Blasts from the past!

Some early cartoons and drawings I found today...

As I have been cleaning my house out, organizing things post-pandemic, and generally trying to get my act together, I found a number of drawings in some boxes I hadn’t seen in years. I’ll regularly post more as I get around to it.

This is one of the first cartoons I did for the Minnesota Daily in the fall of 1978. I actually started at the Daily when I was 17 without one single college credit, but was enrolled. The people depicted are, left to right, Gov. Rudy Perpich, Sen. Wendell Anderson, the late Sen. Hubert Humphrey, and absolute son of bitch Bob Short, who was the DFL nominee for the U.S. Senate—a real proto-Trump in some ways. Short sold the Washington Senators (my team as a young kid—I lived in the DC area) to Texas, and I hated his effing guts forever.

The DFL ticket was in trouble—they all lost in November—and I am puzzling over why I put HHH in there. Anyway, these were pretty solid caricatures for an 18 year old.

Some of you remember AFL-CIO President George Meany, who was not quite at the John L. Lewis-level of caricaturability, but fine. I think this is a rather tame rendering of him. This was, I am quite certain, the second cartoon I did for the Minnesota Daily, and I have a very clear memory of drawing at my kitchen table while my mom was fussing around. Obviously, it’s a reverse of yet another now-elderly gag, the skinny guy getting sand kicked in his face.

I drew this with a Rapidograph, which I now hate and never, ever use. I use a Uniball Micro now for crosshatching and fine line work, it’s far quicker and offers some slight line quality variability.

This meticulous but stiff drawing is obviously Carter and past presidents (I don’t know why Ford isn’t in there), along with the Shah of Iran. This was even before the Iranian Embassy hostages event. This would be an illustration rather than a cartoon per se. When I worked at the Daily, I was very fortunate to be able to do illustrations for the next morning’s edition. We used to make $15-$19 per illustration, which was a lot for a college student in 1978. Being able to do the illustrations, in addition to five cartoons per week, meant I didn’t have to get a job outside the Daily.

In addition, the young editors of the paper were very encouraging of beginners such as myself. The art directors were forgiving and kind, too. I remember both of their faces but I cannot remember their names. Help me, my Daily people! I also worked with some very talented artists at night, Mike Curti being my favorite and also a real talent. I hear he’s in advertising now. Mike was a real sweetheart, a jock, and just the nicest guy. I’d love to talk to him but I have had a hard time tracking him down.

This is a cartoon I did of my high school (and current) best buddy Jim Kelly. Jim had a long journalism career as a senior editor—ME, EPE— at the Honolulu Advertiser. The man is a prince, really fun to be around, and I am delighted to see him in Honolulu, my favorite place to be. I may even retire there, honestly.

Anyway, this cartoon is typical of stuff I would do for, well, Jim Kelly and a few other friends such as Keith Hansen, Larry Sawyer, and a few others. I did many of these, always about some scenario with those guys that either actually happened or that I made up. Jim and I love the movie The Candidate, so I was delighted to find this in the pile. We still text each other Candidate lines.

Jim, incidentally, has exactly as much as hair he did in high school, for the record. I just saw him.

Also: Jim would make a fine Governor of California.

I’d say the projection of how I thought I’d look was fairly accurate. At the time I drew this I probably weighed 140 pounds, maybe. I also had very neat hair—one writer said I was “painfully well-groomed” in the Minneapolis Star. I found it infuriating at the time, but now see as dead-on accurate. So, WTG Dane Smith of the Star.

Now, of course, I look like an amiable witch from Eugene, Oregon.

That’s about it for tonight. I’ll keep looking through these boxes and post as I find them.

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Hey, You Betchans! Thought this would be a fun break for both of us. Have a great evening.—J.