MoCCA Fest

Pam’s Pictorama Post: This is an interesting year for me to focus on MoCCA, the annual comic con manisfestation of the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art) now it its 24th year. I think Kim and I have been going to this comics fest since its early days at the Puck Building downtown. From there it bounced a bit and had homes at various locations including the Armory, Chelsea and now the Metropolitan Pavilion on West 18th Street. Sponsored by The Society of Illustrators (which probably deserves its own post covering its august history), MoCCA is an annual March event by which we tell the comics calendar here in New York City. Over time it has grown like topsy and there was a moment yesterday afternoon when I literally couldn’t move in the gathered crowd!

This year was a bit special for Deitch Studio because Kim’s new book, How I Make Comics, is being previewed there with advanced copies, a talk and signings. We are so excited to see the book at long last! So we had a bit more of a purpose there than our more usual ramblings.

*Kim and Bill kicking off the talk and Bill’s copy of Kim’s new book here.*

However, the road to it was complicated this year and in part I write because I think you’ve had some hurried Pictorama posts on recent weekends. To start at the beginning, as snow buried New York repeatedly in March Kim and I weren’t doing our morning walk to work – not surprisingly, it was lousy walking. (I wrote about those walks not long ago here.) He’d had some pain and walking seemed to aliviate it, however without it, about a month ago we realized that he was having increased pain – and, alarmingly, trouble walking at all. A trip to the ER followed three Saturdays ago, and it turns out he had a severely herniated disc.

It was clear that surgery was in the offing – eschewing actual emergency surgery, we started on the bumpy road which led us to an operation last Thursday (micro surgery – I’d only considered this on animals via work oddly enough), although some issues kept him in the jug until a week ago today. (I liked the hospital okay enough although I think our animal hospital is much nicer – I’d much rather go there!)

*This was one of those rarified items that turned up – never saw this before!*

In general surgery seems to have been a great success. He’s walking much better, improving daily, although he needs to develop some muscle for any distance again. No bending, lifting or twisting – we seem to be good about the lifting but the bending and twisting, well…he tries. Most importantly for all involved, he was back in his work chair for pretty much full days starting on Monday – he’s made his halfway through the next book already and has a full head of steam.

*Kim’s messier (even) than usual work table and area shown here – as shown at the slide show yesterday.*

All this to say, it’s been a busy time on the ground here at Deitch Studio and we were on a deadline with MoCCA kicking off the book yesterday. I’m pleased to say it was a great day and really much fun. John Kelly of Dummyzine fame (@dummyzine) invited Kim to sit at his table for part of the day, joining Bob Camp of Ren and Stimpy fame. John is working on a long interview with Kim for Dummy which we look forward to coming out later this year.

*Mark Newgarden, John and Kim looking over some of John’s rare Deitch items.*

At lunchtime our friend and comics historian Bill Kartalopoulos (@kartalopoulos) did a great interview with Kim which covered process (what fun to see one of Kim’s pages go from rough pencils to a tight lay out and then to an inked page through the miracle of Powerpoint), but also delved into some family history which plays out in How I Make Comics. He spent some time on my favorite story in the collection, The Two Maries, about Kim’s mom and grandmother hitchhiking from Denver to LA in 1939.

*A young and very pretty Marie Deitch (nee Billingsley) shown here.* *I knew her in later years and was very fond of her.*

Yours truly and Pam’s Pictorama got a shout out as well – thank you Bill! And we were so pleased to see how many folks showed up for the talk – a thank you to those of you who made it.

Then it was over to the Fantagraphics table (Kim’s longstanding publisher and a big presence at the con) to sign advanced copies of the book and meeting folks which is always fun. I get to see some early, rare appearances of Kim’s work in volumes people have collected and want him to sign. Amazing! This fan girl is thrilled!

We’re back today for more – if you are around say hello! Kim is signing from 1-2:00 today and otherwise we will spend some time back with John and his other guests. I will man the box of original art for sale so come on by – and back to more traditional Pictorama next week!

