Off to Luna Park
Posted by: winsormccay on: July 20, 2010
The Lady Typist is on vacation. Hoping to return by end of month.
1811 Voorhies? Wasn’t It 1901?
Posted by: winsormccay on: July 13, 2010
Both. The McCays moved to 1901 Voorhies Avenue in 1910, according to John Canemaker, who reproduces this photo in Winsor McCay: His Life and Art.
Okay, so fast forward a century. You’re in Sheepshead Bay, doing your own private sightseeing, and you find yourself going down East 19th Street toward Voorhies, with 1901 just around the corner.
Oh. My. It’s…an ugly LUXURY CONDO! (How unusual, for Sheepshead Bay. And it’s for sale, another oddity.)
Across the street, a Duane Reade drug store.
You imagine Little Nemo in his tiny bed and unable to sleep because the people in the luxury condos are having a late-night party on the terrace and because there’s always some fire engine going by.
McCay Sheepshead Bay House Razed
Posted by: winsormccay on: July 12, 2010
It saddens me deeply to post this. Winsor McCay’s old house at 1811 Voorhies Avenue in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, was razed this past month to make way for condos. Despite some attempts to save it, the house, known as “Hell House,” for its squalid appearance, insect infestation, and population of squatters, couldn’t be saved in time.
From beauty…
…to beast.
Sheepshead Bay is a neighborhood close to Coney Island. McCay resided there at the turn of the century. Coney Island hosted Luna Park, a jewel of eccentricity, with fanciful structures and attractions that could have been taken right from–well, Slumberland. They inspired such illustrations as the image below, published on August 10, 1913 (click for sharper image).*
Luna Park, May 1913.
I first caught the story in Cartoon Brew. CB picked it up from a Sheepshead Bites news blog, Sheepshead Bites, which also featured (groan) a story about the house fire that likely sealed its demise.
Scribble Junkie blogger Bill Plympton dared enter, full entry here:
What a dump…But you can imagine the glory that it once was back in the early 1900′s. All the architectural details are still there and with a lot of work it can be restored to its former glory. But the neighborhood is changing. What used to be a nice, quiet, residential area is a bustling commercial zone with liquor stores and great chain drug stores.
As much as I hate to say this, it would be very difficult to turn it into a museum simply because it so far from Manhattan (about 1 hour).
And the part that made me sigh in resignation and agreement:
…if they could get a historic landmark designation that would be fantastic.
I hear ya, Bill. Too little, too late.
*Note that because we’re In the Land of Fanciful Dreams, we’re reading the New York American, and not the New York Herald, where Nemo slept until 1911.
Midsummer Day Dream
Posted by: winsormccay on: July 6, 2010
Published on July 6th, 1911, exactly 99 years ago today. Posted in homage to today’s 90-degree weather.
Top 10 Reasons Why I Hate ‘Peanuts’
Posted by: winsormccay on: July 2, 2010
In Which, Through Complex Thinking, We May Surmise Why The Lady Typist So Prefers Little Nemo.
NOTE: No illustrations will accompany this article because the estate of Charles Schulz has—well, never mind. Let us say only that The Lady Typist fears waterboarding. You’ll have to Wikipedal to those images yourselves.
#1. Self-Actualized Children. How tedious is it when the words of adults fill the mouths of children? Very. Peanuts characters never say things like, “I know you are, but what am I?” No, they’re too self-aware for that. They’re ‘self-fulfilled.’ They’re ‘motivated.’ They’re not just kids, they’re little people. (With Big People Problems. See that grin on Charlie Brown’s face? It’s Xanax-induced. Lucy wrote the scrip.)
#2. The Colors Are Depressing. Do you feel happy when you see milky yellows? Salmon skies? Vomitous ecru? Turquoise anything? Peanuts’ colors are the colors of consensus, compromise, committee. Co- is very important in the world of Peanuts. Oh, no: We wouldn’t to shock anyone with fluorescent orange, oh no!
