JP has been editing the Notebook since 2002. AAEC President Rex Babin gives him a proper salute. Stephanie McMillan has assumed editor of the Notebook.

Unfortunately, I recorded the interview after the banquet with a lot of background noise. I’ve opted to transcribe the interview. It is essentially word for word. His wife, Mary, joins us in the end.

Alan: You had mentioned that you’re coming up on drawing 10,000 cartoons.

Dick: Yup.

Alan: Have you hit that marker yet?

Dick: Not yet, just about.

Alan: How far away are we?

Dick: About 200.

Alan: Wow. In your career, you started with The Chicago Tribune, in what year? How long have you been with them?

Dick: Since 1972, Alan. So that’s about, what? 39 years?

Alan: That’s just an amazing career that you’ve had, plus with your work with Dick Tracy. When did you start working on the strip?

Dick: I started with Chester Gould as an assistant in the ’50s – 1957, 58, 59, and 29 years with Dick Tracy.

Alan: That’s been an amazing run. What stands out? What are the big memories do you have?

Dick: If there is anything that it’s that I have stood on the shoulders of giants. I’ve been lucky, I’ve been fortunate. I’ve met good people, I’ve met fantastic people. I’ve met some real jerks in life, and you learn as much from them as you do your good friends. And I’ve been blessed; I’ve been lucky. I’ve worked with a legend who created an icon. And that was Chester Gould. He told me, ‘Everything, Dick, is black and white. Forget the gray crap.’ He was Mr. Law and Order. If you notice his strips they were black and white. Stark black, stark white. I asked him one time what was his favorite part of the strip. He said it ‘just exactly what is going to be your part, it’s the characters. The characters that you create.’ And he was right. He was a pioneer.

I do like editorial cartooning. You get to get your point across real fast – 8 seconds worth. The Tribune did a survey where editorial cartoons were read in 8 seconds. There’s no part of the newspaper like it. It’s a unique format.

Alan: Does anything stand out in your career as an editorial cartoonist?

Dick: Yeah, I got to go to lunch with Ronald Reagan.

Alan: Really?

Dick: In the Oval Office.

Alan: Tell me a bit more about that.

Dick: Well, I had done a cartoon on him. I drew him dressed up as Superman in a phone booth heading for the Contra in Central America, and he couldn’t open the door. He saw that. He had one of his aids, Pat Buchanan, give me a call and he said, ‘the president wants to straighten you out.’

Alan: (laughing)

Dick: Just like that.

Alan: In those words?

Dick: In those words.

Alan: Did that make you nervous?

Dick: It made me nervous at first, then I thought, ‘hey this is a great opportunity to get a chance to talk to him.’ And it was. It was fabulous.

Alan: He was a likable guy from what I hear.

Dick: He didn’t miss a word. He didn’t stutter, he didn’t stammer or pause. Just zing zing zing. We had a lot of fun and on the way out, he said, “Don’t forget. Have a jelly bean.”

Alan: The trademark jelly bean.

Dick: The trademark jelly bean. This John Locher Award was named after our son that we lost rather tragically. About a week after comes a note from the White House that read, “Nancy and I grieve with you. Signed, Ronnie.” Now, how did he know? That was awesome from the President of The United States.

Alan: To send you that. That was amazing. I can see why that stands out, not just for the position that Reagan held as the president, but as the human side of the presidency.

Dick: Exactly that. It’s something that nobody gives any president credit for – the humanity. Totally jaw dropping.

Alan: Since you brought up the Locher award, I assume that is going to continue on? I think your report said that is well established, it has funds behind it that are secure and so forth. As you look past this award – what did you say? This is the 24th year?

Dick: Right, 24.

Alan: How do you think, with the newspapers still trying to find their way, do you think that will impact your award? What will it mean to young people aspiring into a field that not…

Dick: The enthusiasm is there, you can tell. There’s an underground, and it’s electric and they talk to each other, these young kids in college. Now, the cartoon in the paper is on a slow slide, but it will emerge in another format. You can’t stop it. In 2004 they found a cartoon on a pyramid that said in essence, “Pharaoh is a jerk.” That makes this the second oldest profession. So if it can last that long, it will last longer.

Alan: Have you had to adjust the rules to allow animation or other forms of political statement?

Dick: No we have not done that.

Alan: Do you foresee it?

Dick: Oh yes. Absolutely. We won’t draw the line anywhere. If the animation shows up in a new format, we’ll be there.

