I'm Sure There Must Be a Story Here

... but I'll be damned if I can remember what that story would be:

The Comix Files: Elgin Bolling

Brooklyn cartoonist Elgin Bolling contacted me in early 1994. I love the way his calligraphy and graphics looked like it came from the school of subway graffiti, reflecting the world around him. Elgin said the large picture was a self-portrait.

Stephanie Mills Sings Bacharach

This Empty Place

What Do We Do On a Dew-Dew-Dewy Day

This 1927 piece has the mysterious "R.S." as the artist's credit. Apparently these initials are pretty common in the sheet music world and have been the subject of conjecture. Conventional wisdom settles on Rosenbaum Studios, run by Morris Rosenbaum who employed a group of illustrators. These artists included William Wallace Denslow, Emil James Bistran, Harold Guenther Breul, Mortimer Flaum (hi Morty!), Reinhold William Gundlach, and James Murray Mitchell.

Morty Comix # 2694

Morty Comix # 2694 was placed in a convenient plastic container at a gas pump as I was filling Nadine's tank at $3.39 a gallon in the early morning hours here in McCleary.

Meeting Doodle

Hi! Li'l Feller

Copyright 1909 but published 1923. Here's your Art Deco Rorschach test of the day. I say this design could morph quite easily into a screaming skull with googly eyes driven well past the point of insanity. But I'm only on my second cup of coffee this morning.

The Comix Files: John Binns, the Bearded Bard

John Binns the Bearded Bard of Leeds, Yorkshire, sent me the following poems just as I was ending City Limits Gazette in September, 1993:

Cilla Black Sings Bacharach

This Empty Place

Twelve O'Clock at Night

Malcolm Perret illustrated this 1923 sheet music cover.

The Comix Files: Sanford Berman

Here's a phone doodle I made around 1984 while in conversation with Jim Danky, I'm betting. I was a frequent cartoon contributor to Alternative Library Literature, co-edited by Danky and the legendary Sandy Berman.

Sandy Edmonds Sings Bacharach

This Empty Place

Harold Ramis 1944-2014

"I dreamed about fish, and had fish for dinner."

Ramis was celebrated as a great director and writer, but for those of us who were in on that obscure and secret little world called SCTV over three decades ago, THAT'S where our memory of this gifted comedian will live on. Thanks for all the laughs.

Mother's Good Night Kiss

What this sheet music lacks in cover graphic pizzazz is made up for with the back story. The composer and lyricist (Samuel Phelps Totten and T.J. O'Connor) autographed this 1922 piece in Chehalis, Washington, a twin city to Centralia, Washington, where my great-grandmother Jennie Hoss lived. As the only real musical member of the family in 1922, I'm sure it was she who acquired this piece.

The very first bit of sheet of music I scanned and posted here was another Totten work.

Since he was so local, I became interested in Totten, and tracked down his obituary on page 13 in the June 14, 1970 issue of the Daily Olympian.

So many connections. The Liberty Theater later became the Olympic Theater, which is how I remember it. Today the site is home to the Washington Center for Performing Arts.  I spent more than one summer week at Camp Thunderbird. And Marlene Selene was one of my high school classmates.

Apparently Mr. Totten was instrumental in leading the Washington State Employees' Retirement Board in the early years. Quite a career switch! He's the gentleman on the far right. The man standing third from left is John J. O'Connell, who made an unsuccessful bid for Governor in 1968.

I discovered Samuel P. Totten was buried near my office in Tumwater. So on this very rainy day I paid a visit to the cemetery and paid my respects. I actually have an uncle and aunt buried nearby!

Small world.

The Comix Files: Chain Mail Art

The odds are good I broke this chain that was sent to me in 1988, since I enjoy doing that sort of thing.

Ian and the Zodiacs Sing Bacharach

This Empty Place

When I'm Looking at You

Copyright 1929, published 1930. Uncredited cover artist.

A song from the early talking motion picture The Rogue Song, a movie that included Laurel and Hardy as comic relief. This is considered a "lost film" since no complete print of it has survived.

The back cover includes some other popular songs from soundtracks of the pioneer "talkies." 

The Comix Files: Alberto Jerez Benitez

Alberto Jerez Benitez sent these fun cartoons in 1993 from Havana, Cuba. These oversize copies were reproduced on a newsprinty sort of paper.

Two thoughts relating to Cuba:

I had an easier time sending things to the old Soviet Union during the Cold War than I did in the 1990s sending comix to Cuba. The paperwork the Post Office made me go through simply to correspond with a fellow cartoonist was unlike any other postal bureaucratic experience I have encountered.

Second, I live in Washington State. In our state it is now legal to smoke marijuana, but WE STILL CAN'T LEGALLY SMOKE CUBAN CIGARS!!!!! Now I ask you, does that make any sense? Does Castro have to die before we Americans are allowed to openly enjoy the best cigars on the planet?