I have a column in this week’s issue of the Cuyahoga Falls News-Press. I wrote about an ad circular I ran across touting bargains that could be had at the State Road Shopping Center during the 1966 Christmas shopping season. What really caught my attention was the ad for paper dresses. I never heard of paper dresses. You can click here and read my column.
Debbie and I have a new puppy, a Yorkie we named Bailey. She’s about 8 weeks old. This is a new experience for me, a guy who had cats growing up (even though I never liked them). Having a pup this young and small is new for Debbie, too. We got Bailey the day after Thanksgiving. With the recent loss of Debbie’s mom (Nov. 7), a puppy is a pleasant distraction for the holidays and beyond. We had been thinking about getting a puppy for a while, since the loss of Molly, Debbie’s Sheltie, two years ago.
Jim Borgman recently retired from disturbing the peace. Does that make him a disturbing retiree or a retired disturbance? However you want to look at it, I thought the cover art from his 1995 collection of his editorial cartoons was pretty cool. In his introduction, Bill Watterson, creator of “Calvin and Hobbes,” wrote he went to Kenyon College just after Jim graduated from there. Bill said he was inspired by Jim’s collegiate and professional work and decided he wanted to be an editorial cartoonist like him. Jim encouraged Bill while he was in college. “This flattered me into pursuing a career for which I had neither the brains nor the talent,” Bill wrote. “That ruined several years of my life, and I still hold Jim responsible for it.”
What does Borgman really look like? Click here to see the photo that appeared on the back cover of “Disturbing the Peace.”
I just found out that Jim Borgman is quitting his job as an editorial cartoonist after 32 years to concentrate on his other job drawing the comic strip “Zits.” You can click here to read Borgman’s blog. I met Jim at the Wooster Book Fair a number of years ago. At that time he wasn’t doing Zits yet and he told me he would like to do a daily comic strip. He got his wish, and I think Zits, which is written by Jerry Scott, is one of the best modern strips since “Calvin and Hobbes.”
“Uncle Buck,” the John Candy comedy made in 1989, is a funny movie. Don’t take my word for it — ask fellow blogger Joni Bowen (Web Savvy) who recently viewed the film for the first time (I loaned her my copy). A pre-”Home Alone” McCaulay Caulkin steals every scene he’s in. One of the best scenes of the movie, Caulkin’s character Miles Russell grills his Uncle Buck in Joe Friday fashion when Buck is called to babysit Miles and his two sisters when their parents are called out of town in a family emergency. Another winner is Miles’ birthday party and the giant pancakes Buck makes, flipping them with a snow shovel (mmmm….pancakes…). The scene involving Buck, the assistant principal and a wart is funny, too.
Check out the movie if you’ve never scene it.
Three “classic” TV sitcoms debuted on this date. “The Beverly Hillbillies” in 1962, “Gilligan’s Island” in 1964, and “The Brady Bunch” in 1969.
I have to admit these shows are silly, some would say stupid, but I used to watch them religiously when I was a kid. Today, I can hardly stand to watch an entire episode of any of these shows (except for Gilligan’s “Shakespeare A Go-Go” with Phil Silvers). Sometimes, however, I can’t help watching the Hillibillies. If I’m the right frame of mind, they crack me up.
My favorites are still Andy, The Honeymooners, Car 54, Sanford and Son, and Hogan’s Heroes. And sometimes The Munsters and Happy Days, and more recently MASH and Cosby. Corner Gas, too; a new classic. Leave it to Beaver is good too, and Dick Van Dyke. What are your favorites?
Five years ago today Johnny Cash left this earth. He was 71. He made his mark in music, movies and television. The man in black was bigger than life. His deep voice was unmistakable. He was a star. However, as it has been said so many times, stardom comes with a price. Cash had his demons. He struggled with drugs, alcohol and depression. He wasn’t perfect. But he was honest with the world. He was open about his shortcomings and used the stage to share his faith in Jesus. Cash suffered from many health problems later on in his life, but he likely died of a broken heart. His love for June Carter Cash was so great he lived only four months after she died.
Bill Melendez, the only person Charles Schulz authorized to animate his Peanuts characters, died Tuesday. He was 91. Early in his career he worked for Disney and Warner Brothers. He is probably best remembered for his Peanuts TV specials, including “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
I found this photo of the late Jack Kirby on Mark Evanier’s blog (find it here). The King of Marvel Comic creations would have been 91 on Aug. 28. Is it just me, or does he look like George Clooney in this picture.
