Showing posts with label underground comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label underground comics. Show all posts

Monday, January 13, 2020

Underground cartoonist Steve Stiles has passed away


Steve Stiles, Falls Church, Virginia, Spring 1979. Kodachrome 25 by Jeff Schalles (from Wikipedia)

Facebook is reporting that cartoonist Steve Stiles died on January 12th from cancer. Stiles worked in the underground, but according to Wikipedia also did children's books and other types of cartooning. He also worked in Baltimore and Laurel's Daedalus Books.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Bhob Stewart's 1969 underground comics exhibit at the Corcoran

I never met Bhob Stewart who passed away this week. I'm sorry I didn't because our interests in pop culture overlapped. We must have corresponded about comics though, because my name was in his email address book, and his friend Brad Verter was kind enough to send a notice of his death, and some scans that he thought might be of interest. Bhob had apparently asked him to scan these for his blog Potrzebie, but didn't get a chance to use them.


Bhob was apparently instrumental in putting on Phonus Balonus, an underground cartoon exhibit at an offshoot of the Corcoran Gallery on Dupont Circle. Sean Howe has photographs online here, here, and here.

Here are the scans about the exhibit. I'm afraid most of them are only partially complete, but they give you an idea about what was in the show, and how it was received. Brad scanned the whole catalog of the show, and it's online here. Two libraries are shown in Worldcat as holding a copy of it - the Tate in London and UC Berkeley in California.
Corcoran Gallery's press release, page 1
Front cover to the catalog with art by Bhob.

Exhibit opening ticket.

Newspaper clipping with Skip Williamson art


Article from the New York Post.

Fragment of a Washington Post article

Partial Washington Post article from May 21, 1969.

Partial Washington Star article from June 1, 1969
Article from an unknown New York city magazine.


For more information on Bhob's life, read Bhob Stewart, 1937-2014, by Bill Pearson, Feb 26, 2014.
    
     

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers 1971 film - more on the lost short

Freak brothers
Joel Pollack's original art for the movie poster. Thanks to Joel for letting me use it (and then giving it to me!)

I spoke with one of the men behind the movie The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Acquire a Groupie (USA: Reel Meat, ca 1971) tonight after Joel Pollack passed along his contact information. Joel Jacobson called and we talked about his role in creating the short film. The amateur live action short was originally approved by Shelton, although his permission was later revoked. The filmmakers were Bill Pace and Celia Symborski, aided to a large extent by Joel Jacobson who did much of the actual production work. The actors were Jeff Wolfe as Fat Freddy, Tom Scott as Freewheelin' Frank, and Dave Eisner as Phineas.

Mr. Jacobson told me how he got involved in the project.

“I was producing films, actually freelancing. I ended up making education films, but I was doing freelance editing and camera work. I owned everything, all my lights, and sound gear, and I had an editing room in my house. I had a whole bunch of stuff so I could work with an assistant if I needed to.”

“As a kid, I remember seeing the entire Captain Marvel series in Atlanta, GA around 1942 at the neighborhood theater. That was the serial I saw every single chapter of. The Janus Theater showed the entire Batman serial end to end all the way through around 1965.”

“Prior to 1971, in 1969 I did a thing on the Counter-Inauguration with the Yippies demonstrating against the real inauguration of Nixon. That was shown at the Circle Theater, although I didn’t make any money on it. Sometime in the 1970s I started producing stuff.”

He wanted to help Pace and Symbarski because he thought he’d give them the help that he would have liked to have gotten as a young filmmaker. He essentially shot the film for them, using his equipment including sound equipment, lights and a Steenbeck film editing machine. They shot the film in Takoma Park, MD, “where Bill and Cel worked at Maggie’s Farm, a head shop, as well as being students at the University of Maryland, so a lot of the props probably came from there.” This wasn’t an official school project for them though. Eventually he realized that he was doing a lot of the work for them, which to him meant they wouldn’t mature as filmmakers, so he stopped doing so much (which appears to have led to some tensions).

“The show itself didn’t really follow the comic strip faithfully.” Instead of the Princess and the pea ending of the comic strip, “We ended up with the guys taking a toke on a bong. What I did was, I shot the guy and then I shot the scene without the guy, and then I had vibrating thing like a jew’s-harp make a sound, and then the guy vanishes to the bwoooiiing sound when taking a bong hit… It drew a really big laugh.”

Eventually they had to scratch out “Fabulous Furry Freak Bros.” on the release print after Gilbert Shelton objected. The movie was shown to the public though. It was shown at Biograph Theater by Alan Rubin, one of the theater owners.

“They used to have something called Expose Yourself where people would bring films to show. Bill and Cel showed up on Alan’s night and asked if they could show it, and Al said yes and showed it that night. They thought they’d have to go through a procedure, but Al just set up a 16mm projector and showed it right then.” It was shown several times.

Neither he nor Joel Pollack know what happened to Bill Pace. Mr. Jacobson noted that Bill Pace always “carried a wine skin with him and always had a buzz.” Celia Symbarski died after a motorcycle accident. Neither man knows if any copies of the film survive.

