I enjoyed being a Boy Scout. I had been a Cub Scout and a Webelo. My mom had been a Cub Den Mother. My dad was a Cubmaster (leader of the pack, so to speak). I aged out of the Cubs and went on to Scouting. I was, as I say, a pretty good Boy Scout. I didn’t make Eagle, but my camping skills were ok, I could tie a few knots, I had an adequate number of merit badges to achieve the rank of “Star”.
I was inducted into the Order of The Arrow, which is an honor society in Scouting. It required a rank of at least First Class and fifteen days of camping in the year prior to induction. Order of the Arrow was big on camping, so it was fortunate that my Scout Troop (Troop 82 of Amarillo, TX) went camping fairly regularly. We almost always camped at a Scout Ranch called Camp Don Harrington just south of Amarillo, in a little branch canyon of the Palo Duro Canyon system. It was, and still is, a beautiful place.
The Boy Scout Handbook. Cover by Norman Rockwell no less!
To earn money for camping, Troop 82 performed as clowns, which I absolutely loved doing. We had a surprisingly professional show that we’d present at local civic organizations, nursing homes, churches, etc. Our group was called “The Sidewalk Circus Clowns”. It had been created by our Scoutmaster, Chet Szalkowski. Mr. Szalkowski was a wonderful person and we all loved him. I have a lot of stories about those years that will make it into these comics eventually.
The clown on the left is Dennis Altman as “Siddy Dump”, I am the little clown in the middle as “Muddy Puddles”, and on the right is John Szalkowski as “Unca’ Willie”
I suppose I am something of a “joiner”. I have always been excited about clubs. I was a Scout, of course, and also a member of clown clubs and magic clubs all my life. One of the first things I did upon moving to San Antonio from Amarillo was to join the local clown and magic clubs. I enjoyed the socializing and the shared interests so much. But I have to admit, I haven’t attended meetings regularly for over a decade now.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that social media has become so prevalent over the last fifteen years or so, and at the same time, membership in all kinds of social organizations, including Scouting, has declined precipitously. I find this very sad, though I myself have been a part of that trend.
I think it may be time to get back to my clown club.
I love working in the blue pencil, lightboxed from my roughs. I don’t even have to erase the blue, Photoshop can do it easily by adjusting the ‘threshold’ to between 130 and 150. I used to do this in a different, more complicated way, but I learned this trick from Brad Guigar’s indispensable book, “The Webcomics Handbook”. Somewhat more useful to me these days than “The Boy Scout Handbook”, since I don’t go camping anymore and rarely need to tie knots. I don’t think there was ever a “Cartooning” merit badge, but there should have been. I would have totally had that one. Also, no “Clowning” merit badge. A missed opportunity, I think. The Scouts should look into creating those. They do have “Art”, “Animation”, and “Graphic Design” nowadays. It’s a start.
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