The Verdict -- Robert Gardner

In my lifetime, I have met, through no particular fault of my own,

some fairly important people -- a few generals, a senator or two, a mass

murderer, a many-times bigamist, even a movie star, although well past

her prime. With that as a background, I would say that one of the people

I feel most fortunate to have met is Virgil Partch.

I suppose that most people can draw something that looks more like a

human being than an earthworm, but even that is beyond me, which is one

reason I’m impressed with cartoonists. With a few lines, they can amuse,

enlighten, even challenge. Through my friendship with Virgil Partch, I

came to meet a pretty good cross-section of the trade.

Partch, who lived in Corona del Mar for many years, was something of

an icon among cartoonists. His drawings are instantly recognizable. He

put both eyes on one side of the human face. Small, insignificant, hardly

earthshaking, but no one else had ever done it before (Picasso was not a

cartoonist). I am fortunate to have a number of original Partch’s hanging

on my walls. I am the subject of each and I am properly humbled in each

situation.

Through Virgil, I met John Dempsey, who put me in a cartoon that

appeared in Playboy, undoubtedly the only time I’ll ever make the pages

of that publication. I also met Marty Murphy, Dick Shaw and the

Interlandi twins. I can never tell them apart, but my friend Chuck

Masters insisted he could.

It was not surprising that Chuck would know the cartoonists. He had a

wonderful capacity to meet and know interesting people, and he liked to

drink, so he fit right in. Chuck was my favorite drinking companion until

he died, and not even the approach of death could bow him. At my last

meeting with him, he and I shared a last drink using those bendable

hospital straws. Despite that, I’m not sure that Chuck could really tell

the Interlandis apart. I never put him to the test.

The cartoonists used to meet at a certain bar in Laguna Beach. I would

identify the bar except that they kept changing bars and if I tried to

identify them all, it would be simply a directory of bars.

Why these people became cartoonists I haven’t the foggiest idea, but I

must say the world is immensely better off for having them here. They

almost invariably have an iconoclastic look on life that lets them detect

the foibles and hypocrisies of daily life. Whether they pay their bills

on time or cheat on their wives I don’t know, but I’ve never met a stupid

cartoonist. Some wimps, I suppose, but never one who was petty or

disagreeable. The cartoonists I’ve met are loyal to their friends, which

I consider a big plus on the calendar of human character, and I feel

grateful to Virgil Partch for introducing them to me.

* ROBERT GARDNER is a Corona del Mar resident and a former judge. His

column runs Tuesdays.