Still Young

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: The year is still young enough flash this New Year card, found in the pile on my desk back here in our New York HQ at Deitch Studio. We made the trek back, cats tucked unhappily in their carriers, a few days ago, this past Wednesday. A food delivery (love ya Fresh Direct) will arrive in a bit. After spending the morning with you all here at Pictorama, I will finish unpacking us, break down a bunch of boxes that we moved art supplies and food in, and life will slowly resume its Manhattan manifestation until the summer when the whole crew will decamp again. I will of course be in New Jersey periodically looking in on the Jersey Five (cats) and continuing my efforts to convert Peaches to a pet-able house cat.

Like almost everyone around me, I have started the New Year with a bad cold which is hanging on tenaciously. Meanwhile, Blackie seems a bit morose which leaves us scratching our heads – we know he doesn’t miss the other cats there. Was his spot on a chair in the sun that nice? Or under another chair and near a heat vent? He’s eating but carrying an expression of world weariness. He hisses at Cookie as if he never met her before – something he does when we return to the apartment.

Okay, onto the postcard! I don’t know how I missed this brilliant card when piling up ones for New Jersey, but I did and I cannot wait a whole year to share it. This one has weirdly wonderful all over it. It wasn’t cheap but it was among some items I considered a bit of a bargain when purchased last fall.

I am a longstanding sucker for a good moon face and this one certainly qualifies; I could not ask for better. What really kills me is the weird little skirt-wearing body they have attached it too. (Is the moon a woman?) Weird nebulous feet on sort of fat baby-esque legs and the amorphous body is finished off with hands that look like they belong to yet something else. That moon head just floats though and is more substantial so at first you don’t put it together with the body, but then you do and chuckle!

The cheeky cherubs, in the arms of the moon, have a champagne bottle, held by one while the other toasts (or is it offering the glass to the moon?) with a glass full of bubbly. Dark clouds fill an even darker blue green sky behind them. Because it is dark it is hard to see but this card is lightly embossed, the cherubs in the highest relief but the clouds are gently shaped too, the moon’s dress also in low relief giving it texture. It wishes us A Happy New Year at the bottom in an Arts and Crafts writing so decorative it takes a minute to read it.

*Back of card – what is the aunt’s name?*

This card is postmarked on December 30, 1907, from somewhere in Pennsylvania; the town is illegible. To the best of my ability to read the brown ink script it says: Hello! Auntie: – How you feeling by this time red’d your letter this morning am very glad your roommate studys [sic] harmony once in a while. Your niece Ethel. It is address to Miss Grace Mangst, Warrin. Ohio D.M.J. No maker mark is in evidence on the card – which is too bad because these folks had something going on. I don’t usually hang seasonal cards but this one’s a gem.

Of course the big 2026 news here at Deitch Studio is Kim’s book, How I Make Comics is coming out in April. It is on pre-order – find it here. We find ourselves already deeply immersed in how to help launch this book. In the service of promoting it, I am toying with doing a podcast where Kim and I will talk about the origins of the stories and his history in comics. As I have previously with other intimidating projects (I know nothing about recording and editing), I share this with you all to help keep me honest about working on it. However, I am also asking you to weigh in on the idea. Is it a good one? Will folks listen? Or should I keep to my tip tap typing? Please weigh in below or leave a comment.

Deitch Studio: Christmas 2025

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Arguably the most popular day on the Pictorama calendar – the holiday card reveal – and here we are again! For the third year now, with Kim’s blessing, I have attempted all seven cats – the Jersey Five and the New York cats combined as the illustration. As has become our pattern, I draw it and he then redraws, traces and inks it. The cats have stayed true to my drawing as has the design. Us in the sleigh is more him and the moon has become a good old Deitchian moon. I think it is a fair melding hybrid of our styles.

Kim noted that the cats look a bit like balloons here – of the Thanksgiving parade kind. Some more than others – Stormy hovering over Christmas is the most balloon like. (She is a pretty dreamy kitty. One of the last of the strays mom acquired.) Evidently a slow moving sleigh now that I reflect on it.

For the record and the curious, the top row from left to right are Blackie, Milty, Gus, Cookie and bottom row, Beau, Peaches and Stormy. Milty is the oldest and Peaches and Stormy roughly tie for youngest and last into the house. Cookie and Blackie are the only ones from the same litter (our New York kits) and Blackie and Beau share their all black cat-ness.

As I do the card reveal this year I need to apologize a bit – it seems I have lost my address book which I have had since college. Although many addresses have migrated to my electronic book, many of the oldest ones have not and among those I don’t necessarily have emails or numbers to text either. Someone pointed out that the universe was trying to tell me something.

