Shag

Shag told me he is working on his Mad Monster Party art right now!  I should have a teaser sometime next week!  #shag #madmonsterparty #westhollywood #palmsprings

The Dragon Wagon

When I picked up my books yesterday, Denny (who coordinates all of our orders) brought up Bill Jackson out of the blue. He said in the early 1970s (when in school), he collected garbage part time in the summer and collected Bill's garbage (bags and bags of letters) in Des Plaines. He said he would see him driving around town in an old Model T. I said that must have been the car he used for Parades. Bill got a chuckle out of it and said: "The vintage car he mentions was my 1917 Model T called the Dragon Wagon." #bjanddirtydragon #billjackson #wfld #dragonwagon #cartoontown Photo C. 2017 Bill Jackson

Will the real Jerry Lewis please sit down?

 I created both of these 8-1/2" x 11" colored pencil drawings based on the Filmation design of my favorite comedian Jerry Lewis, who passed away today at the age of 91.  I was fortunate to meet him back in 1982 on a book signing tour and he signed some cool things for me!   After becoming the Rankin/Bass historian/biographer, I learned that Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass tried to launch several projects with Jerry over the years and visited the set of THE BIG MOUTH with Maury Laws.   In my second book, The making of the Rankin/Bass Holiday classic:  Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, I included a full proof sheet of Jerry Lewis as an Animagic figure.  They were going to do a show called HEY, BELLHOP.   They were also going to do an episode of THE ENCHANTED WORLD OF DANNY KAYE of Punch and Judy, with Carol Burnett and Jerry Lewis.   None of these projects ever got past the puppet making stages.   After my Rudolph book came out in 2001, I heard from Jerry via email.   He wanted to resurrect these projects and I put him in touch with Arthur Rankin, Jr..   Arthur told me he talked with Jerry, but didn't have what he wanted anymore.  Eventually, Jerry went with Filmation and the series, Will the real Jerry Lewis Please sit down.   Photos of Punch and Judy can be seen in all of my books as well.
   

Jerry Lewis R.I.P.

I knew it was coming!  Things have been quiet since he entered the hospital about three months ago.  Still kind of shocking, since he has always been around and still active for so many years!   I have binders full of Jerry Lewis original stuff!  My mom drove me to see him in high school at a book signing and he signed some rare things for me and was very cool!  A life long fan of his work!  He will live on through all of that wonderful work!

Sunday

To celebrate the Bears win, I will include a DVD of this bear with a book bundle order on Sunday at www.miserbros.com  #chicsgobears #jamescagney #smokeythebear #rankinbass #animagic #sunday 🏈