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Hogan's Alley
Nov 30, 2009, 12:15:02 PM11/30/09
to Hogan's Alley newsletter
READ THIS NEWSLETTER ON THE WEB:
http://groups.google.com/group/hogans-alley-newsletter?lnk=srg
Dear fellow comics fan:
‘Tis the season, so it's time for our annual holiday gift to Hogan's
Alley readers! This year it's our privilege to present a treasure
trove of Christmas cards from the archives of the legendary
illustrator Arnold Roth:
http://www.cagle.com/hogan/features/christmas_cards_2009/main.asp
Each of his cards is a masterpiece of design, composition and humor,
and we talked to Roth about the process he uses to create them and
what the holiday means to him.
Hogan's Alley: What inspired you to begin creating your own Christmas
cards each year? After all, you stay plenty busy, so it's not like you
have all this spare time.
Arnold Roth: I started to freelance in 1951. At that time, sending a
Christmas greeting to clients and prospective customers served the
purposes of celebration of the holiday spirit and a reminder of the
senders and the service they might provide. In the case of artists, it
also serves as a portfolio piece that displayed their particular
approach to the subject matter.
The first one I sent--in 1952 or '53--was the bird walking into the
fellow’s yap. It made sort of a hit, and most recipients remembered
it. "All I could taste all through to New Year’s was feathers!" was
the usual reaction. I never had known how many people knew what
feathers tasted like.
I have always, and still do, favored the ideas and good feelings of
Christmas, though I am not a Christian. My wife is. Combining our
lists, we eventually sent 600 cards every years--always in a stamped
envelope--for many decades. Due to attrition and being long-lived, the
list has swindled to about 450. It's a fairly arduous exercise, but a
rewarding one.
People reply--usually in their following year’s greeting--"I think I
understood the idea of your card." "That’s another Christmas you
ruined for our entire family!" "Your card is still pinned to our
mantle. Nobody has figured it out yet!" Oh, me! I mean well--and it's
better than the taste of feathers. I guess.
HA: Is there a certain time of the year when you begin working on that
year's card?
Roth: I try to get the paste-up to the copiers by mid-November, but it
can be mid-December. Last-minute, nerve-wracking deadlines are no
strangers in my life. I do the drawing, reduce it to size on my
copier--lessening the quality of the line, sometimes--and paste four
copies on an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet. A professional copy printer prints and
cuts the cardstock sheets. I sign them. My wife and I envelope and
stamp--she addresses most of them. Another Christmas ruined for
friends, clients and aged ingestors of feathers.
HA: I notice that some of your cards have a topical aspect, like the
Muslim bringing Islamic-style greetings in 2003. But overall, there's
not a lot of topical commentary. How do you decide when to incorporate
commentary into your card?
Roth: I try to do an idea that connects to something that had occurred
that year, from world politics to family occurrences. Last year's
[2008] indicated voters who don't usually vote turning out for the
Obama election. Some years, it's just Christmas.
HA: Some of your cards are undated. Clearly, you weren't thinking of
future archivists when you designed them!
Roth: My most intense professional concentration has always been
producing cartoon drawings. As an individual producer, it was
incumbent on me to keep orderly financial books. Everything else was
left to some future where it would sort itself out. That wasn't a
conscious choice. Necessity dictated it. Hiring someone to create
order was not practical. It seemed that by the time I advised someone
else what was what, etc., I might as well do it. Of course, being bent
over a drawing board every day for long hours precluded doing much of
anything else. Eventually the disorder caught up to me.
Early on I could remember which Christmas card followed the others.
But I stayed in business so long and became so unexpectedly successful
that confusion and guesswork replaced accurate memory. So I started
dating them. Many people claim to have saved them all. Many people are
smarter than I am.
HA: In the card from 1991, what is Santa putting in the stockings?
Condoms?
Roth: Yes! With the spread of HIV and the burgeoning of population
everywhere, the placement of condoms next to the candies in front of
the cash registers in family drugstores--they were the perfect gift
for everyone who didn't catch everything. Yet! And it would be a
strange-looking child who could slip one over its head.
HA: You produced two designs for 1999. Did you have two designs you
particularly liked, or are you just a hopeless workaholic?
Roth: My wife wanted an alternative to send to aged, more
conservative, easily shocked and/or disgusted folks. Now, I can't
remember which was which.
HA: Your Santa Claus is something of a dissolute free spirit. In that
sense, is he a stand-in for Arnold Roth?
Roth: No, At least, not consciously. I try to always have Santa Claus
in the picture. He has become the most notable secular symbol of the
most appealing aspects of the season. He is a "giving" person, employs
the height-deprived, is kind--though not sentimentally so--to working
animals, and embodies human traits and can behave and react as human
might and do. And, always remember, to the needy, deserving and just
plain greedy, the man is a saint. He could have been a damned good
cartoonist.