I didn’t see it at first but someone pointed out that Kim has candy cane horns – I must ask him if it was on purpose or if he was having subliminal Grampus urges. Now I don’t know how I missed it.

If you are new to the card reveal, this joint card project goes back to the first year Kim and I started dating (predating Pictorama by decades) and has developed over time. Some earlier examples can be found here, here and here.

As you read this on Sunday morning we will (hopefully) be packed up and on our way to New Jersey with Cookie and Blackie in tow. We spent today (Saturday) organizing and filling boxes and suitcases so the cats are suspicious – sleeping on the bed with one eye slightly open I’d say.

When we get to the house I am anxious to see if my holiday swags of evergreens have lasted on the front railings. I will take out my few holiday decorations – oversized colored lights will go in the fireplace, an elderly Santa made of lead skiing and a few other choice bits that will live on the mantle – one of the few cat free spaces in the house. (That of course is always subject to change if a cat is enterprising enough!)

*Hard to read beyond Mr. and Mrs. Will Claff. How on earth did this get delivered I wonder.*

I thought I would bookend this post with another card I bought this fall. Sent on December 23, 1914. It was sent from Brockport, NY but the address is hard to read as is the message. Of course it was the idea of the nifty cat pull toy on the front that did it for me, bow and all. I like the little poem too which says, I send this kissy kat because I cannot go like Santa Claus, to give my Christmas love to you, or kiss you – as I’d like to do. So a Merry Christmas to you all – a few New Year’s cards tucked away next.

The Bowers Movie Book: Aesop’s Fables

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: I have an unusual nugget of animation history today. It came to my attention on a search for Aesop’s Fable dolls which I have put out in the world. I asked for more photos because only a few pages of the inside were shown and I was afraid it was just the covers and a couple of pages. The seller quickly replied. In the end I offered a bit less than he was asking and he agreed. It was still a bit dear but something about it appealed and I went the extra mile to purchase it.

Try flipping the page by hitting the arrow!

In reality the book is more interesting even than it appeared at first. Every illustration has a second illustration under it and you are instructed to (gently, especially now) flip to the second page and you see “movement” between the two. It is rather ingenious and simple – a different type of flip book. (Flip the Pages…the Pictures Live.) The book is super worn and shows evidence of much use, flipping the pages. Every other page is several more short tales which are illustrated but do not flip.

It was published by Harcourt, Brace and Company of New York and we can see it was Book 2. A search on the internet shows that Book 1 was dedicated to Mother Goose which looks at least equally interesting. In the back we see that there was a Book 3 (which I now really want!) about the circus which seems to feature a very Koko the Clown looking character! Book 4 was called Once Upon a Time. These volumes are somewhat rarified and I can only find evidence of this one and Book 1 having been recently available for sale. There are eight pages in its entirety, counting the fold-out double pages as one.

One of my attempts to show you how flipping the page looks.

The artist/s do not appear to get credit for these so I am assuming that Charley Bowers is the artist and perhaps the writer as there are no other credits for the book. On the inside cover there is a 1923 copyright and W.F. Powers Co. On the cover we see that there is a Pat. Applied For.

Charles (Charley) Bowers started his animation career working on the silent Mutt and Jeff cartoons. By the early twenties he moved to Educational Films where he made slapstick comedies, some shorts featuring Rube Goldberg creations and a mix of animation, stop motion and live action short subjects. He is prodigious in his output through the twenties and does a stint with Walter Lanz in the thirties. At the end of his career he moves to Wayne, New Jersey and drew cartoons for the Jersey Journal. Sadly at the end of his life arthritis cripples him and he instructs his wife to execute drawing the cartoons under his instruction.

It is also noted in his bio that he was known for illustrating children’s books although the Wikipedia article mentions this for his post-film career and these were clearly made in the thick of it. He was largely forgotten until a Lobster Film dvd came out in 2004 and revived interest in him. It is still available however you will pay up. (It can be found on Amazon here or Flick Alley here. I would poke around eBay for a slightly better price.) As a result, not many videos are posted online, but one I offer is available here.

Clearly a bit of a mechanical genius this is a tiny salute to Charles Bowers of early animation fame. This book is a remaining concrete tribute to his ingenuity.