Alan: Do you see that at the collegiate level? Are there animators out there?

Dick: Oh yes. They’re crude, but interesting and determined.

Alan: I won’t take up too much more of your time…

Dick: Do you want to know my favorite cartoon?

Alan: I do.

Dick: I haven’t done it yet.

Alan: (laughing) I bet you’ve said that before. That was a canned joke!

Dick: (smiling broadly) Yeah it was canned. Sorry about that.

Alan: That’s okay, I’ll use it. It’s a great joke. I love the story this morning that you told about Chester Gould and the Tommy Gun.

Dick: I still have the damn thing.

Alan: Do you?

Dick: Yeah

Alan: That is awesome. There is such a history of cartooning, I mean the Daily Cartoonist’s major focus is on print cartooning, newspaper and so forth, but I’m trying to reach out the web comics people…

Dick: Which is good.

Alan: I sense from them that they don’t understand the rich history. They’re a bit arrogant. They don’t understand the shoulders that they are standing on. This is just my personal observation. I’m not asking for a response. But you are a certain bridge to a history in comics that I’m afraid we’re going to be losing as gentleman like you grow older.

Dick: We’re losing the carrier…

Alan: Yeah, and that’s what I love about that story (of the tommy gun). I wish we could compile these anecdotal stories to give a richness…

Dick: It would be fun to do that. That would be interesting.

Alan: I think I have a project.

Dick: I think you do. Let me share something that’s been on my mind. I’m a firm believer that the papers do not give people what they want. If they would adjust, and instead of saying, “we’re going to forge ahead come hell or high water.” Tailor it to the people. The older people are the people who read the comics. The younger kids are watching the screen.

Alan: Sadly, but true. At least that’s what I see in my children, unfortunately.

Dick: The cartoon will always be there. We don’t know in what format. Animation is great, but how many customers are there for animation? You know, we tried to sell animation to the networks one time and they said, if we wanted to do an political statement everyday in animation everyday, we’d make our own. We don’t need outsiders. That attitude has changed a little bit. There’s some great animation – fast, quick sequences that I see on the Sunday morning shows. It’s rare right now, it’s good filler, good stuff and it’s good for a laugh and that’s what we right now.

Alan: I would agree in today’s climate. A couple of last questions. As far as the Parkinson’s. Is that something you’re comfortable letting people know about?

Dick: Oh, absolutely. I have to laugh about it.

Alan: How long have you known, how long since you were…

Dick: Five years.

Alan: Oh really? And your still drawing though. Right?

Dick: It steadies when I get to the drawing board. It stops.

Alan: That’s amazing. Because everything still looks as it always has.

Dick: Well, I’m a lucky guy. Very lucky.

Alan: So you’ve already turned over the artwork of Dick Tracy to another artist?

Dick: No, no. I still do it.

Alan: No? I thought I reported that… Isn’t someone else was assisting you now?

Dick: I have an inker.

Alan: An inker. But you still do the pencil and still the writing.

Dick: Right.

Alan: Okay, because you’ve talked about retiring. What does that mean? Editorial cartoons, Dick Tracy, both?

Dick: Eventually it will be both, of course. But it won’t tell me, I’ll tell it.

Mary: He has no immediate plans to retire.

Dick: She does, I don’t yet.

Mary: It’s kind of like that saying, “The reports of my early demise are…”

Alan: Greatly exaggerated. Well that’s great. I was under the assumption that you were still writing, but someone else doing the drawing.

Mary: He has an assistant, but Dick still does all the pencil drawing.

Dick: Yeah, he’s working into it.

Alan: Is he the one who will eventually take over?

Dick: We don’t know.

Mary: It’s up to him and of course the syndicate as well.

Dick: It’s up to him, God and Warren Beaty.

Alan: (laughing) Warren Beaty. How many papers is Dick Tracy in?

Dick: Around a hundred.

Alan: Okay, so it’s still got a good size list.

Dick: For a strip that’s 79 years old, that’s not bad. Only one thing scares me. When I can’t go to the drawing board anymore. That’s scary. It’s like the cowboy. You can take anything away from the cowboy, except his domain.

Alan: True.

Mary: And his horse.

Alan: Ha! and his boots. I thank you both for your time.

Dick: Alan, it was a pleasure.