Their pukey greens induce in me a synesthetic reaction. I smell disinfectant of the type used in schools, mental hospitals, and (I imagine) prisons.
And speaking of prisons….
…did you know that Peanuts-like pastels are favored by felons? Consider this painting by Tammy [W.] 31, a self-taught artist [who] has been in prison eight years for bank robbery. Though I am glad Miss W. strives to heal herself through self-expression, her pictures depress me. I’ve never wanted to go to prison, and now I don’t want to go to prison even more.
#3. I Despise This Song. I don’t care if it was composed and performed by renowned musician Vince Guaraldi, WHO BY THE WAY DIED SUDDENLY RIGHT AFTER RECORDING THE SOUNDTRACK TO A ‘PEANUTS’ SPECIAL. (Oh, and in the YouTube video of this song, notice how the pianist is wearing a brace. That’s how painful it is to play.)
The song’s hook is simplistic and it pounds the brain like slow rain. Point of fact: This composition was ranked second to “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” as the Most Annoying Song of the Baby Boomer Generation. Erik Estrada and Dinah Manoff hosted the awards. England Dan and John Ford Coley sang “It’s Hard to Belong to Someone Else When the Right One Comes Along.”
(Excuse me, I’m sorry, I’m feeling a saccharine taste in my mouth. Let me rinse with some “Pissfactory.” Whew! That’s better!)
#4 Pig-Pen Needs a Bath. Take the child by the hair of the head, drag him into the bathroom, strip him, dump him in the tub, and scrub him, a la Karen Silkwood, within an inch of his life. Because if you don’t, he will end up like the Comics Book Nerd. Do you want this life for your child? Dating Edna Krabappel? Wearing clothing that doesn’t fit? Smelling of B.O and something fried? Speaking to self-actualized child customers? Cuz I’ll tell ya somethin’–that’s Pig-Pen as an adult. You’re grooming him for that. You need to step up and be a responsible parent!
#5 Lucy is a Controlling Bitch.
#6 No Adults. In any fictional milieu, there has to be a frame of reference outside the characters’ world. Even in the old cartoons starring animals, the POV is established by images of humans’ legs or shoes. You know right away that you’re in Tom & Jerry’s world. Whereas in Peanuts, the adults are not referenced, other than Miss Othmar and her Mallomar voice spouting clouds of words.
Then again, why should there be adult voices? All of them are assumed by the children.
#7 Charlie Brown is ‘Depressed.’ Yeah, and so is the rest of America. Boo-hoo. Buck up and function!
#8 Linus, in General. When Linus took his first bowel movement, his parents stood over the bowl with a split of Dom Perignon. He’s Mr. Public Television! He understood “Sesame Street” on the level of Child and Adult. He’s circumspect and nature-loving, the comics version of Ralph Waldo Emerson. He’s also cruisin’ for a flushie. If he dares chatter in his New Agey, Pumpkin Patch patois around the wrong people, he will emerge soaking wet from the boys’ room with his tighty-whities up around his ears. That said, I don’t want to hate him, since I feel his empathy is sincere. And yet…
#9 Schroeder, in General. Like Linus, Schroeder is an intellectual. He differs in that he never ‘not got’ “Sesame Street.” This is because he has never, not once, watched television. Unfortunately, he judges those who do. In fact, Schroeder is not only a pain because his name is tricky to type, he’s irksome because he insists upon holding others to his standards, i.e., not human. He doesn’t understand why a desperately lonely Charlie Brown would accept a used valentine from Violet. In years to come, Schroeder shall be found tooling around The People’s Republic of Cambridge, Massachusetts on his recycled Schwinn. He’ll be married to a woman who has no idea that men actually talk.
#10. I’m Sick of Snoopy. Snoopy has been marketed to death. His joy dance, his aviator cap, his stupid little bowl, his smile while sleeping, and the T-shirts, the novelties, the beh-beh-beh-beh-you-name-it-plastic-crap emblazoned with “Love Is…[picture of Snoopy] . When I see Snoopy, I feel like pimp-slapping someone. Snoopy is an opiate for people who are such simpletons they need a picture of a dog roasting a marshmallow to experience joy. I say, Let’s punk Snoopy! Where’s my old pal Burger and Fries?