Home again, home again

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: While New Jersey is also technically home, our many more months a year are spent in our tiny Manhattan apartment. Despite thinking, every time, that we are bringing less back than we brought there, we will spend today rather literally stuffing ourselves back into this space and place. Among other things (think books) we arrive laden with corn, tomatoes and herbs from the Garden State – the latter two from our garden.

*Kim’s pile of pages, still covered in plastic against the possibility of ceiling leaks.*

As far as I can tell, everyone who visits us here finds our ability to live in this one room (which I continue to stuff things into and Kim contributes artistic additions to daily, not to mention his book habit and mine) rather stunning. Mostly when you are doing it you forget about it. Having been away for five weeks I myself am marveling at how I produce meals in our miniscule kitchen – with cats and Kim in there with me! (We remodeled that kitchen back in the fall of ’19, just months before the pandemic. Find that post here.) Um, how have I prepared meals here?

*Our kitchen post renovation – believe me, there’s lots more in it right now!*

Kim is back at his beloved New York work table which is more generously proportioned than his one in NJ and has all his stuff – his full pile of lay outs and an always slowly growing pile of finished pages. Only a working kit of stuff goes to NJ in a box each time. Having said that I think he will miss the lovely open window he worked by. I have worked at that desk and on a good day you can see hummingbirds in the Rose of Sharon tree which they seem to adore.

Cookie (shown above) and Blackie are thrown back together and I report that they are finding the one room small as well. Blackie, on the defensive the whole time he’s in New Jersey, gets unfortunately aggressive with Cookie once we are back. The fighting has commenced and there is much hissing. Kim is mostly doing the mediating. Cookie has resumed a perch atop of the couch and, although Blackie slept on the bed, he is currently sleeping off the whole experience under it. (Do they think they have awoken from a long dream when they find themselves back here? Or have they assimilated that they now occasionally travel back and forth? I suspect they’d have a lot to say given the opportunity. Perhaps we are just as glad they cannot talk!)

Several of the Rosa Mulholland books were left in Jersey after Kim read them, however two more arrived here in the meantime. (For my Rosa Mulholland posts and more about what I am reading you can go here and here.) Much of my reading is electronic these days but she has been hard to find and I keep purchasing the pretty volumes when I can. In addition, a few other volumes crept in via the antiques annex in Red Bank. (As for the comic book store I believe a couple of those volumes Kim purchased made it to New York as he had not read them yet.)

We are currently about half unpacked and I have a pile of clothes that need to either be cleaned or hung up. I wish I could move these summer dresses to our storage locker but the weather has turned hot again and I will regret it if I do I am afraid.

*I only see one cat but our bivouac* *process in August.*

For all of those things I do have my 25 minute walk to and from work coming up this week, rather than my long train ride from NJ. (Kim is going to try to do some of these mornings with me to keep up our walking together habit acquired on vacation. We’ll see if I can keep him away from his drawing table for a bit each morning for that.) The calendar is filling up with fall dates and New York is already in full fall swing, waiting for us to hop into the fray.

I have been back at the office since last week and again and again colleagues say that it is like a switch has been flipped and we are off to the races. We have a Paws & Pints gathering of owners and dogs this Wednesday at a dog friendly bar near home. It is followed by a new event for young supporters called Woof & Wine at the end of the month – that to support our fund which cares for seeing eye dogs for free. A supply of dogs and puppies from a seeing eye foundation will be the highlight, along with cocktails, food and a silent auction. And that is just September!

We are having one of our first truly rainy days in weeks so I have no excuse but to face the music and get the apartment in some sort of shape. Wish me luck and hopefully onto further acquisitions next week.

Dahlia Days and Jersey Delights

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: These are not only the dog days of summer but International Dog Day as I sit down to start this. No dogs here in the House of Seven Cats and I think the Jersey Five find the addition of the two New Yorkers two too many more let alone pups.

Blackie has wiled most of his days away in our bedroom when not hunting up Cookie (who resides in Kim’s studio upstairs) and eating her food. He’s also gotten into numerous tussles with Beau, the head of cats here and fluffed himself up into a righteously puffy Halloween-esque fellow. I am trying to resolve the problem with an extra can of food in the late afternoon. It might be working.

