After the last post, I got to thinking about John Johns - and art school - quite a bit. I knew I had a picture of us together somewhere and dug this out after dinner tonight. This was, of course, at graduation... and probably the only time I ever saw him in a real tie. Johns always, always wore a bow tie. I didn't make it to his funeral, but I really hope that he got to be buried wearing one. Here I look twelve. But I was - almost - all of twenty-one in this picture. Honest.
After I was accepted to AiP, I discovered that the president, Johns, was a cartoonist! I wrote him a letter and sent him some of my stuff the summer before I started there. The first day of classes he took the time and tracked me down - with, I am sure, a boat load of really important stuff to do, just to say "hi" and welcome me to the school... a genuine swell guy.
While hunting for Johns' picture, I happened across these, also from the halcyon days of art school. There was the Three Stooges, the Marx Brothers and and then this trio. In the first photo, from the top: Ray McAnallen, me and Will Finn... in the second, from left to right: me, Will and Ray. The three of us - all would-be cartoonists and all certainly pains-in-the-arses - must have given our instructors frequent pause to consider their calling... We tended to much in-class (and out - notice we're not in the classroom here) cutting-up with great frequency, as I recall. Certainly far more, in my case at least, than I ever studied. Ray once hit John Johns square in the face with a creme pie. I am sure Ray thought it was a good idea at the time. Will could imitate spot-on almost all of our male teachers and a few of the female ones. Certainly, he could draw them all as cartoon characters with wonderful and enviable wit and skill.
I've lost track of Ray over the years; the last I've heard he was in St. Louis with a big ad agency. Will is an big, big animator in L.A. and has worked for all the big, big studios on all the big, big movies (check him out on imdb.com lest you think I exaggerate).
5 comments:
Hey Preacher,
I did a quick Google search of "Ray McAnallen" and found someone that could be him:
LinkedIn: Ray McAnallen
Enjoy,
Private Sherman
Mike these are great. I wish I could say they made me feel old but i was an "old" crank back then too!
I wish somebody could do a blog on John A. John's work as a caricaturist, he was "da champ!"
Darren, thanks... that sounds like the guy! Hope you and the wife and kiddos are all well. See you soon.
Will, yeah, we both have been old farts for years. Or at we least acted like it. "The Sunshine Boys"! Let me dig up the issue of the "Birds Eye View" - the AiP alumni newsletter that Dave DiBella does such a nice job on - that talks a bit about John A. Johns (his son was John B. Johns!)... and post those on BLANK FIELDS. He was terrific. I did a caricaturing gig with him, across the river from dahntahn Pittsburgh... at Station Square, outdoors. He wore a handkerchief on his head like a Gumby. I barely could do my own stuff, I was so lost in watching the master work!
It's somewhat scarry that you and Will ALMOST look identical. Twins, even.
This post was a fun read; it would be interesting to see how the three of you would look like today, in another group photo.
Thanks for sharing.
From an inspiring artist/ cartoonist
...yeah, it is scary how much Will and I looked. We had been at the Art Institute a year before we ever met. But we had long heard about the other...that there was another cartoonist - who looked a LOT like ourselves - and had a pig as a cartoon character too - my alter ego "Earth Pig" and Will's "Mike Bush Pig" who was sort of a film noir private detective. But the similarities didn't end there. Both of us were from Upstate New York... maybe an hour and half drive. We both had unkempt heads of long brown hair. Scruffy characters. The large plastic frame pairs glasses. We both wore jean jackets and caps (of the newsboy or British racing variety).
Once we were hanging around the Duquesne University campus (where the dorms for the Art Institute were in that day)... sitting on a park bench, when this ditzy - if not high - girl happened by and stopped and stared. "Wow!" she said, "You look exactly alike! Are you two twins?!"
"Yes,we are!" will proudly told her, "Siamese twins joined at the lapels at birth!" She was dutifully impressed... if a bit naive... or stoned.
She joined us and proceeded to amuse us for quite awhile. She told us that she was a phamacutical major. "Hey," we told her, "What a coincidence! WE'RE into drugs TOO!" Which was as much a lie as being Siamese twins was... if not more so. Will and I were one of the few who wasn't into such illegal and expensive things.
Will looked so much like me (or I, he) that when I started dating Karen, her roommate Mary, I learned, wasn't much impressed with me at all - she thought I was a snot, as a matter of fact. Every time she passed me in the hall at school, she would always be sure to say "hi". And each time I would just look at her, shake my head, and walk by without saying a thing.
While at the same time, Will was telling me about this weird blonde girl who kept saying "hi" to him in the hallways.
In a soon and future post, I will share how Ray McAnallen happened to find me recently - just as I was reminiscing about him... and hopefully post some drawings and more pictures.
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