Charles M. Schulz in 1966

I had the privilege of interviewing Schulz in his studio in 1971 and working with him when he did a piece of art for my book “The Art of Mickey Mouse”. I never found him anything but upbeat, positive, sweet, generous, thoughtful, enthusiastic (he talked to me for a good half hour about how he loved Mickey and was excited to be drawing the rodent). The creator of Peanuts was born Charles, but an Uncle soon dubbed him “Sparky” after Barney Google’s race horse, which he was always called the rest of his days by his friends and fellow cartoonists. Long live Sparky!

Al Vermeer died on this date in 1980. Al was the creator of Priscilla’s Pop, the Sunday version premiered on July 7, 1946, the daily on April 28, 1947. The strip reflected situations from Vermeer’s own home and children based on the classic theme of a domestic man (Waldo Potts) dealing with an oddball daughter. I like the art-beautiful cartooning.

Gordo was the first mainstream American comic to feature a Mexican hero. Drawn by Gustavo “Gus” Arriola, Gordo, or “Fatso” was a Mexican bean farmer whose sidekicks included his nephew, Pepito and his dog, Senor Dog. Together, they would go on adventures to avoid the romantic advances of the Widow Gonzales. When Gordo lost his farm in 1954, he turned to the tourism business and made a killing showing American tourists around Mexico in his bus.

Yes, the stereotypes might make your head spin, but take heart, Politically-Correct Reader. Arriola’s true aims were to introduce Mexico to the rest of the world through humor, which Gordo accomplished amiably in his career as a tour-guide. In fact, Gordo has been recognized by politicians and diplomats for promoting understanding and friendship across our borders.

It started on this day in 1936 but the comic strip starring an Native American, Big Chief Wahoo, would probably be branded politically incorrect, racist, today. The perpetuators were Allen Saunders on the writing side and Elmer Woggon on the art chores. Elmer, BTW, was the brother of Bill Woggon who drew the comic book character Katy Keene. Some folks would find politically incorrect not because she was racist, but Bill’s strip might be deemed sexist. So it goes…

Royston Campbell Crane was the brilliant draftsman/cartoonist/desinger/author behind Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy. Roy numbered among his fans Charles Schulz to Alex Toth. Crane your neck to see a sexy cartoon by Crane in my new book Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings. Crane was born in Albilene, Texas on this day in 1901.

Self portrait of Roy Crane and his Wash Tubbs character

It has been pointed out that when Donald and his nephews sit down to eat Turkey for Thanksgiving as they were wont to do, it is an exercise in cannibalism! Here The Donald is picturing about to eat his own young relatives!

(click here to order Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings)

Barks has lots of incredible sexy drawings in my new book “Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings”. R. Crumb in his introduction to the book exclaims, “Look how well Carl Barks could draw the ideal female figure!” Order yourself or your friends a copy of “Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings” for a holiday present!

Some us have a little,
some of us have a lot.
But we should all be thankful
for whatever it is we’ve got.

Happy Thanksgiving, Arf Lovers!

In case you’re still wondering whether Tweety is a “boy-bird or a girl-bird,” we have it on good authority that the little guy’s name was originally Orson, though in no way is he based on the famous actor of the same name. Actually, cartoonist Bob Clampett created Tweety Bird based on a baby photo of himself.

In his NOVEMBER 21, 2025 debut, Tweety appeared in “A Tale of Two Kitties,” which you can view below. The animators changed his original pink plumage to yellow because censors feared he looked nude. So they dropped the pink, added some lovely, long eyelashes, and called it a day on their gender-bending character.

Here’s a song you will not believe. And when I tell you it’s from 1956 you’re really going to think I’m lying!

I don’t want to give too much away but it’s from Li’l Abner, the Broadway musical based on Al Capp’s comic strip (frequently ghosted by my neighbor Frank Frazetta – I’ll tell him you said hi).

Li’l Abner may seem corny on the surface with it’s country-fied characters and barnyard humor, but it was hip. Boy, was it hip. Hipper than hip! A clever satire on the issues of the day – and the issues of today, some 50 years later.

(click for a closer look)

Listen to this song from the original cast soundtrack album of the show and keep telling yourself, “This is from 1956… This is from 1956…” Except for one dated gag about cigarettes, it sounds like it was written yesterday.

(if no bar appears please click here to listen)

Coincidentally, Al Capp is one of the 69 artists featured in Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings. How about that?

Chester Gould who was born on this day in Pawnee, Oklahoma in 1900. Gould created Dick Tracy (first called Plain Clothes Tracy) and dr4ew the exciting noir-ish strip for 46 years. I never met Gould, but lived 15 minutes from him in Illinois. It’s been said that many of the characters in the Dick Tracy strip were modeled after folks Gould knew in Woodstock, Illinois. I did call him one day and chatted with him and inquired if I might visit. Besides wanting to meet him face to face I was hoping to see the grave yard he kept in his back yard for villains from the Tracy strip. Gould said he wasn’t feeling so hot, but to check back. Alas, he died a few weeks later. He was buried wearing a Dick Tracy crime-stoppers pin as detailed in my book Weird But True Toon Factoids. The sketch below from my collection was done for a fan in the 1930s.