SPEAKING OF DEANNA...

Remember her paramour...?

Trish Two

CRAIG ASKS: Are you sure that's Trish? Maybe you were doing a caricature of Dyan Cannon to go with James Garner and Starsky & Hutch?

BRUCE ADDS: Nope, this would by my Dyan Cannon.

Deanna Model and Friend

When the Daily Creative Department needed models for its ads, it didn't look too far away. Here are Deanna and Bruce posing with the Daily in hand. Deanna seems to need some sort of bike repair. And Bruce is secretly reading the Daily behind the Wall Street Journal. (If you're a businessman type, you gotta wear the hat. )

JEFF V. ADDS (and asks): Did these pictures ever run? It's interesting to recall that back in the day, if you needed to call a bike repair shop you had to climb into a glass box to do it. And what mystery is Trench Malloy pursuing in yet another still from the TRENCH MALLOY MOVIE?

CRAIG ADDS: The point of the Deanna photo is easy enough to understand. But what are we saying in Bruce's photo? Is he just reading the Daily alongside the Wall Street Journal, or trying to hide the Daily behind it? Are we trying to say that we're also a good source of business information or that our readership demographics equal a business pub's? Or were we just having too much fun playing dress-up again?

BRUCE WONDERS: Would that "we" be "me" playing dress-up, Craig?

Caricatures By Bruce Continued

Okay, I found the original James Garner caricature I did at the Daily. That also meant I found a bunch of other caricatures I did way back then. Can you identify them?

CRAIG RAVES: It's like a snapshot of popular culture circa late 70s/early 80s. I love the grizzled Charles Bronson most, but I have to say I'm most impressed by the Steve Martin drawing most, since he has the least distinctive features, especially in his pre-white hair phase.

JEFF CORRECTS CRAIG: Great Garner, Boffo Bronson, I mistook Jimmy Carter for David Leterman (who was not on the public radar yet, I know, but most if not ALL caricatures of the Georgian President showed him grinning, hence my confusion) and I like the bold, simple style in which Gerald Ford was drawn. But Craig, Steve Martin? Wrong. That's politician Gary Hart. And, sorry, but who is the last one? Abby Hoffman... or Starsky?

BRUCE ADDS: Craig's right, it's Steve Martin. (Below is the reference I used!) And the last is indeed Starsky and Hutch (when Hutch grew the most feeble mustache on TV).

CRAIG ADDS: David Letterman? Look at the lips, man. If it was Letterman, you'd have seen the unctuous grin with the big space between the front teeth. (Hey Bruce, could you work that up for us?)

BRUCE RESPONDS: Here you go, Craig.

Trish Immortalized in Graphite

Here's a pencil sketch I did of art directoress Trish the Dish back in '81. Much more satisfying than drawing janitors.

The Preliminary Janitor (and his wife)

I don't have a copy of the original drawing I did of (and for) the Daily janitor and his wife, but I did find an original preliminary pencil sketch I did of the couple (on vellum). Jeff V. did a great caricature in an earlier post!

JEFF V: And here it is... again.

They have taken our name in vain...

The least they could have done was make it a Coney joint...

Still real hard holding back the laughs at this one...

As a companion to this post, I offer the following advice (dispensed sometime in the '8os, I guess) to all our wives:

(Of course, what's truly surprising about this letter is that the Diner-quoting fan is A WOMAN! Which I assume is only slightly rarer than finding a Dodo bird egg.)

The art direction of... wait, it'll come to me.

I know someone in the Daily Creative Department designed this cover. Ideas?

CRAIG WONDERS: Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's not even the campus, is it? There's the IDS Tower, and the Northwestern National Bank sign...

The art of the can

I'm assuming I drew this for some sort of college beer can sculpture contest. Beyond that, I haven't a clue.


CRAIG COMMENTS: Bruce, you really could have had an alternate career as some kind of cartoonist, I think...

Bruce was hired as a copywriter, right?

The art of Bruce H. Or you get what you pay for from a free Creative Department.

CRAIG COMMENTS: Look at the hair on that babe! Too bad the plate of eggs and bacon doesn't look as appetizing.

The Art of Jeff Jones

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Jeff Jones is responsible for this clown.

Clip Art Joint

One of the many resources available to the Daily Creative Department was a collection of small books of clip art (although with all the original art flying around, we didn't have to use them much)--notably insurance accident clip art of people falling down stairs. Here's one example of the use of clip art. Where we found fencers is anybody's guess.

CRAIG ASKS: Bruce, did I work on this with you? Seems a little like my sense of humor. Or maybe John's.

JEFF V. FAWNS:  This is pretty funny. guys.  I don't recall ever seeing it.  I assume you cut and repositioned the guy on the left's arm to make two pictures out of one.  I know I wasn't involved because the third "panel" would have entailed the man on the right being skewered by the other one's sword.

