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.
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