Trout Fishin' with Al (& Friends)!

Hey Wiseman fans- look! It's a self-portrait of Al in full-fledged trout-fishing gear (one of his favorite activities):


"Well," you might say, "that's quite obvious. But who's the freckled-faced girl in the polka-dot bikini?" "Funny you should bring that up," I would answer, "I have no idea."

But I do have an idea who the blonde-haired kid with the bow & arrow is- Al's son Jim! Yes, Jim keeps showing up everywhere. Last week he was "Dennis the Menace," this week he's practicing archery at the lake. That kid gets around.

But why do I think it's Jim? 'Cause Jim's wife Teresa told me so, that's why.

She wrote:
"This is a clip from a drawing that was published in Cartoonews. The fisherman being Al himself with Jim being the boy with the bow and arrow.  I have some pictures of Jim as a child that make it apparent that he was the "model" for some of Al's work."

Hmmm... Let's compare the above art with a photo of young Jim:


Yep, I'd say that's Jim in the drawing. But who's that with Jim in the photo? Maybe Teresa would know:

"This next one is a picture of Jim and his dog, Ruff.  Jim told me a story of being in the snow with his dad - up in the mountains when they lived in California Hot Springs (near the giant sequoias) when Ruff got lost in the snow - and how all of a sudden they saw her by her nose bobbing around."

Well, that answers that. Thanks Teresa!

Now here's the full image from the centerfold of Cartoonews #1 (April, 1975):

Not sure why this art was produced or where it originally appeared, but damn it's nice! The more I stare at it, the more new things I find. Like the tennis player stepping through the bottom of the fishing boat. Or the golfer smashing the very same boat with his golf club. Or the woman throwing a pan of water (at least I hope that's water) in the man's face. Or the duck hunter about to shoot the camper. And the merriment just goes on and on!

I do have to ask myself why people are bowling and snow skiing at a lake in the middle of Summer, though...

My favorite part of the drawing is the fat man floating in the water on the lower left. He's totally oblivious to the turmoil going on around him. And he's oblivious to the fact that he's just about to get rolled over by a fishing boat. And he's right in the path of the guy on snow skis. Poor fella.

Extra points if you noticed that the flying motorboat is named "Dorothy" in honor of Al's fourth wife! And if you did know that, how did you know that? (Other than she was mentioned in an article from a previous post.)