*The view from the back deck one glorious afternoon.*

I am on the back deck as I write, where I have spent many happy hours this vacation. Stormy, the gray tabby who seems to be perpetually surprised and terrified by the world, is at the back door looking out – hoping against hope that a fat fly will land on the screen door for her to chase.

Labor Day comes early this year but having said that the light in the afternoon already has a fall look and I have seen large v’s of birds starting to make their trek south. The evenings are chilly enough to warrant a jacket and I am starting to eye the little used fire pit. However, the earlier part of the day in full sun can be roiling hot so we are not there yet.

With heavy spring rain and subsequent dry spells the dahlias are slow to bloom this year but their show now that it has started is worthy. A few new entries are small in bloom stature but bursting with bright colors, red and white and an orange red and yellow. My beloved hummingbirds come to feast on them and they go from one to another and back to a favorite – like a bird buffet. ( Does anyone know what I mean when I say hummingbirds, hanging in the air, look like they are somehow stopping time?)

I can almost always find bees tucked in the centers of the dahlias, drowsily, drunkenly and dizzily covered in pollen. The strawberry plants are also enjoyed by the hummingbirds and are overflowing with flowers right now. I think I’ve mentioned before that they oddly produce only the tiniest, almost doll sized fruit – delicious but bizarrely small.

The tomato plants promise produce, hanging green on the vine but ripening SO slowly. Another producing tiny tasty yellow cherry tomatoes is doing a great business – unusually small but tasty bits being the order of the day here I guess. We pop small handfuls in our mouth, still warm from the sun. The jalapeno peppers are bountiful (and perversely huge) and of course are the hardest to use up quickly without killing my diners with devilishly spicy treats.

This year has felt like a real vacation. Kim and I have taken long daily walks to the neighboring towns, shopped in the antique stores and scored some items. We brought piles of books from New York (and admittedly added to them) and we have worked our way through almost all of them. Kim has been catching up on some of my Rosa Mulholland recommendations including one I brought with me that arrived shortly before our departure. In addition he has made occasional trips to the comic book store in Red Bank (Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash of Kevin Smith fame) where he has amassed books reproducing the Superman saga.

*From my favorite perch at the comic book store, reading work email while Kim looks.*

Kim and I both worked for the first two weeks here after arriving in early August and we’ll put in a few days from here after Labor Day. Last week I wrote about our pending visit with Bill which kicked off our vacation and below are some photos memorializing his visit. (Bill, if you’re reading this, we found both the Reed Crandall book AND the Pinocchio book after you left! They were on an overlooked shelf together.)

Tonight is our first visit this year to the local Fireman’s Fair. (I wrote about it last summer in a post here.) Although I have reserved the right to go again when another friend visits from Manhattan this weekend.

I recently told Kim if he wants to sound like a native New Jersey-er he weigh in on the state of the summer’s corn and tomatoes – peaches for the bonus round. We take these things very seriously and the quality of Garden State produce is of great local importance. This year corn is small but good corn can be found with some work – it is perhaps just late as it has improved as the month has gone on. The tomatoes are somewhat underwhelming unless you hit one of the El Dorados of good ones (or can convince the ones on your deck to ripen) and eat them quickly before they go from ripe to bad. All but one purchase of peaches failed the test – however last night had some that had been purchased at the peach of ripeness before going bad, ate them with ice cream and felt like we really hit it at last.

In this spirit I began to make tomato pie. After looking at numerous recipes I settled on a simple one which I share below. The tomatoes need to be bled of water briefly before starting and I used a pre-made crust. (For all my apparent cooking talents there’s something about pie crust which I have never gotten into the rhythm of properly.)

Fifteen minutes to throw together and this is in the oven cooking away for 45 minutes or more and it is without question best if consumed immediately – it is inferior when reheated. My only other word of advice is that you should pack it as full of tomato layers as possible because they shrink in the cooking and my first effort looked a bit woebegone as a result. Dan and Cathy Theodore were the first to try my pie and liked it enough to ask for the recipe, but more about their visit and the gift they brought in another post.

