arloandjanis.com

The national “do-not-call list” is one of the few truly effective initiatives I can think of in recent memory. I still am amazed that I receive but a fraction of the telephone solicitations I once did. However, I wonder sometimes if it was just a coincidence that the do-not-call list coincided with the burgeoning of cellular telephone use in the United States. I don’t think the latter would have happened without the former. Who would carry a cell phone if they got junk calls all day? I know: I’ve been called cynical before.

5 Comments » Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J

This situation was about to get embarrassing for all of us. The A&J cartoons running in newspapers this week are repeats, but only a handful of you have suspected. John wrote this morning to say the cartoon in today’s paper definitely is a repeat; it’s one of his favorites. It’s one of my favorites, too, John.

I thought all of you would catch on immediately, and we’d have a good laugh about it Tuesday. When that didn’t happen, I thought, “Well, maybe nobody will notice!” O’, what a tangled web we weave.

 The fact is, I took a week off in April to rest my hands, as I did about a year ago. They still are afflicted with painful stiffness and numbness that make drawing problematic. It’s a little better lately, and life goes on.

22 Comments » Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J

Since we’re on the subjects of Gene and food, here’s one of the few teenage-boys-sure-eat-a-lot jokes that I’ve ever drawn. There’s nothing wrong with a good cliche, mind you, but a rich vein of humor, like a rich vein of ore, eventually yields a diminishing return. A wise prospector must be able to recognize an inferior nugget.

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41 Comments » Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J

I ran across this old cartoon and immediately thought of you people. The mornings have been pretty hectic lately–so hectic yesterday I didn’t think to wish “Happy Mother’s Day” to those eligible. Today is no exception, but maybe by tomorrow I’ll have some time to linger.

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6 Comments » Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J

Quick! Who was on the 20-dollar bill before Andrew Jackson? You’re going to have to Google it anyway, so I’ll tell you: it was Grover Cleveland. When the federal reserve banking system was established in 1914, Cleveland was on the first 20-dollar reserve note. Jackson first appeared in 1928. Supposedly, it’s not recorded why the switch was made. The irony is, President Andrew Jackson was a strong opponent of centralized banking and paper money.

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24 Comments » Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J

Still meandering on Memory Lane. I can never say it enough: Arlo and Janis is not autobiographical. Sure, there’s a lot of my personality in the strip, but events depicted there and reality are two distinct things. Somehow, though, this does not apply to Arlo’s memories. They usually are unvarnished memories of my own boyhood. When I draw a nostalgia cartoon, as depicted yesterday and above, even I think of the figure as “little Jimmy.” I like these cartoons.

25 Comments » Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J

Also when I was a boy, there was in my family living room a comparable piece of 40s-vintage furniture that housed a 78 rpm turntable and a radio tuner, already obsolete and unused except as an occasional table. In fact, as I got older I spent many happy hours dismantling and examining its electronic guts. I don’t know what eventually became of the old radio cabinet, but that’s the piece of furniture I wish I still had.

43 Comments » Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J