Murphy, Cullen. Cartoon County: My Father and His Friends in the Golden Age of Make-Believe. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. 2017. Print.
First Sentences:
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That was my after-school job -- pressing down on the shutter release -- from around the age of six until sometime in my teens.
Description:
I picked up Cullen Murphy's new memoir, Cartoon County: My Father and His Friends in the Golden Age of Make-Believe, for one reason: it was written by and about the men who drew my favorite comic strip: Prince Valiant.
Set in the times of Camelot, Prince Valiant was a huge, colorful cartoon intricately drawn to fill an entire newspaper page during the era when comics ruled. Bold, brave characters, historical and fantastical settings, and derring-do adventures against all kinds of foes and conditions made Prince Valiant a must-read for me and my parents' generation every Sunday. It still runs new stories in my local Columbus Dispatch and many other newspapers. Edward, the Duke of Windsor, once called the strip "the greatest contribution to English literature in the past hundred years'"
Who wouldn't want to read about the cartoonists behind its creation?
In the 1930s-50s, a large number of the premier American cartoonists lived in Fairfield County, Connecticut. The area was quiet and suburban with two attractive features: a short train ride to New York, and free from state income tax. John Cullen Murphy, along with his wife and eight children (including Cartoon County's author Cullen Murphy) lived in Cos Cob near many fellow cartoon artists. These included Norman Rockwell, Mort Walker (Beetle Bailey), Crokett Johnson (Harold and the Purple Crayon), Tony DiPreta (Joe Palooka), Johnny Hart (B.C),Milton Caniff (Terry and the Pirates), Dik Browne (Hagar the Horrible), and dozens more. Together they dubbed themselves "The Connecticut School."
Memories make up the bulk of Murphy's book as he recounts casual meetings with these cartoonists, their creative triumphs and failures, the art of cartooning, and the joy of doing exactly what you want to do and are good at. Murphy also describes their war time experiences, especially those of his father who was assigned to General Douglas MacArthur's staff to draw portraits of other general and Army VIPs. Notebooks and drawings from Murphy's wartime travels were available and included in the book as the elder Murphy "kept every paper from kindergarten on."
John Cullen Murphy worked for years with Hal Foster, the creator of the beautifully-drawn Tarzan as well as Prince Valiant comic strips. Murphy later helped draw the strip under Foster's notes and guidance as Foster succumbed to drawing fatigue in his 80s. Eventually Foster turned the strip over to Murphy who then hired his son, Comic County's author Cullen Murphy, as text writer. Father and son cartoonist combinations were common as parents worked with their children and later turned strips over to them to continue.
Here are some of my favorite stories from Cartoon County:
Foster, Hal. Prince Valiant: Vol. 1
First Sentences:
Click
That was my after-school job -- pressing down on the shutter release -- from around the age of six until sometime in my teens.
Description:
I picked up Cullen Murphy's new memoir, Cartoon County: My Father and His Friends in the Golden Age of Make-Believe, for one reason: it was written by and about the men who drew my favorite comic strip: Prince Valiant.
Set in the times of Camelot, Prince Valiant was a huge, colorful cartoon intricately drawn to fill an entire newspaper page during the era when comics ruled. Bold, brave characters, historical and fantastical settings, and derring-do adventures against all kinds of foes and conditions made Prince Valiant a must-read for me and my parents' generation every Sunday. It still runs new stories in my local Columbus Dispatch and many other newspapers. Edward, the Duke of Windsor, once called the strip "the greatest contribution to English literature in the past hundred years'"
Who wouldn't want to read about the cartoonists behind its creation?
In the 1930s-50s, a large number of the premier American cartoonists lived in Fairfield County, Connecticut. The area was quiet and suburban with two attractive features: a short train ride to New York, and free from state income tax. John Cullen Murphy, along with his wife and eight children (including Cartoon County's author Cullen Murphy) lived in Cos Cob near many fellow cartoon artists. These included Norman Rockwell, Mort Walker (Beetle Bailey), Crokett Johnson (Harold and the Purple Crayon), Tony DiPreta (Joe Palooka), Johnny Hart (B.C),Milton Caniff (Terry and the Pirates), Dik Browne (Hagar the Horrible), and dozens more. Together they dubbed themselves "The Connecticut School."
Memories make up the bulk of Murphy's book as he recounts casual meetings with these cartoonists, their creative triumphs and failures, the art of cartooning, and the joy of doing exactly what you want to do and are good at. Murphy also describes their war time experiences, especially those of his father who was assigned to General Douglas MacArthur's staff to draw portraits of other general and Army VIPs. Notebooks and drawings from Murphy's wartime travels were available and included in the book as the elder Murphy "kept every paper from kindergarten on."
John Cullen Murphy worked for years with Hal Foster, the creator of the beautifully-drawn Tarzan as well as Prince Valiant comic strips. Murphy later helped draw the strip under Foster's notes and guidance as Foster succumbed to drawing fatigue in his 80s. Eventually Foster turned the strip over to Murphy who then hired his son, Comic County's author Cullen Murphy, as text writer. Father and son cartoonist combinations were common as parents worked with their children and later turned strips over to them to continue.
Here are some of my favorite stories from Cartoon County:
- Cullen Murphy during his childhood was frequently called on to photograph his father to test poses and facial expressions as examples for the senior Murphy's drawings;
- When living in Ireland and the elder Murphy ran out of bank checks, he drew his own blank checks on pieces of paper, wrote "Bank of Ireland" at the top, added his own version of a bank seal and some entry lines, filled them out, and cashed them at a local bank;
- Dik Browne wore a papier-mache Viking helmet while drawing Hagar the Horrible;
- Cartoonists believed "You can't be funny in pencil, only in ink" and "The funniest letter is k";
- Norman Rockwell's advice to Murphy about his cartoon's signature: "Make it large and legible: It's the only free billboard anyone will ever give you";
- In the 1950s, there was "hysteria over comic books, which were said to be sapping the moral fiber of America's youth .... [while] no one was much concerned about cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, or premarital sex, and few foresaw that teenagers would find those backyard bomb shelters ideal for all four";
Page after page of anecdotes, stories, drawings, photos, and cleverness pulled me forward to the next revelation and artistry. Truly a fun, informative, and inspiring book about a generation and an art form I knew little about despite devoting much of my childhood (and some adult) hours to reading these strips. Highly recommended.
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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
Foster, Hal. Prince Valiant: Vol. 1
Remastered full-color Sunday comic strips of the adventures of Prince Valiant from 1937-1938. Excellent in stories, drawings, and languages.
