Stone age but contemporary
V. GANGADHAR
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Cartoonist Hart, who died recently, created characters and situations that have a special brand.
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FUNNY AND ENDEARING: Johnny Hart
Did men and women of the Stone Age ever laugh? What was life like in the B.C. era? According to cartoonist Johnny Hart, life was full of humour. Just ask any of the followers of Hart's syndicated comic strip, `BC.'
Hart, who died recently at 76, created characters and situations that have a special brand of humour. If they make one laugh it is because the humour is modern and relevant although set in the Stone Age.
Flagrant oxymoron
As two of the most famous female characters of the comic strip walk around and then sit on a hill, one of them asks, "What's the most flagrant oxymoron you've ever heard?" Pat comes the answer, "Politically correct."
Hart was a member of the golden age of cartooning that included names such as Mort Walker (`Beetle Bailey') and Charles Schulz (`Peanuts'), and was influenced by radio comic shows, `Laurel and Hardy' and the Charlie Chaplin movies. He loved one-liners and slapstick comedy. He also enjoyed comic strips such as Dick Tracy.
He studied commercial art. During a stint with the US army he drew cartoons for Stars and Stripes and then for Collier's and Saturday Evening Post. `BC' was born in 1958 and Hart never looked back.
His creation.
The success of a cartoon strip depends on its characters, its humour and the message it sends. The artist has the option of using the milieu of the American family life (`Dennis the Menace,' `Blondie' or `Bringing up Father'), the US army (`Beetle Bailey'), the Viking era (`Hagar The Horrible'), or the whims of children (`Peanuts'). Animals make wonderful cartoon strip characters (`Fred Bassett') so does the French Legionnaires (`Beau Peep'). Johnny Hart went one step further and chose the Stone Age.
The art of the cartoonist lies in linking his strip to modern life and its problems. This is what Schulz achieves with Charlie Brown and Company.
Similarly, what we see in `BC' is not a depiction of life in the Stone Age. Although the characters live and dress like cave men, the issues, the comic strips speak of, are topical and modern.
One of the characters, Wiley, has a dictionary which gives hilarious definitions.
Then there is one where the `Show Me' desk is manned by the female character, Fat Broad, who is asked, "Show me a kid who thinks it's hip to wear his jeans six inches below his waist." Her retort? "And I'll show you a part of him which definitely ain't hip!"
"How's biz, Chef?" asks a BC character in a restaurant and receives the reply, "Dog eat dog. What will it be for you?" The customer departs with the reply, "O, I am not hungry!"
One of the characters linking the past with the present is Thor, who sells Wheels on which the `BC' characters travel and it's a terrific take-off on Detroit. `B.C.' does not have many props except for clubs, rocks, one shoulder caveman suits and wheels.
The characters, who live in an eternal present that is a sort of historic paradise, are loved for their topical, relevant humour.
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