Recipe:

1 pie crust
1/2 red onion, sliced thinly into rounds
1/4 cup mayonnaise
6 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
3-4 ripe tomatoes, sliced about 1/4-1/2 inch thin
4 tablespoons fresh basil, sliced into ribbons (chiffonade)
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400F.
Line a 9″ tart pan with prepared pie dough. Poke a few holes in the dough with a fork, then cover with parchment paper and pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes, until crust is starting to turn golden.
While the crust bakes, slice the tomatoes on several sheets of paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Flip and salt the other side as well. Let the tomatoes sit for 10 minutes, then blot off moisture with dry towels.
Mix together the mayonnaise and the shredded cheese, and spread the mixture in the parbaked pie crust. Sprinkle 2-3 tablespoons of the basil on top.
Top with one layer of the sliced tomatoes, the onions, followed by a second layer of tomatoes. Add a third layer if space permits. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. (If like me you are worried that the tomatoes are salty from the bleeding the wiping them down wipes off most of the salt.)
Bake for 30 minutes, until crust is golden and some juices along the edge of the pie crust are bubbling. Remove from the oven and set aside for 20 minutes to cool before slicing. Tip with the remaining basil and serve warm or room temperature.

Note: Tomato pie is best served on the day it is made, but leftovers can be store in the refrigerator and reheated in the oven at 350 degrees for 12-20 minutes.

PS – At top, Beauregard, top cat of the Jersey Five, in a pout before we left today!

Felix’s…finger?

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: This card, not surprisingly, hails from Great Britain. It was mailed on December15, 1923. It was mailed from Saffron, Walden at 9:30 AM to Miss Lucy Piggot, St. Wilfords, Mill Hill, Sudbury, Suffolk. I picked it up on eBay and had it sent to the house here in NJ.

It is a hand drawn and inked card and is a good Felix likeness for that early 20’s period – square and blocky. His pose is an X and one could even see a swastika in it although I don’t think that’s the case. Mystically it says, I’m Felix, Mascot to the “Sudbury Happy-go-Lucky’s” and the signature, I assume of the artist, R Good in a design. (For another Felix fake try another post from my collection here.)

Felix has a big bloop of a nose and a couple of fangy teeth. Kim thinks he is giving us the finger which is undeniably a reasonable assumption. I thin it is more likely an insipid sword. The other hand is a bit odd too and the least Felix element. He has a rounder tummy than I associate with Felix and perhaps a less perky tail – still something about him captures what I think was the Felix mood of the day. The Happy-go-Lucky’s must have been quite a group.

The message on the back does not enlighten us much. It says (to the best of my ability to transcribe): c/o Mr. Penning, 28 Church Street, Saffron, Walden SX. Dear Lucy, Many thanks for Ple. (?) I am glad I’m not there to “sit down”. have got that other song its not bad. I thought I saw someone at the window Monday. I was in the carriage with the bright lights. What do you think of my mascot not bad eh? Will you take care of him until I return then I will disclose to you y plan now I will disclose to you my plan now I must close. I hoping your cold is better. Well best of luck and love to all. Jack (I have mostly added some punctuation which Jack seemed to feel unnecessary.)

So more than a hundred years later this message is a bit cryptic if intriguing. Something to ponder on a sunny Sunday here in New Jersey.

Buster Brown Bank

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: I realize that there has been no reason to visit the history of Buster Brown in this blog. Today I will try to do him justice via this bank I purchased recently from my Texan friends, @curiositiesantique via Instagram.

For those of you too young to have owned these shoes (I barely slip into that category with a dim memory of the advertising at the shoe store when I was a tiny tot) the brief history goes pretty much as follows. Back in 1904 in an early advertising coup the nascent Buster Brown shoe company purchased the rights to an existing comic strip character created by Richard Outcault of Yellow Kid fame. Outcault was on the market selling the character and pressed them to additionally purchase the rights to the Buster’s girlfriend which they did – more about her in a minute.

*From a Heritage Auction. Not in Pictorama collection.*

Interesting to me that Outcault sold the rights to 200 companies at the Louisiana Exposition which is where the shoe company picked it up. Therefore, presumably, there are Buster Brown items or more likely advertising that does not belong to the shoe company. Clearly however the shoe company made the most of their acquisition and a long history of Buster Brown shelling for shoes begins and runs well into the middle of the 20th century and Buster Brown is virtually synonymous with shoes now.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that the cartoonist Outcault was quite the business man when it came to licensing and in 1904 was making $75,000 a year on licenses and employed a small staff to manage them. (If Google is telling me the truth this means he was a millionaire in his day.)

