Just as background music can be more interesting than whatever is fronting it, I often find the backgrounds of cartoons, much more interesting than the action.
The first newspaper cartoonist I ever followed was Giles, who appeared in The Daily Express; his Christmas albums were essential in our house. He put so much more into his work than just the subject matter. His backgrounds were wonderful. I met him in the mid-60's, and was able to tell him what pleasure he'd given me.
Spitting Image is another case in point. Trump's bedside light, No10's cabinet office portraits, and best of all Harry and Megalomaniac's tasteful house interiors.
Her background portrait (above) is a classic example. Don't you just love it. Hilarious.
15 C here this morning, and VERY windy.
25 comments:
I see this is on YouTube. I'll have to give it a look.
I always felt sorry for the mum in the Giles cartoons. She seemed to be the only sane one in a house of sniffles, wonky Christmas trees and turkey-stealing dogs.
I loved his work. Grandma Giles was always doing something strange, whilst there seemed to be endless amounts of kids around. His Christmas cartoons were often the best.
Yes, you can see the while episode on YouTube. I just took a photo of the bit I wanted.
My cousin, who is a bit older than my sister and me, always got a Giles cartoon book at Christmas. Whoever makes the Spitting Image puppets gets it spot on ... so clever. XXXX
I confess to have forgotten about Giles. He was part of my childhood too. I must look some old cartoons out. I thought Spitting Image this time around was only available on BritBox (another subject for annoyance) but I shall explore YouTube.
We were the same. That Giles book was essential; almost as much as the tree!
I can only see it on YouTube. I don't have such fancy things as BritBox.
If anyone wants to download YouTube videos then this works very well. I download at 720 not full chat. It gets rid of the advertisements and saves bandwidth.
MIDREY
Is this someone famous? I don't recognise her. Sorry to hear about your bad wind. Is there a pill you can take?
The creators must have had so much fun making those puppets.
She has a famous husband.
My favourite is Greta Thunberg. Brilliant.
Greta is my favourite too. Loved Giles.Also liked Gerald Scarfe's political cartoons.
I managed a West End gallery in the mid 60's and my boss managed to get all the top Fleet Street cartoonists to hold a one-off exhibition. One of my duties was supposed to have been to visit Gerald Scarfe in Paris, and bring back all his works. Unfortunately, just before my visit he decided not to exhibit. I was not happy; I would loved to have met him.
I had forgotten Giles. You can't beat a really good cartoonist can you, They say a thousand words in one drawing. I enjoy Peter Black every day in The Times.
The things that I have never heard of! Off to fall down a google rabbit hole once again.
I had lots of favourites. Vicky, Reg Smythe, Mac, Ralph Steadman, et al. All wonderful people.
Look at a few Giles cartoons; they're wonderful.
Posy Simmonds for me. But for music, we had the first of a series of three documentaries about Trump last week, covering the period up to the meeting with Kim Jong-un. The sound producer who decided to play spaghetti western music in the background as they approached each other is a genius.
I find background music to TV shows quite fascinating. It can add an air of silliness or drama but different music would make us react very differently. Nice to learn that Giles gave you pleasure in the mid-60's.
Two further clues. He is ginger and thick as a plank.
His life will make a great film, in time. I wonder who they'll chose to play him?
Carl Giles was really the only cartoonist I 'read' up until I was about 18. A nice man.
Funny, today when I checked I knew straight away who it is.
Post a Comment