THE FLINTSTONE SOLUTION!

The recent gas shortage in Mexico has everybody worried but I finally came up with the perfect solution to beat the ever so scarce fuel!

Thank you, Fred and Barney!

TO BE OR NOT TO BE!

For a while back in the 70s, 80s and 90s, apart from being a cartoonist, I pursued a career in acting with varying grades of success. For the most part, I just landed small roles in TV commercials and an extended stint performing in dinner theaters which lasted almost 20 years until the new millennium kicked in and most of them folded. There was a short period in 1985 where I made it into the cast of a TV sitcom which barely survived for one season. And, apart from brief cameo appearances in two films, my acting ambitions were reduced to doing comedy skits for a radio show which lasted, in various formats, about eleven years.
Luckily, none of those efforts are available for viewing today (except for the films), and thus, the only evidence remaining of my thespian ambitions is a pair of magazine ads where I tried to look somewhat fashionable.

                                                                                                                                                               
                     

                                                                                                                                                              

 .                

Happy Birthday, Oliver Hardy!

Oliver Hardy was born on January 18, 1892 in Harlem, Georgia.  With Stan Laurel, he was one half of the famous comedy team of Laurel & Hardy, active from 1927 to1955. 

He was portrayed by John C. Reilly in the recently released biopic STAN & OLLIE which depicts the pair's last years touring Britain and Ireland. 

At The Crack of Dawn...

As the body becomes older, the joints and bones become creakier and noisier as I've come to realize every time I get up from bed.  Each morning becomes a veritable symphony of onomatopoeia reminiscent of those old Don Martin cartoons from MAD magazine!

The 10 Year Challenge!

There's a new trend going on in Facebook and Instagram which consists of posting two side by side photographs of you, taken ten years apart. The underlining message is, I suppose, to show the world how well (or how poorly) you've aged in those years. Of course, if you are like Benjamin Bottom, the result can be quite interesting, but for the rest of the humans, the sight of showing yourself aging, is not really for everybody.
However, knowing that this blog is rarely seen by others except by myself, I can confidently post my slowly decaying process without hesitation.
So, here's my 10 Year Challenge post hoping I can make it through the next ten years still in one piece!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

                                                Have a Very Merry Christmas!

LIFE IS A JOURNEY...

As the closing of the year approaches, some deep thoughts and reflections occupy our minds.

THE GREAT MOVIE CARTOON PARADE!

This is an excellent (and long out of print) book about cartoons and cartoon characters, written by John Halas and David Rider. It was first published in 1976 by Triune Books in the UK and Bounty Books in the USA and I don't think there were any further editions. The text is quite informative and the BIG sized pages (14.75" x 10.25") are beautifully illustrated with some truly nice pictures of many cartoon characters, some of which are really obscure but nevertheless worthy of a glance. From Mickey Mouse to the Pink Panther, it covers many studios and eras and the sheer size of the images alone make it an attractive addition to any cartoon collector's library.

The book's price back in 1976 was $9.95!

                        

                            

    Due to its large size, the only real problem for me was finding a good fitting place for it in my bookshelf!

YOU KNOW YOU NEED ROMANCE WHEN:

MOBSTER NICK: One last look.

As much as I tried, I never could sell my MOBSTER NICK comic strip to any newspaper syndicate. Finally, I gave up and retired the character for good but today here's a Mobster Nick panel just to remember him by!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

                                                It's always nice to have a turkey for dinner!

How Cold Is It?

It's so cold I just saw a squirrel microwaving its nuts!

IT'S A GAS!

Doing some house cleaning, I found my copy of "IT'S A GAS!", a bit worn out but still in playing condition. The cardboard 33 1/3 RPM record came as a bonus inside Mad Magazine's THE WORST FROM MAD, 9th Edition of 1966.
I remember taking it to school and having our music teacher play it on his portable player. The recording went over big and got a hearty laugh from everyone...except from the teacher who was about to tear up the offensive disc when I barely managed to salvage it from his grasp.
Afterward, the teach came up to me and confessed he enjoyed the recording as much as we did.
The music teacher has long since passed away but the record is still here!