Another entry for the Secret History of Comics. If anyone knows of the whereabouts of the film, please contact us!

[1/27/2020: Symbarski corrected to Symborski, per Joel Pollack].

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Crumb exhibit is excellent. But...



(Photos by Aaron Igler, from the ICA website)

We drove up today, had excellent cheesesteaks (is that one word?) at University City's Abner's Cheesesteaks, and then walked around the UPenn campus to the Institute of Contemporary Art for the last day of the R. Crumb's Underground exhibit. They didn't allow us to take pictures, but there's some on their website. The exhibit was originally curated by Todd Hignite and "coordinated at the ICA by Associate Curator Jenelle Porter."

The exhibit, which closed today, was fantastic... or at least the artwork was. The exhibit proper I was less happy with. Pieces were arranged in orders that weren't apparent - neither historical, nor by purpose, nor by media. Judging from the 4-page handout, which says, "Rather than a chronological retrospective, this career-spanning exhibition is organized around specific underlying themes and ideologies" which it then lists as 'Young Crumb,' 'Crumb Draws Crumb,' 'Counterculture,' 'Collaboration,' and 'Old-Time Tunes.' However none of the sections of art in the two cavernous rooms were labeled with these headings, nor were the brief descriptive paragraphs on the section in the brochure included in the actual exhibit. The pieces, except for those published in comic books, were frequently only labeled with the title and media so one could not necessarily place them in context. I happened to recognize two of his New Yorker strips done with his wife Aline, but many other viewers less familiar with his work wouldn't have known where "Fashion Week in New York" and "Cheering Global Villagism" were done for, facts that are relevant in terms of the lessening of some of Crumb's more scatalogical tendencies in the two strips. Interestingly, the artwork was uncolored which was something of a surprise to me as it appears in color in the magazine - my companion and I wondered if Crumb supervised the coloring or if it was done on a computer without him. Crumb's color New Yorker cover of Eustace Tilley as a young punk was included in the show, again without its publication information.
100_6571 Entrance to Crumb Exhibit, PhillyEntrance to exhibit
In spite of these cavils, the exhibit was filled with fantastic pieces, many loaned by Eric Sack. Included were napkins from restaurants that Crumb drew on, which have been the subject of several of his recent books, an Oog & Blik comics publisher's folder he drew a self-portrait on, the back cover of Zap Comix 0, "Early Jazz Greats" watercolor on paper paintings for a card set, his Patton strip which was also in the Masters of American Comics exhibit, Little Wonder Hot Book (1969) - a minicomic with Spain and S. Clay Wilson, original Mr. Natural pages from 1968-1969, the metal printing plate from Zap Comix 0, "Angel Food McSpade" and "Meatball" strips from Zap, and pages of jam comix and posters. A small case of published versions of his art included Zap Comix 1, 0 and 2, Help, Gothic Blimpworks, an American Greeting Card "Season's Greetings" from 1965, and 3 specimens of the unpublished comic he created with his brothers (as seen in the Crumb film).

More art highlights included a complete Fritz the Cat story from 1965, a 1987 Christmas card by Crumb, his wife and daughter, a CBNDI Belgian comics museum poster original and a sketchbook circa the 1960s. One wall had original artwork for comic book covers including Arcade #3 with a pasted-in Zippy by Bill Griffith and the book, R. Crumb's Head Comix. Crumb's work was generally only slightly larger than the published version and he seems to usually work 1 1/2x up. His style evolved somewhat during the 1960s, but by the end of the decade he'd settled into essentially the same one that he uses today although it's obvious that he takes more time and effort on his art now. Much of the material in the show came from a fine art gallery that presumably sells the artwork for him.

The exhibit was a fantastic overview of Crumb's career, even if sadly lacking in information on him. This trend towards treating comics artists solely as fine artists seriously misinterprets the essentially commercial component of comic book publishing, even in the undergrounds that Crumb worked in. However, anyone who likes his work would be well-advised to see the next site it travels to. The exhibit, as stated, was accompanied at the ICA by a four-page brochure and a poster was available for purchase.

Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers movie? UPDATED

Did you know there was a Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers movie? According to Joel Pollack of Big Planet Comics, Gilbert Shelton's underground comic was adapted into a live action short, The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Acquire a Groupie. This was around 1971 by a DC-area filmmaker whose company was Reel Meat. Joel did the promo art and showed it to me today. The filmmakers were Bill Pace and Celia Symbarski aided by Joel Jacobson. The actors were Jeff Wolfe as Fat Freddy, Tom Scott as Freewheelin' Frank, and Dave Eisner as Phineas. Bill Pace would be the only one likely to own a copy, Joel thinks. The movie disappeared when Shelton pulled his approval of the license.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Weingarten and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and FBOFW

In his June 17th chat, GW amped his coolness factor considerably when he wrote,

One of my prize possessions is an autographed copy of a Furry Freak Bros. book. Gilbert Shelton signed it to me from where he lives, in self-imposed exile, in France. The French still love him. The book is in French.