CASTING ABOUT FOR A CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEA?: If you want to give the gift
of Hogan to a comics-loving friend, look no further! We're offering
four issues of Hogan's Alley (from #10 through #16) for $20, which
includes postage! Just place your order via Paypal to our
hoga...@gmail.com address along with the address of your lucky
intended recipient, and we'll gift-wrap the issues and include a note
indicating who sent the gift!
Also, we’ve completely rebuilt our online store, where you can buy
various types of merchandise with vintage cartoon images--also perfect
for Christmas gift-giving! You can browse the merchandise at
http://www.zazzle.com/hogansalley. For example, this season you can
send Christmas cards and postage featuring artwork by cartooning
greats: check them out at http://www.zazzle.com/hogansalley/gifts?cg=196130317480595706
AN INSTANT HOGAN'S ALLEY COLLECTION: One of our longtime readers is
seeking to sell a complete run of Hogan's Alley #1 through #15. If
you're trying to fill in holes in your collection, or if you're a
latecomer to the Alley, this is a great opportunity as we are sold out
of issues 1 through 9. Please contact him directly at
jaxj...@comcast.net. The price is $150, plus $14.50 postage and
insurance.
HOGAN IS TWITTERING: If you’d like to receive cartooning news and the
occasional cartooning-related observation from Hogan's Alley, we’re
HOGANMAG on Twitter. We promise not to pepper you with inanities about
what we're having for lunch, etc. Our tweets arrive with judicious
infrequency.
If you're interested in subscribing to the print edition of Hogan’s
Alley, you’ll receive issue #16 (our current issue) as your first one.
Just visit http://www.cagle.com/hogan/subscribe.asp or send $24 (for
four issues) via Paypal to hoga...@gmail.com. At that same Web page,
you can also purchase issue #16, which we’ve made available as a
single-issue purchase for $8 (postage included). REMEMBER: If you’ve
never experienced the wonders of Hogan’s Alley, you can order a sample
copy for a mere three dollars or buy assorted back issues at that web
page as well (please note that we are sold out of issues 1 through 9).
We are very excited about the way issue #17 is shaping up, and we hope
you’ll subscribe in time to receive it!
Thank you for reading. We encourage you to forward this e-mail to
anyone who might enjoy it. To unsubscribe to this newsletter (or if
you are receiving duplicate transmissions), e-mail us at
hoga...@gmail.com or visit http://groups.google.com/group/hogans-alley-newsletter?lnk=srg.
Please visit our Web site at http://www.hoganmag.com and our shop
featuring classic comics characters at http://www.hoganshops.com.
http://groups.google.com/group/hogans-alley-newsletter?lnk=srg
Dear fellow comics fan:
‘Tis the season, so it's time for our annual holiday gift to Hogan's
Alley readers! This year it's our privilege to present a treasure
trove of Christmas cards from the archives of the legendary
illustrator Arnold Roth:
http://www.cagle.com/hogan/features/christmas_cards_2009/main.asp
Each of his cards is a masterpiece of design, composition and humor,
and we talked to Roth about the process he uses to create them and
what the holiday means to him.
Hogan's Alley: What inspired you to begin creating your own Christmas
cards each year? After all, you stay plenty busy, so it's not like you
have all this spare time.
Arnold Roth: I started to freelance in 1951. At that time, sending a
Christmas greeting to clients and prospective customers served the
purposes of celebration of the holiday spirit and a reminder of the
senders and the service they might provide. In the case of artists, it
also serves as a portfolio piece that displayed their particular
approach to the subject matter.
The first one I sent--in 1952 or '53--was the bird walking into the
fellow’s yap. It made sort of a hit, and most recipients remembered
it. "All I could taste all through to New Year’s was feathers!" was
the usual reaction. I never had known how many people knew what
feathers tasted like.
I have always, and still do, favored the ideas and good feelings of
Christmas, though I am not a Christian. My wife is. Combining our
lists, we eventually sent 600 cards every years--always in a stamped
envelope--for many decades. Due to attrition and being long-lived, the
list has swindled to about 450. It's a fairly arduous exercise, but a
rewarding one.
People reply--usually in their following year’s greeting--"I think I
understood the idea of your card." "That’s another Christmas you
ruined for our entire family!" "Your card is still pinned to our
mantle. Nobody has figured it out yet!" Oh, me! I mean well--and it's
better than the taste of feathers. I guess.
HA: Is there a certain time of the year when you begin working on that
year's card?
Roth: I try to get the paste-up to the copiers by mid-November, but it
can be mid-December. Last-minute, nerve-wracking deadlines are no
strangers in my life. I do the drawing, reduce it to size on my
copier--lessening the quality of the line, sometimes--and paste four
copies on an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet. A professional copy printer prints and
cuts the cardstock sheets. I sign them. My wife and I envelope and
stamp--she addresses most of them. Another Christmas ruined for
friends, clients and aged ingestors of feathers.
