The Day of St. Fernando.

Every May 30th is Saint Fernando's Day which is my namesake.  I used to celebrate it every year until 1973, when my son was born and I realized my Name Day was a pointless celebration, but nonetheless, I always take a moment to pay my respects to my grandfather FERNANDO LLERA MATEOS who passed away on December 9th, 1956, when I was only 5 years old and whom I still remember fondly.

Here are some historical facts about the name Fernando:

Ferdinand III (Spanish: Fernando; 1199/1201 – 30 May 1252), called the Saint (el Santo), was King of Castile from 1217 and King of León from 1230 as well as King of Galicia from 1231.[1] He was the son of Alfonso IX of León and Berenguela of Castile.  Saint Ferdinand is the patron saint of Seville, Aranjuez, San Fernando de Henares, Maspalomas, Pivijay, and of several other localities. He is also the patron of the Spanish Army's Corps of Engineers, and engineers generally.

 St. Fernando III

My grandfather's headstone

SENIOR ROAD RUNNER

Try running after your four year old granddaughter when you are 71 and you will immediately

 sympathize with Wile E. Coyote's efforts to catch the Road Runner!

THOSE GOLDEN DAYS OF YESTERYEAR!

What with Children's Day coming up this next Sunday 30th, I thought it would be somewhat relevant to review some of my old, old photos from way back when I was a little tyke, full of energy and mischief! 

THE COWBOY OUTFIT!

Yeah! Back in those days I loved anything pertaining to cowboys...like most any other

kid my age.

These are the same pair of boots I wore in the first picture above. Clearly, boots look much better when worn with long pants!   Here, I was walking around my old neighborhood when it was easy to find many vacant lots everywhere. Today, there are exactly zero.

My MOTHER AND ME.

 I seem to be just a few months old so I don't remember anything about this.

Me and my baby stroller. It may look rather archaic but it fulfilled its purpose which was to move me around and keep me from wandering about. (The wheel had already been invented, so it was a good thing!)

My mom, one of my sisters and I, posing in a park. Please bear in mind I didn't choose my outfit!

Every kid, from generation to generation, has had a big ball to play with and I was no exception.

THE BUNNY COSTUME

The less said about this image, the better.  Guess it must have been Easter.

I seem to be in some kind of prairie setting here, so this must be a Sunday picnic photo.

 

Playing Peter Pan with my sister Silvia. I didn't have a Captain Hook costume so I played in plain clothes.

(Sadly, Silvia passed on in 1998 due to a brain aneurysm two months before her 40th birthday.)

And that's all there is for now, so I'm closing this early chapter of my life.

Happy Children's Day!

Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Way back in 1985, I was hired as a writer/actor for two new TV shows which premiered on Imevision Channel 7 before it became today's TV Azteca.  Both were weekly series, both were just a string of comedy sketches in the spirit of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In and Saturday Night Live and both were cancelled after about 25 episodes, (along with three other shows which formed Channel 7's comedy schedule). Channel 7 and Imevision were sold to private investors and the entire staff and talent was dismissed and replaced.  And so...the world was saved! 

For those interested in such trivia, the 2 shows I did were EL HUMOR ES UNA COSA ESPLENDOROSA (”Humor Is A Many Splendored Thing") and MANDARINA MECÁNICA ("A Clockwork Tangerine").

MURPHY'S LAW

Al Jaffee, King of the Mad Magazine Fold-In, Dies at 102

 Al Jaffee, a cartoonist who folded in when the trend in magazine publishing was to fold out, thereby creating one of Mad magazine’s most recognizable and enduring features, died on Monday in Manhattan. He was 102.

The news comes from the Twitter feed of Tom Heintjes, dedicated to Eisner Award winner Hogan's Alley. "I'm very sad to report that the great Al Jaffee has died," the tweet reads. "He had celebrated his 102nd birthday just last month. An incredible legend. RIP to a giant of cartooning." Along with being known for Mad Magazine, Al Jaffee also contributed to Timely Comics and Atlas Comics, which would eventually become the publishing juggernaut Marvel Comics. His longest-running Mad Magazine feature was the Fold-In, which featured a piece of artwork that had to be folded vertically and inward to reveal a new image. 