The Airbrush Cometh

In an attempt to provide our clients with the latest technology and to give the FFG the chance to fool around with an airbrush, Jeff Jones somehow convinced the Daily to pony up for said airbrush. Jeff J. got really good at it as I recall; he could render a mean donut.

I'm Melting.

A sad day in the Daily Creative Department: many of the 45 records used to entertain and inspire us were tragically left on the heater, misshapen nearly beyond recognition (and they sure as heck wouldn't play). If you can remember more of the gone but nearly forgotten, blog away.

King Ocar Ardine

Another popular pastime of the Daily Creative Department was to find advertising radio scripts printed in Communication Arts Magazine and perform them (often recording them). I particularly recall the scripts for King Oscar Sardines where the "esses" weren't pronounced (hence the title of this post) and Time Magazine with John doing the female parts (so to speak).

The Art of the Typewriter

I distinctly remember one slow day in the Daily Creative Department when Jeff Vlaming came up with the idea of creating a cartoon character using only the keys of John's typewriter. He'd type letters and spaces as the "drawing" came to life on the typewritten page. And darned if the final image didn't look exactly like one of Jeff's drawings as if he had used a pen instead!

Tail Gunner

When things got dull at the Minnesota Daily or lunch rolled around, a very popular way for the FFG to pass the time was to play Tail Gunner, the addictive video game on display either at Big Mike's Sub Shop or the Improper Fraction (a little help here). Not so much skill was required as was the ability to hit a button 500 times a minute.

CRAIG ASKS: What was the game you and Jeff loved to play down at the Improper Fraction, the one where that was basically a box in the center of the screen that shot "laser rays" from each of its four sides at attacking somethings? Space Zap?

BRUCE ANSWERS: Space Zap sounds right! In fact, I think that was the video game where all you needed was the nervous system of a humming bird.

John is more than amused by Craig.

Now, who, exactly, is Bandito Di Smoochos?



From the infamous June '92 white-water rafting trip! Granny isn't in the photo. She fell overboard.



Craig makes Jeff V. smile too!



BRUCE ADDS: I don't remember how we all got to Colorado. I do remember pulling the seats out of the car to sit around a campfire. I remember introducing the FFG to Lisa's brother's (Bob's) kids and Craig giving little Britte a shoulder ride. And I remember a grandmother falling out of the raft and Bob pulling her back in by her life vest. Also, gloves without fingers and those things that keep your sunglasses from falling into the river.

Jimbo and Bob

Here is the original paste-up for the Jimbo and Bob ad. Gotta love that border tape!



BRUCE ADDS: I wish I still had the original to that James Garner caricature! I also wish I had the caricature I did of Craig when he grew a beard. As I remember, I had Craig saying, "Look at this neat-o beard!" as he was pointing to his chin. I also remember Craig disliking it immensely, ripping it off the Creative Department door to which it was taped and tearing it to shreds, perhaps thinking we (me) were making fun of him for some reason. Does anyone also remember Craig pulling apart a cassette tape (and maybe throwing it out the window)? Was it a recording of Craig made surreptitiously?

CRAIG PLEADS: Aw geez...can't we just give that "Underdog" story a rest for a while? How about until after I'm dead?

DOWN IN THE VALLI

T

Ad campaigns were rare enough in the Daily so when the beloved Valli Restaurant in Dinkytown okayed this series of ads it was the stuff of Daily creative department history. I'm uncertain how many ran, -- give me a number, anyone -- but with the succinct, witty headlines, the whimsical "broken line" illustrations and the lack of Cooper Black anywhere in the ad, it was considered a truly high-brow campaign.

The alternative ideas shown above, were not. (If anyone's interested, we're still looking for a headline to the "beartrap" illio.)

BRUCE TRIES: Things could be worse. You could have eaten at Stub & Herbs!

BRUCE ADDS: OR...Only a few things are sharper than our steak knives.

Party Quiz

Who knows why 4/5 of us (and pushy broads) were having a get-together in May of 1992?






Here's a hint:

CRAIG ANSWERS: Judging by that last photo -- my party gift of "Shrimp on the Barbie" -- I would hazard a guess that this was the going-away party for Bruce and Lisa before they left on their trip to Australia! And look at picture 3 -- John was amused by something I said. We have photographic proof!

BRUCE ADDS: Did I remember to thank everyone for that get-together? I still have that shrimp-on-the-Barbie and have to laugh every time I think of it! I also have photos of everyone giving each other back rubs later in the evening, negatives available for a price.

Just a memory jogger (or if it's yellow then it's Jello)

Does anyone remember the record that was played over and over with someone calling on the telephone?

JEFF V. SUGGESTS: Calling on the telephone repeatedly?  More information needed.