That sounds like a salon, doesn’t it? “Hair Today.” What is it about hair-cutting establishments that causes the proprietors to resort to horrible wordplay when naming the joint? My mother worked for decades in a beauty shop (That’s what we called them then.) named “Beauty Unlimited.” While not some tortured pun, the name certainly wasn’t accurate, let me assure you. The above Arlo & Janis, from 1999, is significant in its own right, for obvious reasons, but I notice a couple of things about it that are so 20th Century. Notice the hairdresser’s dialog in the first two panels? It isn’t very well positioned within the speech balloon, as you can see. I would quickly correct that by cutting and pasting today. Now that I think about it, I already was transmitting my art digitally to the syndicate in New York, and I could have made those corrections in 1999. Why didn’t I? Maybe it was because comic-strip lettering always has been an art in its own right, one I haven’t mastered to this day. I think I was conditioned over the pre-digital years to take what comes and accept such imperfection as a fact of life. Or, the more likely reason, I was running late and in a hurry.
Hair Today
By Jimmy Johnson
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14 responses to “Hair Today”
You have just reminded me that, in the comic books I read as a youngster (Kid Colt, Outlaw Kid, Rawhide Kid, Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, etc.), the credits always included “Letterer”.
I am also reminded of a comedian I once saw (sorry, I disremember the name) who explained to women that men don’t hold off from marriage because of a fear of commitment, we do it because after women get married, they cut off their hair. Sounds about right to me.
I just finished putting laminate flooring in my basement. After a rough beginning, my body responded and I was able to finish it quickly. I asked my son to come over to help with the molding and nail them in. We started talking and he complemented me on the job. I told him that he wasn’t looking too close as there were plenty of imperfections. He laughed and said that as an Engineer, he is constantly trying to make ever job perfect, but he makes numerous mistakes that NO one can see.
I think that is what you are talking about Jimmy. Your artwork has improved over the years but frankly it is hard to notice any “mistakes” The one constant is that you are funny. Very funny….and you keep peeking into our windows!
I used to go to “Shear Delight”.
Bye, bye, flowers!
https://www.ksl.com/article/46612003/have-you-seen-this-goats-invade-neighborhood
I need whatever vitamins these high school kids are taking!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HFNTj4muIo
Mark in TTown:
I thought it wise to answer here your post of yesterday.
As long as you have the Net, you should be able to watch Mighty Trains on demand. That’s the only medium that I use to watch it.
Thanks for the tip about the Big Boy cam. I know that it is making a tour, but I didn’t know about the cam
They don’t have a specific cam, but they do have videos of it arriving and departing in several locations. The Virtual Railfan site has live streaming cameras of railroad stations, yards, etc from different parts of the country. The Periscope Films YouTube channel has lots of old newsreel, military films, travel films and the like. Plenty of railroad training films from the black and white era. And The History Guy does short, about 15 minute segments, on various little-known topics. I have found his videos very interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ2YCsigQVc Big Boy in action.
Thanks. This evening, I will check out the Virtual Railfan and the YouTube link.
Here is a link for an extremely active cam: https://railstream.net/live-cameras/item/chesterton-in-west-free
Here’s the link for Mighty Trains:
https://tve.smithsonianchannel.com/details/series/1004949/season-1
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/video/viral/moose-herd-invades-oregon-town/vi-AAFqIRw
[BTW, they are elk!]
You never cease to amaze me with how much we have in common. My mother was a beautician too, and owned a beauty salon. My job was to sweep and mop the place. Mom always tried to have a new girl fresh from beauty school on staff. I was often told it was not done for my benefit!
Mark, thanks for The History Guy info. I had no idea he was out there. I lucked into his hours-old video about the Piper Cub, a plane I rode in with my Daddy as the pilot so many times. I had no idea about it’s long and lustrous history.
Illustrious