CSotD: Sunday Classic — Shirley and Son, February 16, 2001
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Jerry Bittle was one of the first syndicated cartoonists I knew personally, and I always loved his timing, both in Shirley and Son and Geech. There was a Bob Newhart/Jack Benny quality in his storytelling, in that you usually knew where he was going with a gag but the way he told it made the ride a delight.
In the case of this particular strip, it's a matter of a surprise — that Shirley's ex is showing sensitivity and good judgment — topped with a whiplash back to reality. He's still the same old guy.
Geech was a well-established strip, having begun in 1982, but Shirley and Son was only a couple of years old when Jerry died of a heart attack in 2003 and he hadn't really had a chance to move the characters past the initial stages of divorce.
As it happened, I was about to go on a date with a woman whom I had met on-line when Jerry went on the vacation he didn't come home from. I hadn't met her in person yet and had only seen her picture, but, given that she was a graphic designer, there was room for doubt there. Jerry was delighted by the prospects and wanted to know all about my Photoshopped blind date. As it turned out, the evening was even funnier than either of us had expected … she brought her entire Italian family and they sat at a nearby table and watched us eat.
I wish I could have told him. It would have been some repayment for all the laughter he sent my way over the years.
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