Friday, 18 November 2016

...Sad Sack comics 1960's



Sad Sack was a cartoon character invented and drawn by the American cartoonist George Baker (1915-1975). Baker did not however write the stories that he illustrated. The name Sad Sack was a shortened version of a then common, and mildly rude, phrase referring to an inept person or american soldier. (See the Wikipedia link below for more information).

The comics were imported and sold in the UK for 9d, that is nine old pence. But if memory serves me correctly, they were not available in mainstream newsagents, such as W H Smith, and one had to search them out, as one did the DC comics featuring Superman, Batman, the Flash etc.


Here is a typical example of Sad Sack's exploits.


 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sad_Sack


Tuesday, 15 November 2016

...a sketch of Samer 1815

This ink sketch of the market place at Samer, in Normandy, Northern France, is dated 1815, and is probably originally from a traveller's sketch book, possibly someone British, if the pencil inscription is contemporary with the drawing.

The date is significant because 1815 was the period of Napoleon's so-called Hundred Days, which culminated in his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium on 18 June. This picture may date from just after this time, when many travelled to the newly liberated French capital, and may well have passed through Samer.

It shows a gentle scene; a woman carrying a pail, a lady holding a child, who seems to have a second child attached to her dress by a cord. A man lies prone, reading a book, together with others.  And behind them is the church of St Martins, to which unusually abuts a string of houses. One interesting difference. The artist shows a square bell tower, whilst the ancient shape is seemingly octagonal. A bit of poetic licence perhaps?

It is a scene that has changed little in two hundred years, as photos on the town website indicate:

http://www.ville-samer.fr/