Sammy Sneeze: New York Neurotic
Posted by: winsormccay on: July 1, 2010
No, really–this is what happened when Little Sammy Sneeze grew up and traveled through a time warp to 1970s Manhattan.
Dear Readers, Scroll Down for New Posts
Posted by: winsormccay on: June 30, 2010
It is rare that The Lady Typist makes secretarial mistakes, but it appears as though she ‘posted’ new entries when she thought she was saving them as ‘drafts.’ Dear, dear.
Please forgive her. She is often distracted, as she is learning how to use this new item called the “adding machine.”
We Take This Break to Talk About… BloggersUnite Disability Event
Posted by: winsormccay on: June 29, 2010
Did you know that if you suffer a disabling injury, your employer must either reassign you to a job you can do or realign your job duties? If they don’t, it’s a violation of Federal law.
That’s the ADA, baby. Americans With Disabilities Act. Had I known about it sooner, I’d not be…well, blogging about it today. See, I lost my job because of a disability-related issue. Returning to work after a serious injury, I requested a lighter workload. Not only was that denied me, but I was scolded for being late with a project that was due while I was out on disability. When I contested my employers, they fired me. Had I only known that the law was on my side!
But I forgave myself: When you’re recovering, you’re thinking less about your civil rights than you are about your health. So you don’t know about all the help that’s out there, all the people and resources available to you. That’s why I write today. If you have a disability, learn the law. Start here, at the website for the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Then go to BloggersUnite, the social networking site for bloggers. They’re holding an event on July 24 to ask bloggers and writers to raise awareness. It’s called People First: Empowering People With Disabilities. The organizers surely know that a lot of us are trying to blog for a living, me included. Three years ago, I had an injury to my spinal nerves. Although I have healed almost completely, my gait was affected, and I can’t do any physical job, ever again—which is what I used to do when times were tough. So I work from home as a freelance writer. Like many, I love what I do, but I often work in isolation, and have to do everything I can to get out in my community.
I don’t dislike my life, but I often wonder what it would have been like had I only known the law.
That’s my contribution today. Thank you for listening. Now, back to Winsor McCay!
Little Sammy Sneeze and Big Fred Ott
Posted by: winsormccay on: June 27, 2010
McCay was drawing at a time when visual artists of all types were using new techniques in study of movement. One was English photographer Eadweard Muybridge, whose series of photos examining locomotion were very famous. Among them are “the horse photos,” which address the question of whether the horse ever takes all four hooves off the ground while galloping (no, I’m not telling you, you can look it up–or squint at the thumbnail below). This body of work is considered to be “the visual dictionary of human and animal forms in action,” according to Beaumont Newhall in History of Photography.
Another innovator was Thomas Edison, who in 1894 produced a black-and-white documentary short-film showing his assistant, Fred Ott, in the throes of a sneeze.
I hadn’t seen ”Fred Ott’s Sneeze” since college. I was reminded of it when I came across Little Sammy Sneeze (1904-05), a fine example of McCay’s stunning talent in capturing facial expressions and body movement. Whether it’s a sneeze or a windblown Rarebit Fiend trying to keep his balance, McCay applies the study of locomotion to serve the story. That should rank his work right alongside that of Muybridge and Edison.
Here are links to the film, the photo series, and to the Sunday Books compilation of Little Sammy Sneeze.
“I Coulda Done Better With the Office Copier!”
Posted by: winsormccay on: June 24, 2010
Today’s topic is the cover image of Checker Books’ Winsor McCay Early Works VI.
I’ll just say it: The book is inferior. I bought it only because it contained what I suspected were McCay’s minor works. Artists’ minor works are either tough to find or a pain to access, even with public domain. Little Nemo, no problem. Pie Nerd, meh. Can of Baked Beans Hugging Old Lady, not so common.