                                                                                                                                                                              

                                                                                             

As long as the link works, you can listen to it here:

                       

Someday, Sometime, This Will Happen To You!

STAN LEE - (1922-2018)

Legendary Comic Book producer and cultural icon, STAN LEE died on this day at 95 years of age.
STAN LEE was a comic book writer, editor, and publisher. He was editor-in-chief of MARVEL COMICS, and later its publisher and chairman, leading its expansion from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.
In collaboration with several artists, particularly Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created many memorable super-heroes including Spider-Man, the Hulk, Doctor Strange, the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Black Panther, the X-Men and in collaboration with writer Larry Lieber, Ant-Man, Iron Man and Thor.

I must admit I've never been a fan of super-hero adventures and my comic book collection holds very few Marvel and Super-Hero oriented titles, but Stan Lee's influence was strong and his contribution to the history of science fiction and fantasy comics is unquestionable.  He will surely be missed by his millions of followers!

Rest In Peace, Mr. STAN LEE!

One of my few super-hero books, Stan Lee's ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS is a priced item of my book collection. This is the 1974 edition!

And on a more personal note...

                         Without question, I think this is the best photo of me ever taken. Period.

Turning Back the Clock...Harold Lloyd Style!

   

             

                       Harold Lloyd in "Safety Last" - (1923)

THE FACEBOOK REBELLION

FEEL FREE TO LIKE AND SHARE THIS!

Have a Nice Day of the Dead!

A Spooky Thought!

THIS IS HALLOWEEN!

And now, a word from the Grim Reaper:

Going batty on Halloween Night!

Happy 4th Birthday to my beautiful little Granddaughter!

                                                  Little Rebecca is Four Years Old today!
                                                           Happy Birthday, Princess!

A Blast from the Past...

Antonio meets Jack Skellington!

Living Alone...

KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER

KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER was a television series which aired during the 1974-75 season on ABC and was preceded by two TV movies, THE NIGHT STALKER (1972) and THE NIGHT STRANGLER (1973). The series was inspired by writer Jeff Rice who created the character of Carl Kolchak for his unpublished novel THE KOLCHAK PAPERS.

The series presented the adventures of reporter Carl Kolchak, played brilliantly by Darren McGavin, who investigated strange and sometimes eerie and unexplainable crimes which always baffled the law enforcement authorities.
Kolchak's boss, Tony Vincenzo, head of the Independent News service, played by Simon Oakland, was permanently flustered, irritated and downright infuriated by Kolchak's relentless pursuit of the macabre and unbelievably far-fetched stories.
McGavin, a personal favorite actor of mine, had been the star of the 1950s series MICKEY SPILLANE'S MIKE HAMMER and RIVERBOAT, the 1960s THE OUTSIDER and was a seasoned veteran of stage and screen. He would also become memorable as the Old Man in 1983's A CHRISTMAS STORY.

It's been reported that THE X-FILES creator Chris Carter named KOLCHAK as one of his main sources of inspiration in creating the series. McGavin even appeared in a couple of X-FILES episodes as retired agent Arthur Dales.
Today, the series and character have developed a cult following and for me, every Halloween season is welcomed by repeated viewings of the films and TV series on DVD.

      

THE NIGHT STALKER (1972)
Starring Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak and Barry Atwater as the vampire Janos Skorzeny.

KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER -
The TV series with Jack Grinnage, Simon Oakland and Darren McGavin

   Jack Grinnage as Ron Updyke

HALLOWEEN IS COMING!

Halloween is just around the corner so I thought I'd repost this cartoon:

A MONSTER CALLED FRED

A MONSTER CALLED FRED ©  -  This is the last comic strip from the Monster Trilogy under the banner name of CREEPY CONDO, my unsold comic strip project.
Maybe the Newspaper Syndicates today are more inclined to favor strips with social significance and topical themes over purely gag-oriented material.  This type of humor may be on its way out but I strongly suspect the whole idea of funny monsters isn't that original, to begin with!