HA: I notice that some of your cards have a topical aspect, like the
Muslim bringing Islamic-style greetings in 2003. But overall, there's
not a lot of topical commentary. How do you decide when to incorporate
commentary into your card?
Roth: I try to do an idea that connects to something that had occurred
that year, from world politics to family occurrences. Last year's
[2008] indicated voters who don't usually vote turning out for the
Obama election. Some years, it's just Christmas.
HA: Some of your cards are undated. Clearly, you weren't thinking of
future archivists when you designed them!
Roth: My most intense professional concentration has always been
producing cartoon drawings. As an individual producer, it was
incumbent on me to keep orderly financial books. Everything else was
left to some future where it would sort itself out. That wasn't a
conscious choice. Necessity dictated it. Hiring someone to create
order was not practical. It seemed that by the time I advised someone
else what was what, etc., I might as well do it. Of course, being bent
over a drawing board every day for long hours precluded doing much of
anything else. Eventually the disorder caught up to me.
Early on I could remember which Christmas card followed the others.
But I stayed in business so long and became so unexpectedly successful
that confusion and guesswork replaced accurate memory. So I started
dating them. Many people claim to have saved them all. Many people are
smarter than I am.
HA: In the card from 1991, what is Santa putting in the stockings?
Condoms?
Roth: Yes! With the spread of HIV and the burgeoning of population
everywhere, the placement of condoms next to the candies in front of
the cash registers in family drugstores--they were the perfect gift
for everyone who didn't catch everything. Yet! And it would be a
strange-looking child who could slip one over its head.
HA: You produced two designs for 1999. Did you have two designs you
particularly liked, or are you just a hopeless workaholic?
Roth: My wife wanted an alternative to send to aged, more
conservative, easily shocked and/or disgusted folks. Now, I can't
remember which was which.
HA: Your Santa Claus is something of a dissolute free spirit. In that
sense, is he a stand-in for Arnold Roth?
Roth: No, At least, not consciously. I try to always have Santa Claus
in the picture. He has become the most notable secular symbol of the
most appealing aspects of the season. He is a "giving" person, employs
the height-deprived, is kind--though not sentimentally so--to working
animals, and embodies human traits and can behave and react as human
might and do. And, always remember, to the needy, deserving and just
plain greedy, the man is a saint. He could have been a damned good
cartoonist.
CASTING ABOUT FOR A CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEA?: If you want to give the gift
of Hogan to a comics-loving friend, look no further! We're offering
four issues of Hogan's Alley (from #10 through #16) for $20, which
includes postage! Just place your order via Paypal to our
hoga...@gmail.com address along with the address of your lucky
intended recipient, and we'll gift-wrap the issues and include a note
indicating who sent the gift!
Also, we’ve completely rebuilt our online store, where you can buy
various types of merchandise with vintage cartoon images--also perfect
for Christmas gift-giving! You can browse the merchandise at
http://www.zazzle.com/hogansalley. For example, this season you can
send Christmas cards and postage featuring artwork by cartooning
greats: check them out at http://www.zazzle.com/hogansalley/gifts?cg=196130317480595706
AN INSTANT HOGAN'S ALLEY COLLECTION: One of our longtime readers is
seeking to sell a complete run of Hogan's Alley #1 through #15. If
you're trying to fill in holes in your collection, or if you're a
latecomer to the Alley, this is a great opportunity as we are sold out
of issues 1 through 9. Please contact him directly at
jaxj...@comcast.net. The price is $150, plus $14.50 postage and
insurance.
HOGAN IS TWITTERING: If you’d like to receive cartooning news and the
occasional cartooning-related observation from Hogan's Alley, we’re
HOGANMAG on Twitter. We promise not to pepper you with inanities about
what we're having for lunch, etc. Our tweets arrive with judicious
infrequency.
If you're interested in subscribing to the print edition of Hogan’s
Alley, you’ll receive issue #16 (our current issue) as your first one.
Just visit http://www.cagle.com/hogan/subscribe.asp or send $24 (for
four issues) via Paypal to hoga...@gmail.com. At that same Web page,
you can also purchase issue #16, which we’ve made available as a
single-issue purchase for $8 (postage included). REMEMBER: If you’ve
never experienced the wonders of Hogan’s Alley, you can order a sample
copy for a mere three dollars or buy assorted back issues at that web
page as well (please note that we are sold out of issues 1 through 9).
We are very excited about the way issue #17 is shaping up, and we hope
you’ll subscribe in time to receive it!
Thank you for reading. We encourage you to forward this e-mail to
anyone who might enjoy it. To unsubscribe to this newsletter (or if
you are receiving duplicate transmissions), e-mail us at
hoga...@gmail.com or visit http://groups.google.com/group/hogans-alley-newsletter?lnk=srg.
Please visit our Web site at http://www.hoganmag.com and our shop
featuring classic comics characters at http://www.hoganshops.com.
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