An Express Thanksgiving

(paper rustling) (upbeat piano music)

Well, it is Thanksgiving at the Cartoon Lounge.

But you know, we're really busy here,

so it's gonna be, sort of, a real express Thanksgiving.

Got my turkey sandwich on raisin bread.

(whizzing)

And my traditional pumpkin spice latte. (slurping)

Is that great, or what?

(paper rustling) (piano music)

Well, since it's Thanksgiving, let's talk turkey,

or football, or maybe both in one cartoon,

like this cartoon by Jason Adam Katzenstein.

This is, once again, is caption-less cartoon,

and a very good one.

It mashes up the two things we think about at Thanksgiving,

turkey and football.

There's a great cartoon from 1983 by John Jonik,

also caption-less, which shows a football game

between the Native Americans and the Pilgrims,

in classic football formation.

(lively instrumental music)

One more Thanksgiving cartoon, one of my favorites,

it shows a Indian chief and a Pilgrim,

and the Indian chief is saying, let's keep it small,

just the Pilgrims, the Indians, and the Rosenthals.

(lively instrumental music)

That's a favorite cartoon of many, many people,

especially people named Rosenthal.

(rustling) (lively instrumental music)

Got an interesting question here, from a guy who says,

I'd like to learn to draw, just for fun,

and to make better than just recognizable things

when I'm doodling for my toddler.

I don't seem to have any natural talent for it,

but maybe I can create something from nothing.

Well, you know, people think they have nothing,

but usually they do have something.

Everybody draws as a kid,

and one of the things Picasso said is

it took him his whole life to draw like a child.

So, that ability just to have fun drawing,

cause you say just for the fun of it.

It is fun just to draw.

And remember also, you're drawing for your toddler.

He's not an art critic. (laughs)

(rustling) (lively instrumental music)

Truthfully, in cartooning, there are a lot of people

who have wonderful ideas and can't draw all that well,

yet they draw well enough to get across their ideas.

I think that was absolutely true of James Thurber,

who was not a great draftsman,

and yet his drawing was absolutely perfect

for his loopy ideas.

Thurber actually did try to get better at drawing.

He was once practicing, and E.B. White, the writer,

saw what he was doing, and he said,

Don't try to get any better.

If you got any better, you'd be mediocre.

(lively instrumental music)