Why I Complain
I am a professional editor. I have dedicated my career to the presentation of word and image, and have seen little money in return. But I do have *sniff sniff* principles. And so I must speak up.
The Good: The book does collect, in one edition, a wide variety of work.
The Bad and the Ugly: The paper reflects light away from pictures that are already so faded that one can’t absorb them easily. The dimensions of the book (10.1 x 6.7 inches) do not serve the breadth and fluidity of the cartoons (McCay needs to breathe!). There was no evident attempt to repair, resize, or restore images or type that were fuzzy or illegible, e.g., no footnotes reproducing hard-to-read balloon text. Introductions to the chapters and notes about specific works were so brief as to be confusing.
This book was clearly slapped together. In the field of comics, poorly constructed books are high crimes and misdemeanors, especially if the victims in question are masters of the form.
The Police Blotter
Crime #1.
Checker’s cover image shows a group of men waiting in the entranceway to a talent agency. There’s nothing special about the illustration, no hint to the book’s meaning or content. The original image, found on page 56 of John Canemaker’s McCay biography (2005), includes William Shakespeare. Okay, so now we know: McCay was a social satirist. Get the joke? “If Shakespeare were alive today…” But Checker cropped out the joke. Here’s their cover:
And here is the Canemaker (squeezed for display purposes) bio reproduction.
Crime #2
There’s no reference to the cover image on the copyright page, or any other front-of-book or back-of-book page. I’m a comics nerd, I want to know where the cartoon’s from, especially since the image is not within the book. I got the answer from Mr. Canemaker: ‘Life magazine, August 11, year unknown. A pen-and-ink wash. Series depicting famous people returning to earth.’ Compare this with the copyright page (sorry, a tad blurry, cat sat on scanner) for Will Eisner’s Invisible People. Now that’s provenance!
Crime #3
It’s not uncommon to use a part of an image to front a book. But the image has to have thematic verity. It has to support the content of the book. Will Eisner does it to fine effect on, for example, the cover of Invisible People (below). An aerial view of a crowd of people, backs to us, drawn in black and white, serves to emphasize the book’s themes of loneliness and isolation. We’re not with the crowd, we’re very much apart from it. It’s a signal as to what’s inside. Early Works’ cover art not only is confusing, but isn’t even relevant to the content, which focuses on newspaper cartoons (and not magazines). It’s distracting, as well. I find I’m obsessed with the lower left part of the picture. It shows part of an arm, and I want to know whose arm it is.
Misdemeanor #1
If Editorial, Marketing, Art and Production had professionally communicated with one another, this product would not have seen the light of day. Who signed off on the pages? Who overruled whom? Where was the disconnect?
Misdemeanor #2
The company evidently had not examined its capacity, both human and mechanical, for producing pages of quality.
Misdemeanor #3
The book’s perfect binding is hard to open at 200 or so pages, and you have to crack the binding for good visibility. Not a good idea, with glue. Production should have pushed for a better alternative. There’s no real gutter. Your eye is searching on a white horizon for some, any, boundary.
Misdemeanor #4
Substandard design doesn’t show much respect for the reader: “Here, we’ll just crop the crap out of this image thinking you won’t know or care.”
Mitigating Factors
Listen, I know we live in the 21st century, an era in which the mild, wry humor of McCay passes for Lucian of Samosata when the Kardashians are practicing bikini art. I know publishing is tough. But that is no excuse for literally erasing McCay’s wit.
I also know the quirks of publishing. I understand how bad books make it to print. My last job, which I took to make ends meet, was for a publisher that prized speed over quality. I had a tiny budget and an insane production schedule. You can’t create good books that way. Eventually, I left, partly because it was hard to do my best with coworkers who didn’t care. So I know that…
…somewhere along the line, someone has to care.
Ah, well. Because I am a kind and merciful person, I will forgive Checker, in the spirit of “these things happen.”
…this time.