*Speciman 1908 hand colored Outcault Buster Brown strip.*

However, let’s get back to the shoes. The shoes were so popular that generically a kids shoes might be referred to as their Buster Browns. In addition to items like this bank there was reams of print advertising and purchase point items for stores. Midgets were employed to play Buster, in his unfortunate garb, with cheerful pit bulls enrolled to play his dog Tige. The merchandising for toys was glorious and I spied at least one stuffed Tige online that I covet already. By the time I wandered onto the shoe wearing scene in the 1960’s the merchandising boiled down to some balloons. (There is a vague memory that maybe there was something else, maybe a comic long reprinted but I don’t really remember.)

*Buster Brown and Tige in front of a shoe store. The copy of this photo is credited to Mel Birnkrant’s collection although a few exist online.*

The shoes had Buster and Tige inside, under your heel and I remember the jingle from early tv in a high pitched voice, I’m Buster Brown and I live in a shoe, that’s my dog Tige and he lives there too.

*Buster Brown Shoes sign located in Thomasville, Georgia. It can be found on North Broad Street.*

So to my surprise, I learned today that as above Buster Brown had a girlfriend (huh), and her name was Mary Jane – and that is how women’s shoes with the single strap were named Mary Janes and are still known by that term today.

*Real Buster Brown Mary Janes. Can be yours on Etsy at the time of publication.*

As for this bank, it stands at five or six inches. A trace of paint remains on the face and hands while the red tie remains fairly vivid. This seems to be the most common form of this bank although online I found versions in an overall green and one in red which I can’t decide if it is original or not. The face was the first to go and I can’t say I found it pristine on any of this design. Buster’s hair was painted a light brown and Tige’s mouth was also the vivid red and there were red circles around his eyes.

It is a simple bank with a screw in the bottom you would use to retrieve your saved coins. It is small so not like you were keeping a fortune in there. Kim starts to ruminate on restoring it as soon as he looks at it. Evidently it makes him itch to paint it although we know that he won’t – nor should he devote time to such projects when more creative work awaits him. (Although Kim’s next book is scheduled for release early next year he’s already deep into the one after it.)

So now that we have a first Buster Brown item we’ll see how long it is before the next wanders in the door. I am going to be looking sharp for that stuffed Tige.

You Should Have Seen That Cat

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Today’s treat is a clear example of the curios you will come across if you consistently spend time down a given rabbit hole of collecting as I tend to. Definitely in the more interesting than good, this old press photo caught my eye recently and was on its way to me lickety split. It had found its way from the East coast to Los Angeles, but it is back home in the tri-state area again.

Its eBay listing,1936 Disney Mickey Mouse Costume Atlantic City Steel Pier Midgets Felix the Cat, was designed to catch my attention a few different ways. And really, put that way, who could resist it?

Deconstructing that amazing sentence a bit – Felix? Um, I hate to be a critic but I think they were very safe from copyright infringement on that one. It is somewhat more illuminated by the press information stored on the back. Glued to the back, in a very old fashioned type, is the following breaking news:

YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THAT CAT – That is about what Mickey Mouse was telling pretty Miss Betty Van Auken, New York visitor sunbathing on the Atlantic City Steel Pier. And Mickey’s girl friend Minnie Mouse listened, a little careful of Mickey around such beauty. Mickey and Minnie are members of the Steel Pier midget colony that helps to entertain guests on the ocean amusement structure. It has an index number, A16353 and it says, Ref. Dept. 7-28-36 N.E.A.

The Steel Pier seems to be the major amusement pier in Atlantic City and we will assume it has been ever thus. And while it seems sensible that this figure with Mickey was never meant to be Felix, it’s decidedly un-Minnie like as well, both mask and outfit. (And that suit looks hot for a July in Atlantic City too – she’d have been much happier in Minnie’s usual brief attire!) Mickey still looks a bit overdressed for July, but is in more traditional Mickey garb.

*Comic book publication of Stuff of Dreams, #3, cover image.*

It took a few times before the midget colony part sunk into my consciousness. Fascinating on its own, it also reminded me immediately of a story Kim did years ago, No Midgets in Midgetville which had roots in an actual town in northern NJ which is said to have originally been the winter home of a group of traveling circus midgets. (That story was published in his book, Alias the Cat which can be purchased on Amazon here or search eBay. Or you can find it in single comics under the name, Stuff of Dreams #3.)

