Philosophy
My Fellow Comedists,
This weekend is July 4th, not only the birthday of the United States of America and our own Gwydion, but also cartoonist Rube Goldberg. A native of San Francisco, he attended Berkeley and worked for a short period as an engineer before becoming a cartoonist. After a brief stint as a stand-up comic on the Vaudeville circuit, he worked for San Francisco papers drawing a number of strips including Mike and Ike after which the candy was named, and drew political cartoons which during the lead up to and during World War II earned him such hate mail that he had his sons change their names for safety's sake.
But he is most famous for his drawings of the inventions of Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts (a play on his own middle name, Lucius). It is for these cartoons in which simple tasks were accomplished automatically through incredibly complicated multi-step machines often including bombs, mice, and bowling balls that his name has become an adjective. He won the Pulitzer Prize as well as many other awards for these strips and the cartoonists' award, "The Reuben" is named for him (although the sandwich is not). Here's one from the Rube Goldberg site showing the easy way to tee up a golf ball:
It is a little known fact that Rube Goldberg wrote a film script, Soup to Nuts, which not only featured a number of his machines brought to life (he was also a sculptor and the scuptures in the second clip are Goldberg's own work), but also featured for the first time on screen Shemp and Moe Howard and Larry Fine. Yes, it was Rube Goldberg who gave us the Three Stooges.
From all of us who love your strips, the Stooges, and the board game Mouse Trap, thanks Rube.
Live, love, and laugh,
Irreverend Steve
- Are The Three Stooges Timeless?
My Fellow Comedists, I've been working my way through Robert Solomon's piece on the Three Stooges. The short people LOVE the Stooges, while TheWife cannot stand them. This would not seem unusual. There is clearly an age and gender divide in Stooge...
- The Feast Of Saint Carl
My Fellow Comedists, This week saw the feast day of Saint Carl. Carl Reiner turned 89 this week. Reiner was a member of that legendary group of writers for Sid Caeser including Neil Simon, Woody Allen, Larry Gelbart, and, of course, Mel Brooks, who was...
- The Feast Of Saint Gary
My Fellow Comedists, This weekend is the feast of Saint Gary. Gary Larson turns 60. Creator of The Far Side, the most consistently clever comic strip ever. A couple classics: Your favorite? Live, love, and laugh, Irreverend Steve...
- Auto Mechanics To Quantum Mechanics
Some former students have been asking for this, so here goes... I have a schtick that I do whenever I teach. I start each class by inviting questions, any question, auto mechanics to quantum mechanics, ask me anything. I get an incredibly wide range of...
- Rube Goldberg
At 6:30 weight (A) automatically drops on head of dwarf (B), causing him to yell and drop cigar (C), which sets fire to paper (D). Heat from fire angers dwarf's wife (E). She sharpens potato knife (F) on grindstone (G) which turns wheel (H) causing...
Philosophy
Feast of Saint Rube
My Fellow Comedists,
This weekend is July 4th, not only the birthday of the United States of America and our own Gwydion, but also cartoonist Rube Goldberg. A native of San Francisco, he attended Berkeley and worked for a short period as an engineer before becoming a cartoonist. After a brief stint as a stand-up comic on the Vaudeville circuit, he worked for San Francisco papers drawing a number of strips including Mike and Ike after which the candy was named, and drew political cartoons which during the lead up to and during World War II earned him such hate mail that he had his sons change their names for safety's sake.
But he is most famous for his drawings of the inventions of Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts (a play on his own middle name, Lucius). It is for these cartoons in which simple tasks were accomplished automatically through incredibly complicated multi-step machines often including bombs, mice, and bowling balls that his name has become an adjective. He won the Pulitzer Prize as well as many other awards for these strips and the cartoonists' award, "The Reuben" is named for him (although the sandwich is not). Here's one from the Rube Goldberg site showing the easy way to tee up a golf ball:
It is a little known fact that Rube Goldberg wrote a film script, Soup to Nuts, which not only featured a number of his machines brought to life (he was also a sculptor and the scuptures in the second clip are Goldberg's own work), but also featured for the first time on screen Shemp and Moe Howard and Larry Fine. Yes, it was Rube Goldberg who gave us the Three Stooges.
From all of us who love your strips, the Stooges, and the board game Mouse Trap, thanks Rube.
Live, love, and laugh,
Irreverend Steve
- Are The Three Stooges Timeless?
My Fellow Comedists, I've been working my way through Robert Solomon's piece on the Three Stooges. The short people LOVE the Stooges, while TheWife cannot stand them. This would not seem unusual. There is clearly an age and gender divide in Stooge...
- The Feast Of Saint Carl
My Fellow Comedists, This week saw the feast day of Saint Carl. Carl Reiner turned 89 this week. Reiner was a member of that legendary group of writers for Sid Caeser including Neil Simon, Woody Allen, Larry Gelbart, and, of course, Mel Brooks, who was...
- The Feast Of Saint Gary
My Fellow Comedists, This weekend is the feast of Saint Gary. Gary Larson turns 60. Creator of The Far Side, the most consistently clever comic strip ever. A couple classics: Your favorite? Live, love, and laugh, Irreverend Steve...
- Auto Mechanics To Quantum Mechanics
Some former students have been asking for this, so here goes... I have a schtick that I do whenever I teach. I start each class by inviting questions, any question, auto mechanics to quantum mechanics, ask me anything. I get an incredibly wide range of...
- Rube Goldberg
At 6:30 weight (A) automatically drops on head of dwarf (B), causing him to yell and drop cigar (C), which sets fire to paper (D). Heat from fire angers dwarf's wife (E). She sharpens potato knife (F) on grindstone (G) which turns wheel (H) causing...