The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers were a great 1960s era comic for stoners. The brothers were Fat Freddie Freak, Freewheelin' Frank Freak, and Phineas Freak. Probably their best known line was: "Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope." They also had a version of that quote where "sex" was substituted for "money." They both rang true back in 1969 or so.


and later, he wrote, He was a terrific cartoonist.

and a question about For Better or For Worse arose:

Elizabeth and Anthony: Re today's FBOFW: Is Lizzie (dare I suggest) knocked up? Is she fishing for a babysitter for Anthony's daughter, or her own bun in the oven?

washingtonpost.com: For Better or For Worse, (June 17)

Gene Weingarten: It's hard to be sure; we'll know tomorrow, won't we? My guess is that this is not a Major Announcement, for three reasons. First, I don't think Johnston would go there. Second,they've been talking a while about moving up the date of the wedding so Gramps can be there before he corks. If there were another pressing reason, I think this would indicate a degree of disingenuity about Elizabeth that Johnston wouldn't do. Elizabeth is perfect; the Madonna.

On the other side, look at how shocked Dee is in that final frame. Also, why would they suddenly be borrowing the babysitter? They've had Anthony's girl all along.

I vote no, tho.

Gene Weingarten: Okay, I meant two reasons, not three.


and a comment about Doonesbury:

Kensington, Md: I am slower than molasses in January. It just hit me that Doonesbury is back. Is there anyone else cartooning right now who could take 12 weeks off and expect to get his/her spot back in seemingly every newspaper in the country?

Gene Weingarten: Unfortunately, yes. Garfield, Beetle Bailey, etc.

Though, hm. Maybe not. Maybe sanity would prevail. Maybe that's why those strips never take a vacation.


but For Better issues are raised again...

FBOFW: Oh, Liz is clearly pregnant. "I already feel like a parent" is clue #1, Dee's face is #2, and the fact that Lynn Johnston ain't subtle is #3.

washingtonpost.com: Don't scare me like that.

Gene Weingarten: We'll see tomorrow. It's possible. So we have out of wedlock sex! But we also have that weird thing about advancing the wedding so grandpa can go...

I still think no.


and then again...

Washington, D.C.: I'm with Gene. Elizabeth is not pregnant. She feels like a parent b/c of Anthony's already existing child. They will be stealing the babysitter b/c they have been taking it slow, etc., not dating a lot. The wedding was pushed up in direct response to April's comment to move it up so Gramps could go. If she were going to be pregnant out of wedlock, they'd of kept her with the pilot dude

Gene Weingarten: Well, I just think she was ever going to be preggers out of wedlock.

_______________________

Arlington, Va.: Despite your cogent, detailed analysis of today's For Bettor or for Worse, you are a moron. The sudden ending makes little or no sense unless there's a pending/immediate NEED for a babysitter.

Lynn Johnston has used setups like this for other developments in the strip. Watch that space. And we'll see you in a few weeks at the baby shower.

Gene Weingarten: This is interesting.

I like that we'll know tomorrow. A real-time debate.


and the debate continues...

FOOB: Isn't it obvious? Dee's just horrified that she won't be able to escape from her twee little brats as often as she'd like.

Gene Weingarten: Yeah, I think you're right.


...this obviously struck a nerve...

Seattle: In Re: FBOFW's Elizabeth The Pure -- Remember, she lived with her boyfriend when she was in college; she dumped him after he cheated on her.

Gene Weingarten: Yes, but getting knocked up is different.


So, tune in tomorrow or later this week to see if Elizabeth is knocked up AS THE WORLD TURNS.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

OT: Underground comics mag find part two - A Secret History of Comics Special

As you can see in the comments for part one, Steve Rowe notes that these were an attempt to sponge off National Lampoon's readership and were definitely ground-level, available in newsstands. However, due to the cartoonists involved, I'll keep calling them underground. Here's the 2nd issue with cartoonists I have, Apple Pie July 1975. The two issues from 1976 didn't have cartoonists in them. All four are going to Michigan State University's Comic Art Collection this spring, should one need to see them for research. Or a laugh.



Another Terry Austin editorial cartoon.


An ad for the mag by Howard Chaykin using some of his usual tropes of the time.


Two one-pages by Justin Green.



Michael Kaluta draws Buster Brown!



Two pages of pirate violence from S. Clay Wilson.



Four pages of vegetarian activism from Kim Deitch.




Friday, April 11, 2008

OT: Underground comics mag find part one - A Secret History of Comics Special

I picked up a couple of underground magazines - well they were probably ground-level for the time - that are going to be passed along to MSU's Comic Art Collection soon. Before I do that, here's some of the more famous underground cartoonists from Apple Pie May 1975.



Neal Adams art on this.


Terry Austin, the great inker, apparently did editorial cartoons too.


A couple of one-pagers by Justin Green.





Paul Kirchner did the surrealist strip The Bus for alternative weekly newspapers, until I seem to remember that he came into money - Ninja Turtle money maybe?



And a three-page strip by Kirchner: