentric person as complimentary . . . Be glad.


Neatly segueing from that sort of card to another, while running through a whole bunch of business cards-- accumulated over many years, I was amused to note that more than a few are amusing, or novel in some manner beyond their primary purpose. “Hey,” I thought, “Maybe some of the MM blog readers would be as amused as I!”  Or not. 
In any case it won’t take long to peruse a pack of personal cards. 
I’ll start off with a card used by a friend I’ve known for at least twenty-six years. It introduces us to maXwel, the Robot, available for birthday parties, reunions, stock holders’ meetings, weddings, and other gatherings which might be happier events if for the presence of  maXwel.  Some of you know the owner of this card. (circa 1985 or ’86) 

I’ll let you in on the secret before we sign off today

? ? ? ? ? 

But first, the latest of VINCENT’S adventure at the big Magic Convention. He had just realized that IBM stands for a rather large company which is holding ITS convention at the same time as the International Brotherhood of Magicians. Wha’ hoppened?  See here.    

     ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 

I did mention that Tarzan would be a feature next time here on the MM blog, didn't I? Will you forgive me if I take another Next time?

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This card I made for our son, David . . . years before he became an award winning wine maker in Hector, NY.  Red Newt Cellars and Bistro is only eleven miles north of Watkins Glen, where David, back then, was probably the only chimney sweep in town.

In 2001, the same winery mentioned above hosted a cartoon art exhibit; thirty-two artists were represented. A hundred and twenty-three cartoons were displayed to the delight of the many attendees, who also enjoyed the generous offerings of food and wine. Happy to be among that favored group were Rosemary and Wally Littman. Here are their delicious and  humorous cards.

Our final (almost) business card reminds us that Schuyler County historian Barbara Bell wrote a fascinating book in 2008 which captures the many attractive attributes of the county I called home for more than half a century. Schuyler County Days Bygone is the book; it's a treasure and I treasure my autographed copy. (Schuyler, by the way is pronounced Sky-ler.)

The book's cover art is the work of Wendy Lee Black. It displays much of what old time Schuyler was known for. A much smaller version graces the flip side of Barbara's business card.

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And now, the last wurd . . . From one of our Li’l Ones.

I don’t do much better if I don’t have Spell-Check.

Oh . . . The owner of maXwell is cartoonist Greg Evans, creator of the Luann comic strip.

Another Oh: My updated business card: You may not have known that I'm using g-mail now. The MM blog URL is noted.

Catch you later this month.

Jim 

BACK ON THE JOB

Much has been going on with the Encinitas, CA Whitings. (That would be Bernita and yours truly, Jim.) It’s been difficult to tend to this blog; so much so that the entire month of July passed without a posting. I hope you noticed that. In any case, I endeavor to improve my track record. 

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VINCENT, at last report, was en route to the big magicians’ convention. Let’s see how he, his long suffering spouse Wanda and their domestic witch, Agnes are coping with the complexities of such an escapade.

I know . . . I've used that gag countless times, but maybe you haven't seen it before; besides, it fits in nicely here. I'll give it a rest now. Promise.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Kid Remembers

Some years before our teens, my older brother, Dann and I were privileged to board southbound passenger trains in Watkins Glen, NY. Our destination--a journey of perhaps fifty miles--was Canton, PA, birthplace of both of us. Grandpa Sterling Dann worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad, so we probably enjoyed free rides on the old PRR. Or I could be imagining that. After all, 1936 or thereabouts was long ago. After a few carefree summer days spent at our grandfather’s “farm” (it wasn’t really that, but it was in sort of a rural area) we’d take the return trip to Watkins Glen; another two hours on board a noisy sometimes smoky, gritty day coach. 

I remember how wonderful it was to be arrive home on the afternoon train and walk a few blocks to our home where Mom would always have something special for our evening meal. Often the day would conclude at the only movie house in town, the Glen Theatre. We walked to that magical bastion as well. And what ecstasy it was if Laurel and Hardy--a short--or feature film--happened to be on the  program. Stanley and Oliver were favorites of our younger brother, Billy too.

I was thirty-six when I finally got around to writing a note of appreciation to Stan Laurel. I told him much the same as I’ve told you just now: How much delight he brought to the Whiting boys so many years prior.

Imagine, if possible----no, I don’t think you can----how thrilled I was to receive Mr. Laurel’s response to my long overdue fan letter. 

It’s now in a special place in my file cabinet. The picture, framed, hangs on a wall near our kitchen; Uncle Laurel and Uncle Hardy right there among other revered family members. 

Can you look at these gentlemen without smiling?   

             What a gift they gave to us all!

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Next time: 

TARZAN!

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Thanks for your comments. They help me feel connected.

Jim

Were we having fun yet?

There's no way of knowing if anyone noticed: it's been more than two weeks since the previous posting here. Vacation!


Bernita and I had a grand time in the fabulous Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York . . .enjoyed to the utmost amidst clan and cronies. Those moments were "the most" but other incidences must be indexed. For example--on the tennis court one morning, I spotted 4 pennies! Moments later, more money . . . 4 pennies. Wait----! within five minutes, two dimes, at different locations revealed themselves. Who cares that I lost the tennis match?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$

On the flip side, we had a  long rather difficult flight home; over 19 hours from our son John, Mary and Jane's home in Odessa, NY to our home in Encinitas, CA! But we're recuperating nicely now . . . back into routine. 

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VINCENT, is headed to the magic convention. Before we join him en route, let's check with Pete, his assistant.

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Meanwhile at the airport:

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Children, in one way or another, are the topics of these three syndicated panels of long ago. Probably the cartoons are as relevant today as back then.

Hope you're enjoying the summer which just got under way last week. I hope too that you'll continue to like what's offered here on a more or less regular basis---at least a couple times a month. 

I'm having fun, yet.       . . . . . . I mean, I'm still having fun

I'm not asking you to "friend me." I figure you're already mine.

Jim

Silence is golden

That's true in many cases: Silence IS Golden.


Doing some minor investigation we came
upon other perceptions regarding Silence.


Muhammad Ali is reputed to have said,
"Silence is golden . . . when you can't think of 
a good answer."


"Silence is not only golden, it is seldom
misquoted." (Bob Monkhouse)


For this Monthly Missive blog we'll take our cue from
Robert Benchley's "Drawing on my fine command of the
English language, I said nothing."


So, after a quick peek at what VINCENT is up to this 
time, we'll present a dozen captionless cartoons, with 
minimal comments from me.

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Starting off with some kid stuff.

Subsequently . . .sports of sorts.

Some street scenes.

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                      FINALLY:

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I will make no sound . . .  'til next time around.


Please add a comment in the box below. I think it helps.
Thanks,
Jim