So it was a bit of 2a shock after a 12 year absence to return to a much more humble association. Gone are the deep-pocket sponsors, the glitzy hotel and open bars. The times have changed. No longer do papers enjoy healthy double digit profit margins allowing them to pay the cartoonist’s dues and costs of attending the convention. This year’s convention, on the campus of Portland State University, is being held up as the new model. The hotel was three star. The panel discussions were a 15 minute walk to the student union building. The closest bar was three blocks away. The AAEC for the foreseeable future is a much more thrifty organization.

By the second day the shock wore off. In the subsequent days I realized the association isn’t the hotels, the open bars (any establishment serving alcohol will do) or the Q&A with top politicians. It’s an intangible. It’d be hard to market on the back of a brochure. I can best describe it as a brotherhood. It’s a camaraderie among those who have a rare ability to point out injustices, inconsistencies and ineptitude in our society in a way that causes readers to chuckle or curse out loud. The standing-room only Powellapalooza event Thursday night demonstrated that the public loves the art form.

The media at large is going through a contraction. If history bears true, there will be a cyclical expansion. The AAEC will see brighter days. No doubt the craft will evolve with the times. But the bond between ink slingers will remain constant.

Despite the distance to Florida, I’ll be making an effort to attend next year.

Next up, Chicago Tribune editorial cartoonist and Dick Tracy cartoonist Dick Locher presented two videos featuring his work with cast bronze metal – one for a nine foot statue of Dick Tracy and the second a trophy created for the Land of Lincoln prize. Dick mentioned he’s coming up on this 10,000 cartoon. I’ve got a full interview with this amazing cartoonist coming later.

Next up was the membership business meeting. The minutes of that meeting will be in the next Notebook.

That evening was the annual banquet. Host Jack Ohman gave a somber reminder to attendees to be mindful of those who were not attending due to the difficult times.

Dick and Mary Locher presented Chris Sharron, the 2010 John Locher Memorial Award. Chris is a student at Kent State University.

Milt Priggee presented this year’s Golden Spike Award to Rob Rogers of the Pittsburg Post-Gazette. The Golden Spike Award goes to the best unpublished cartoon that was deemed unfit to print by the cartoonist’s editor. Rob’s cartoon featured a priest hiding Easter eggs representing pedophile victims. The cartoon was submitted to run on Good Friday. The editor killed it. It went to the syndicate and appeared in papers elsewhere the next week. In his acceptance speech, Rob said, “I knew pedophile would get me somewhere.”

AAEC president Rex Babin presented the Ink Bottle award to Anita Austin for her tireless work on the AAEC website.

The official convention ended and most regrouped at the hotel bar that was reopened for the cartoonists. At last, it was an open bar.

More to come.

Friday’s Association of American Editorial Cartoonists convention started off with an panel of cartoonists from the Middle East who shared with the group some of the challenges and success in being a cartoonist in the Middle East.

Jeff Danziger and Jack Ohman

Jeff Danziger was the next presenter who was interviewed by Jack Ohman on his early career. Jeff presented a portfolio of his cartoons and commented on their impact.

Frank Swoboda and Harry Katz next spoke on the Herb Block Foundation’s efforts both in and outside of cartooning. Frank was pretty blunt when talking about how the future of editorial cartooning probably will not be in staff cartooning. The foundation is updating its rules for qualifications to allow individuals such as Mark Fiore to compete for the award.

The last session of the day was a presentation by Cristian Fleming, Anita Austin and JP Trostle on the changes to the AAEC website. The changes at this point are cosmetic but new features are planned in the future.

L-R: Jeff Danziger, Mark Fiore, David Horsey, Caroline Dijckmeester (vjmovement.com)

Later in the evening, the open-to-the-public reception and exhibit was held. AAEC members submitted editorial cartoons on the topic of urban planning for the gallery.

Also that evening was the Cartoonists Rights Network International Reception. Subjects included the disappearance of cartoonist and columnist Prageeth Eknaligoda who was abducted last August in Sri Lanka.

Ted Rall talked about how he used kickstarter.com to raise money $26,000 for his trip to Afghanistan.

Caroline Dijckmeester, Tjeerd Royaards from vjmovement.com, presented their new endeavor to create an international news bureau that creates a network of video journalists and editorial cartoonists.

Matt Bors led the panel with myself and JP Trostle about the new paradigm of journalism (think blogs and microblogs) and how to use them to spread advocacy for editorial cartooning.

