Bobo sends us a link to the sad news that Joseph Benjamin Harris III has passed on at the tender age of 89. He drew the Trix rabbit and wrote the iconic phrase “Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids”. He went on to invent cartoon characters like Underdog and Tennessee Tuxedo.
Of course, like most of his generation, he was a veteran;
Joseph Benjamin Harris III was born to Charlie Harris and Gladys Golden in Jersey City on Jan. 5, 1928. He served in the Navy and the Marines and graduated from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn before he started at Dancer.
I read the linked NYT article and was stopped cold when I saw that a fellow gave the then-unknown Harris full credit for the Trix idea. I thought, “I bet he was a Vet, too.” I don’t know that he was but there’s a link in the NYT article to that man’s original memo. It’s a hoot to read. Here, I hope, is the direct link to the memo.
http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-origin-of-the-trix-rabbit/#prettyphoto%5B15445%5D/0/
And…bingo! Chester (Chet) Stover was indeed a Veteran: “Chester A. Stover Jr. was born in Scranton, Pa. in 1925. He enlisted in the Navy during World War II, serving on the submarines USS Pike and USS Mero. After the war, he graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. in 1948.”
Fair winds and following seas, Mr. Harris.
O/T:
Another great, Don Rickles, dies at 90.
Fair Winds and Following Seas, CPO Sharkey!
“Hey! Hockey puck!”