Earlier today, I listed some of the men who drew comic books in the forties (or before) who are still with us and, in most cases, still active in the industry. I hadn't intended my list to pass for complete, and adding the following still won't make it complete but here are some more, along with the year in which I believe they did their first comic book or comic strip work: Sam Glanzman (1939), Joe Giella (1945), Al Jaffee (1942), Al Feldstein (1947), John Cassone (1940), Roger Armstrong (1940), Dan Spiegle (1949), Jerry Grandenetti (1946), Sy Barry (1945), Joe Edwards (1942), Ric Estrada (1949), Frank Frazetta (1944), Al Williamson (1948), Harry Harrison (1947), Bill Lignante (1949) and Lee Ames (1940).
And of course, once you get into the early fifties, there are a lot more: Steve Ditko (1953), Jack Davis (1950), Ramona Fradon (1950), Dick Giordano (1951), Mike Esposito (1952), Angelo Torres (1954), Mort Drucker (1951) and a number of others. It's kind of amazing to realize that the first issue of Mad was published almost 55 years ago and of the four stories in that first issue, three were drawn by men who are still around.
Gordon Kent and others are writing to ask if I have any personal anecdotes about Peter Boyle, the fine actor who has died at the age of 71. I have maybe a fourth of one. I always thought Mr. Boyle was a fine actor, starting with the film in which most of us first heard of him, Joe. It was a clumsy, sometimes tasteless effort but amazingly, Boyle was quite wonderful in it and its story, which was appallingly relevant in 1970, may be even more pertinent today. Or maybe not, I don't know. I'd have to watch it again.
My one encounter with the man came at the 100th birthday party for the great ventriloquist, Señor Wences in 1996. I was talking with the Guest of Honor and with another great voice thrower, Paul Winchell, who was then a spry 74 years young. Boyle came over to say goodnight to the Señor and somehow, he and I got to talking about what guys like that meant to our childhoods. I don't remember the words but the jist of it was how wonderful it was that Wences and Winchell had lived long enough to be properly honored and to maybe, just maybe appreciate the impact of their work on others. It's a bit chilling to recall the discussion today and to realize that Boyle did not even make it to the age Paul was on that evening. You hope he realized how much his work — Peter Boyle's, I mean — had meant to so many others.
If ten minutes with him is any indication, he was a crusty but sincere man, very devoted to his work. I saw an interview with him not longer after and was struck by how serious he was about acting...serious enough to give it his all but not so serious that it skewed out of proportion to other things in the world. The obits I'm seeing now on the Internet are short and obviously prepared in a hurry...but if you come across a longer one that goes into depth about his life, and about how he gave up life in a monastery for what some would view as the extreme opposite, give it a read.
That said, the following clip does not represent the extent of Peter Boyle's acting prowess or the seriousness with which he approached his work. But it sure is funny.
Paul Krugman on "The Great Wealth Transfer." Quick summary: Yes, the economy has improved in some ways over the last few years...but George W. Bush and his crowd have made certain that it only improved for the super-rich, even at the expense of anyone below that level.
This runs three and a half minutes. It's one of the trailers (the longest one I know of) for one of my favorite movies, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. If you're a fan of this film, you might be delighted to know that I have a little section of this website where I've posted a few things about the picture. It's over here. Get to clicking.
Every time I post an obit for someone like Martin Nodell, as I had to do the other day, I read messages from people lamenting how our heritage is slipping away...how the founders of the comic book industry are almost all gone. This is true and, of course, there's nothing that can be done about it, and we need to honor and interview these folks while they're still with us. This requires that we remember which ones are. This morning in an obit for his father in the L.A. Times, Marty Nodell's son Spencer says, "My dad is one of the last of the Golden Age artists. Guys like [Superman creators Jerry] Siegel and [Joe] Shuster, [Batman creator] Bob Kane, they've all passed. Jerry Robinson [co-creator of the Joker] and [Batman artist] Sheldon Moldoff are still with us, but otherwise they're all gone."
Well, not quite. Paul Norris, who co-created Aquaman, is still with us at the age of 92. George Tuska, who was drawing for Will Eisner's shop in 1939 would certainly fit anyone's definition of a Golden Age artist. He's still around at the age of 90. Nick Cardy, who started with Eisner at the same time, is a much younger man of 85.
Creig Flessel, who was drawing the covers of Detective Comics before Batman was in the book is alive at age 94. Jim Mooney, who drew his first comic book in 1941, is a mere 87 years of age. Joe Simon, who has a pretty impressive list of co-creations to his credit including Captain America, is 93. He started in comics in 1938. Joe Kubert, who's 80 years old, did his first comic book work in 1942.
Irwin Hasen is 88 and he started drawing comics in 1940. His occasional partner Bob Oksner is two years older and he started doing comics about the same time. So did Bob Fujitani, who's 86. Bob Lubbers (age 84) was illustrating for funnybooks in 1942. Carmine Infantino is 81 and he was drawing comics before 1941.
There are others I could add to the list...not many, sad to say, but there are others. Stan Lee wasn't an artist but he was an important figure of that era and he's not only going strong...at his current rate, he's going to outlive all of us.
Then you have a number of folks who are still with us who did their first comic book work later in the forties. Here are ten names and the years in which they first worked in comics: Russ Heath (1947), Gene Colan (1944), Dick Ayers (1947), Al Plastino (1948), Murphy Anderson (1947), Lew Sayre Schwartz (1948), John Romita (1949), Joe Sinnott (1949), John Severin (1947) and Will Elder (1947).
The point, of course, is not that we have a whole lot of these guys left...and Spencer Nodell, mourning his dad, can hardly be faulted for a bit of exaggeration at our collective loss. It's just that we need to treasure the pioneers of comics now, while we can, and not forget that they're here. It also still amazes me when someone suggests to a convention organizer that they invite some 91-year-old comic book legend as a guest and the organizer says, "Oh, my list is kinda full this year. I'll invite him next year...or maybe the year after." Let's not bury an entire generation before we have to.
December 14, 2006