Matt paneled the next discussion that features Meredith Gran, Jeff Parker and Shannon Wheeler about the vibrant cartooning community in Portland Oregon. Shannon commented how Portland is known for cartoonists and Jeff quickly chimed in “and the food carts.” Jeff also plugged his Periscope Studios, a collective of cartoonists, illustrators, writers, concept designers, graphic novelists, and storyboard artists. Other such collectives exist in Portland and the network of artists makes a freelance career possible.

Powellapalooza presenters L-R Joel Pett, Matt Bors, Jeff Danziger, Mike Thompson, Ted Rall, David Horsey and Rob Rogers

The last official event of the day was the Powellapalooza – a free to the public event at Powell’s book store. The event was standing room only as Steve Kelley, Mike Thompson, Dave Horsey, Jeff Danziger, Ted Rall, Matt Bors, Rob Rogers, Joel Pett, Rex Babin and Mike Thompson cartoonists gave quick presentations of some of their best work. The crowd was very enthusiastic and asked a fair number of questions at the Q and A at the end. When asked about when editorial cartooning began, Jack Ohman, who emcee’d the event, called up V. Cullum Rogers who gave a quick and engaging response to the art form.

Mark Fiore (L) talking with David Horsey after Powellpalooza

Milt Priggee and Daryl Cagle

The letter in its entirety:

Dear Mr. Jobs:

The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists would like to commend Apple for approving Mark Fiore’s app, “NewsToons” (which incidentally became the top selling news app in less than 48 hours). Ironically, Apple rejected this very app as “objectionable” until Mr. Fiore received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize and considerable media attention. We hope other apps that focus on politics and satire do not have to wait for a Pulitzer Prize before they are approved by Apple.

The recent attention given to Apple’s rejection of apps because they “ridicule public figures,” and are therefore in violation of the iPhone developer agreement, has brought some very important free speech issues to light. Apple’s policy forbidding ridicule of public figures effectively bans all political cartoons and satire from the iPhone and iPad.

While the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists realizes that Apple is a private sector company, Apple is also becoming one of the primary ways people publish news and information. With that innovation comes new responsibility.

A vigorous public discourse, opinion, satire and, yes, ridiculing public figures, are essential to journalism and our Democracy. Our nation would be a very different place if early technological innovators like Benjamin Franklin and those who followed him, forbade their presses from being used to ridicule public figures.

Instead of approving apps containing news and satire based on popularity, the quantity of public outcry, or the quality of award the work has received, there is a much simpler solution. The AAEC calls on Apple to immediately stop rejecting apps because they “ridicule public figures” and are deemed “objectionable.” Now is the time for Apple to welcome a vibrant and diverse world of news and opinion with open arms.

We would be happy to meet with you to discuss this matter further and look forward to journalism and press freedom being an important part of Apple’s continued innovation.

Sincerely,

The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists

Rex Babin, president of the AAEC talks about membership in his organization:

“We are not solely a newspaper editorial cartoonists group,” says Rex Babin, president of the AAEC and a 10-year editorial cartoonist at The Sacramento Bee. “We have made an effort to actively recruit others.” He says the requirements for membership are “kind of vague,” adding that the key requirement is that prospective members be professional cartoonists who are paid for their work. But he states: “There is an area where that is subjective, because it is changing just as being a professional journalist has changed.”

NCS President Jeff Keane on membership in his organization:

At the National Cartoonists Society (NCS), which has had a steady 580 members for the past few years, measures have actually been taken in recent decades to restrict who can join, according to President Jeff Keane, co-creator of the “Family Circus” comic strip started by his father, Bill. “It is not that you are at a newspaper, it is whether you are a working cartoonist making the majority of your income from cartooning for at least three years,” Keane explains. “About five years ago, we really wanted to make it so that everyone was qualified, and that dropped our roster down. We didn’t want a fan base in there. We wanted to make it more prestigious so that when you join, it is something that is the top level of the industry.”

The AAEC recounts that Dreb was famous for an encounter with Doug Marlette at the 1982 AAEC convention.

In fact, it was Drebelbis who famously -and literally – threw Doug Marlette out of the 1982 San Francisco convention for being behind on dues and trying to charge his room to the AAEC.

R.C. Harvey recalled “When he was confronted by [Dreb], who attempted to advise him of his error, Marlette brushed him off. The gentleman in question took umbrage at this and grabbed Marlette by the collar and marched him away; [Marlette] never came back…”