Public Domain
Posted by Eli on September 29th, 2006Over the years, I’ve thought of gags that I considered clever and marketable, but which I didn’t think I could pull off with my limited cartooning skill, so I never attempted to draw them.
(As I’ve often explained to anyone who would listen, I’m really a gagwriter who, out of desperation, turned to cartooning as the outlet for all the funny thoughts racing through my mind all the time. “Real” cartoonists are gifted, prolific artists who can intrinsically draw in a humorous vein.)
A gag that comes to mind, for instance, would have required both a title in a box above the drawing and the usual caption below. The title would have been MR. OTIS MAKES ANOTHER MOMENTOUS DECISION. The drawing would have shown the outside of the very first elevator, under construction, with a workman holding up signs below the button controls. The signs say FOR and AGAINST. And a very pensive Mr. Otis, standing nearby, is saying the caption: “No, it still doesn’t look right to me. Let’s try UP and DOWN again.”
OK, maybe the first elevators didn’t have button controls. To a gagwriter, that is immaterial (remember, dogs don’t really have the ability to talk). If any of you “real” cartoonists want to take a crack at this gag, I’m officially putting it into the public domain. Go for it — sell it to The New Yorker. See if I care.