Wednesday 18 May 2011

Oh Baby!


It’s quite strange to be reminded of what the world looked like to you when you were just a child and I think these snippets say quite a lot. They are the original (biro!) drawings for ‘Oh Baby Your Waisting Time’ (sic) from 1969.  The young author/illustrator was heavily influenced by the fashions of the time as seen on TV shows that year like ‘Top Of The Pops’ and in her older sister’s copies of ‘Jackie’ and ‘Honey’ magazine.  (Note the fringed jackets, choker and ringed belt and also the maxi coat and braided hair portrayed here which show the increasing popularity of more hippie styles.)  The language too is characteristic of the period; the word ‘baby’ as a term of endearment features frequently and one of the characters is named Cliff.


The  entire story (which is a bit lame to be honest) and its carefully drawn illustrations were completed in one day, after which the book’s creator probably sucked on an ice pop, watched an episode of ‘The Clangers’ and then retired to her bed after eating a tea of macaroni cheese and a rice crispie cake.   Later in life she went on to illustrate some real books, and found how to ‘waist’ time in numerous ways including blogging now and then too.

5 comments:

  1. Bel Mondo said....... I'm very jealous of your precocious talent - i think I was probably drawing badly done tanks and men going 'aieeeee!' at the time...

    I'm also impressed with Cliff's directness - Baby you're wa(i)sting my time because it takes a long while to get undressed.....! Wow, I shall have to remember that one, although I doubt that anyone would stay around to reply to it - how times change !

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  2. Thanks, Bel Mondo - tho' I'm sure your men in tanks could've given Cliff and Trasy (sic) a run for their money! The bulk of the story is devoted to them drinking wine and brandy(!) at a party... As someone pointed out, if a kid wrote that now along with the reference to undressing, it'd probably be interpreted as a case for Social Services! Yet I was truly an innocent little thing (and still am, of course)

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  3. 1969, i think i was trying to draw my own cartoon strips or comic books then. Wonderful and creative art you have there. :)

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  4. Thanks very much, Drake, and would love to see early cartoon strips from your childhood too if you kept anything that you could post??! These pics take me right back and I'm now rather surprised at the sorts of things a very young mind was obviously absorbing!

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  5. I know i have some 1 panel cartoons i drew in the 70's but don't have a working scanner. My humour was and still is a bit dark and weird so naturally one of my strips was about Sharks.
    Young minds do absorb easily the strangest things. :)

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