We went and looked at the remains of the enclave of small (and occasionally tiny) houses as research for the story, an interesting morning jaunt with my ever patient father. In these days of tiny homes it is a bit hard to say how much truth was in the story, although some house did seem quite small. (The original story about it being Midgetville originated in the New York Times back in 2002 and can be found here although there are other references to the town online.) Regardless, the idea that circus performers (perhaps of all sizes) wintered there perhaps makes sense and it makes additional sense that perhaps some of those performers went no further than Atlantic City seaside for a summer gig.

*Centerfold of Midgetville, Kim Deitch, Stuff of Dreams.*

As for Miss Betty Van Auken of New York – it is hard to believe that even a veteran New Yorker showed up in Atlantic in a bathing suit, mincing along in high heels and lipstick for a day at the beach. At first I didn’t even bother googling her but it turns out that 1936 was her year. She has a Broadway role (Dodsworth) and film credits from that year, The Garden of Allah, Oasis Girl (uncredited), and a small part as a manicurist in Big Brown Eyes. The trail grows cold after that.

The weirdness of this duo continues to nag at me though. How odd to be on the seaside pier in roasting July heat, eating your cotton candy and have these two come gamboling up around you. The Stuff of Dreams indeed!

The Spice of the Program, 1927-1928

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: I’ve had this interesting advertising book in my possession for a number of weeks and am just getting around to sharing it with you all. Obviously I purchased it for the Felix page, but I do find the whole publication of interest.

For starters I am impressed with the idea that these were sent out en masse to theaters to encourage bookings. For all of it’s heft and embossed-ness it doesn’t go into any detail about the packages you would be ordering for your theater. These were all short subjects, like Felix, so each page highlights a topic.

The opening page, with a photo and a letter from E. W. Hammond. While I cannot seem to trace his title over at Educational Films, I have run across him advertising Felix films previously. The link to two rollicking pages advertising Felix cartoons can be found here. In his letter at the front of this volume he refers to the proven success of these shorts. He writes, It is a group of pictures without an element of a gamble – backed by seven years of specialized experience – a product of proven value.

I am giving you a slide show to page through the entire holding at the end of the post but want to highlight a few. I will start with Felix, although he is found toward the back of the volume. These years were Felix in his heyday and 26 new one-reel cartoons were in the offing. He strums his banjo and eyes the girl cat, Kitty, peering out around a building. There is a frowning faced moon on the other side. Felix is perched on a bit of fence but I like the way the buildings curve in around behind him like they want to break loose and frolic. It is a jolly nighttime scene with stars in the sky and all the buildings lit up – occupants no doubt listening to Felix’s serenade for better or worse. A careful look shows that his snout, as it were, is the same pink as the buildings. Someone named E. Ritt claims illustration credit and that is someone other than who has executed the other images. Such popularity means patronage and profit…

*These are the ones I am curious about.*

Beyond Felix there are a few other highlights for me. 12 One-Reel Curiosities The Movie Side-show catches my eye. This one is also signed by E. Ritt and here his imagination has been let loose a bit. We have a tree with eyes watching a witch stir a caldron producing smoke which reveals owl eyes, and a three-headed cat eyes us! A spicy dish concocted from many oddities gathered from all corners of the world, and served with a dash of wit and humor. Oh man, I wonder how they delivered on this?

I like the page of Dorothy Devore comedies – she’s shown with this nice teddy bear. The artist of the spread seems to be someone else and they are identified as E.R.H. It states, A girl comedy start — a real star — is a rare asset. Well, I like that! This was toward the end of Dorothy’s working life. Wikipedia says she stopped making films in 1930.

There is a sort of centerspread which has Cameo Comedies on one side and 12 One-Reel Lyman H. Howe’s Hodge-Podge, a medley of clever ideas offering more variety to the foot than any other sing reel on the market. Across these two pages we see everything from a girl with her sax to camels, African-type natives and a coolie to whales and the Sphinx. I assume these were largely cartoons – a fact also confirmed by Wikipedia.

So quite a year, ’27-’28. A fraction of these films may still exist – luckily with a good survival rate on Felix. I’ll likely never really get to judge the one-reel curiosities, although you never know what will turn up.

Flip through the whole book below.