Cartoon SNAP: August 2009

Ponytail by Lee Holley – Superbly Drawn Teen Comics from the Sixties

Meet Ponytail from cartoonist Lee Holley!

After a long career of drawing cartoons for Warner Brothers, ghosting newspaper comic strips, and drawing the Dennis The Menace Sunday page, Lee Holley got his own comic strip in 1960. It was about a teen girl named Ponytail, and it’s drawn in a fun and breezy cartoony style that just dances and sings all across the newsprint. A couple of years later, Ponytail starred in new stories published in Dell comic books. This little story is from Ponytail #6 from 1962.

Here’s the inside-front-cover gag:

There’s a lot of great information about Lee Holley on the web – including this VERY in-depth interview:

http://cagle.msnbc.com/hogan/interviews/holley/home.asp

Take a look at some of these links for more insight
into the career of cartoonist Lee Holley:

http://lambiek.net/artists/h/holley_lee.htm

http://www.toonopedia.com/ponytail.htm

UPDATE! Pat from the Silver Age Comics blog has just shared his thoughts on Ponytail and Lee Holley, featuring lots of juicy comic art from Dell's Ponytail #1!

cartoon kids sharing a drink in the maltshop Ponytail comic book scans by Lee Holley

Click on the cover for more on Ponytail #1
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More Ponytail comics here:

Blonde hair teenage cartoon girl talking to brunette comic book friend

Ponytail in "Little League Lament"

Ponytail in "Sticky Situation"

A Train Ride Thru Dinosaur Land...Primeval World and the Grand Canyon at Disneyland

The most unsung and critically neglected bit of awesomeness at Disneyland has got to be the train ride thru the Grand Canyon and...The Primeval World!!!

The first time I saw this magnificent recreation of the land of the dinosaurs, I was about five years old and still reeling from the staggering experiences of shrinking down to atom-size in Monsanto's Adventure thru Inner Space, the Haunted Mansion and the Pirates of the Carribean. How in the world did they...?

The staging and the lighting in The Land of the Dinosaurs are so perfect! Every instant of this attraction is a thing of pure beauty. I especially love the way the foreground objects are in the shadows, and they silhouette so perfectly against the more colorfully-lit middlegrounds and backgrounds. Check out that awesome pterodactyl at around 1:24 !

Anyway, I was at Disneyland last weekend, and found myself with my little Flip video camera while I was on the Disneyland Railroad. So here it is in disappointing lo-res 2-D video...the amazing animatronic diarama that is... Primeval World!

Milt Gross ANIMATION! Jitterbug Follies and "Wanted: No Master" MGM ANIMATED Cartoons

Jitterbug Follies (1939) Milt Gross
Uploaded by klangley

Still frame from Jitterbug Follies MGM cartoon by Milt Gross

In 1939, Milt Gross directed two animated shorts featuring Count Screwloose for MGM: Jitterbug Follies and Wanted: No Master.

I somehow missed these when they were first posted, but Kevin Langley posted Jitterbug Follies at DailyMotion.com. where you can watch it nice and BIG.

...and here's the second and last film cartoon from Milt Gross...Wanted: No Master.

Still from Milt Gross MGM cartoon Wanted No Master

Wanted No Master (1939)
Uploaded by klangley

Thanks to Kevin Langley for sharing!

for more Milt Gross, check out these previous entries:

Comic Book Scan: Count Screwloose in "No Kumquats"

No Kumquats Count Screwloose by Milt Gross

Comic Book Scan: "Count Screwloose vs. Harry the Hoople-Snake"

Count Screwloose vs. Harry the Hoople-Snake by Milt Gross Comic Book Scans detail

I HIGHLY recommend reading these two posts by John K about the art of Milt Gross:
all kinds of stuff: WOW. MILT GROSS. style, observation, sincerity, humanity

...and HERE: all kinds of stuff: Milt Gross comics, drawing with every principle EXCEPT construction

For more on Milt Gross, see:

How to Draw Cartoons the Old-Time Way! Instructional Cartooning Book from 1920's

how to draw old fashioned cartoons drawing cartooning tips tacks cartooning tips for aspiring cartoonists

Take a look at this wonderful little book on cartooning techniques by cartoonist B. "Tack" Knight. Tack's Cartoon Tips for the Aspiring Professional!

In just twenty-nine pages he teaches aspiring professional artists how to draw cartoons the way they were done in the old-fashioned style of 1923!

Some of the pages are corny and not very useful today, but MOST of this book features rock-solid cartooning tips for learning how to draw in that old big-foot print cartoon style.

12 Mini Chapters on the Art of Cartooning:

How to draw HANDS (this page is a winner!)
Hats, Shoes, Wrinkles (as in clothes and drapery)
Lessons on drawing KIDS and ANIMALS
Drawing various cartoon facial Expressions
How to draw BACKGROUNDS
and even a bit on Cartoon Lettering

Warning: there's some very politically-incorrect caricature material in here. What people thought was funny back then just makes people mad today. Don't say I didn't warn you!

To read all these cartooning tips as a slideshow, (I think it's easiest to read it this way), click on:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidblog/sets/72157603310750480/show/

Thanks to Dave Blog for sharing these scans on his Flickr page: Tack's Cartoon Tips for the Aspiring Professional!