The First Fold-In appeared in MAD # 86!

HAPPY EASTER 2023!

I thought the Easter Bunny came to hide the Easter Eggs but as it turns out, there's also an Easter Egg who delivers Chocolate Easter Bunnies!

But never fear...the Easter Bunny is still here!

The perfect Holy Week vacation!

Oh, yes! I'm having the perfect Holy Week vacation!

THE AIRFLIGHT EXPERIENCE

 

Life's Most Humiliating Moments!

 

ANTONIO'S 11th Birthday!

Wishing my grandson a very, merry and happy birthday! 

 

MORT DRUCKER : MAD magazine's Best Caricature Artist!

Remembering MAD artist Mort Drucker on his birthdate: March 22, 1929! He's always been my all-time favorite artist. Mort's cartoons were the feature I always looked forward to whenever I got the latest issue of MAD. When he left the magazine, I stopped reading it but never forgot his artwork and I still keep revisiting him often! 

ACTING! Part 2

 Pretending you're a Champion Runner...

...one minute before you get charley's horse!

RAQUEL WELCH / STELLA STEVENS

 February may be the month of love and sweethearts but this year it has been particularly harsh with two of my early crushes: Raquel Welch and Stella Stevens, both of whom passed away on this month.

                                                                   RAQUEL WELCH                                                    

                                                  (September 5, 1940 - February 15, 2023)

Welch first won attention for her role in Fantastic Voyage (1966), after which she won a contract with 20th Century Fox. They lent her contract to the British studio Hammer Film Productions, for whom she made One Million Years B.C. (1966). Although Welch had only three lines of dialogue in the film, images of her in the doe-skin bikini became best selling posters that turned her into an international sex symbol. She later starred in Bedazzled (1967), Bandolero! (1968), 100 Rifles (1969), Myra Breckinridge (1970), and Hannie Caulder (1971). She made several television variety specials. WIKIPEDIA

STELLA STEVENS

(October 1, 1938 – February 17, 2023)

Stevens began her acting career in 1959 in the film Say One for Me produced by and starring Bing Crosby and appeared in several TV series such as the anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, General Electric Theatre and Bonanza in 1960. She won the 1960 Golden Globe Award for "New Star of the Year".

That year she appeared in three Playboy Pictorials and was named Playmate of the Month for January 1960. She starred in films such as Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), The Nutty Professor (1963), The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963), The Silencers (1966), Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows (1968), The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), and The Poseidon Adventure (1972).  Stevens subsequently focused more on TV roles, miniseries, and movies including roles in The Love Boat (1977, 1983), Hart to Hart (1979), Newhart (1983), Murder, She Wrote (1985), Magnum, P.I. (1986), Highlander: The Series (1995), and Twenty Good Years (2006). WIKIPEDIA

(Happily, Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren,Joan Collins, Elke Sommer, Ann-Margret, Ursula Andress, Angie Dickinson, Jacqueline Bisset, Catherine Deneuve, Linda Evans and Mamie Van Doren are still with us!)

Valentine's Day, 2023!

ACTING!

With the Academy Awards Ceremony coming up next month, it is with great joy and pride that I submit my nomination for acting in a real life drama.

Trying to watch the Green Comet...

The Mr. Magoo Cameos

 I love the cartoon character of Mister Magoo. I remember watching his antics at the movie theater and later on television. He's not the usual cartoon type of character. For one thing, he's a human. Not many human beings were featured as stars in those old classic animation shorts so it was kind of a departure.

WIKIPEDIA describes him like this: "Mr. Magoo is an elderly, wealthy, short-statured retiree who gets into a series of comical situations as a result of his extreme near-sightedness, compounded by his stubborn refusal to admit the problem".

Mr. Magoo was also featured in a series of comic books throughout the 50s and 60s,

and for a while, was even published as a syndicated comic strip. The strips were then compiled into a paperback which has been the only source I have relied upon to read them. 

Quincy Magoo was also prominently displayed in several General Electric ads:

So for me, it was only natural to include him as a cameo figure in several of my newspaper cartoons:

Even his nephew Waldo made an appearance!

Oh, Magoo! You've done it again!