The Linda Jones Archive: Crier in the Wilderness by Chuck Jones, Part 2

CRIER IN THE WILDERNESS by Chuck JonesPart II

Note from Linda: At the time of this article, February 7, 1957, the lead-in stated the following: “Chuck Jones has been Art Director of the Crier from its infancy, and herein tells you how come. He and Dottie dwell in a fabulous glass-and-stone aerie up in Hollywood Knolls, and Little Linda is all grown up and married.”  I was, as stated in the article, seven years old in 1944. We had a live-in mother’s helper named Mary. Mary was a junior at USC and had been born and raised in Los Angeles. Mary was my bestest friend…and I was heartbroken when she (and her parents) were taken to the Internment Camp for Japanese citizens…Here is Part II of the Canyon Crier article started last week.

 [PART II] - Wifely Wiles

The fact that my wife was not working, an activity usually associated with car-pools, did not really constitute an incongruity in my mind. She already owned a rapier, a euphonium and a suit of formal riding attire, even though she had no interest in swordsmanship (“buttons”), tuba-class instruments, or fox-hunting (‘driving a tack with a sledge hammer”). She simply liked these articles for themselves, and I found it quite believable that she would join a car-pool just to drive out to Cal-ship, wrap bandages, and read Dickens in the back of the car all day, and ride back with the boys at night.

“I read about it in ‘The Canyon Crier’”, she said, producing this miniscule yet action-provoking sheet from behind a package of RUM ‘N MAPLE cigarettes. (Why was it always possible during the war to obtain cartons of RUM ‘N MAPLE cigarettes, when less exotic brands where available only in butt form?)

“The girls up on the ridge do their marketing together on a car-sharing basis,” her lip quivered, “eye wan tu-tu.”

“Eye wan tu-tu?”

She pursed her eye-lids. “I want to, too. I want to car-share, too. I want to ride with the girls and market with the girls. Other wives get to, why not me? I’ll plan a plan so I’ll get it all done at once.”

She was about to offer to hold her breath and turn blue if I refused to listen.

I felt this might be a poor example to our daughter Linda, whose seven-year-old blue-eyed naiveté concealed only too well a jaundiced cynicism toward our ostensible maturity.

[Part III next week!]

Author & Illustrator, Kelly Light, to Lead Workshop at the Center!

Kelly Light is the author and illustrator of the picture book Louise Loves Art.  It is a story about the importance of creativity in all its forms. Louise loves art more than anything; it's her imagination on the outside. She is determined to create a masterpiece—her pièce de résistance! Create your own pièce de résistance on Sunday, March 8 from 3 to 5 PM as author and illustrator Kelly Light leads a one-day only workshop at the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity, 3321 Hyland Ave., Suite A, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Admission is free and open to the public, but reservations are a must. Call 949-669-7793 x 20107 or email Sasha@ChuckJonesCenter.org for more information and to RSVP. This program is appropriate for ages 7 to 12. 

Kelly will talk about the connections between cartoons and children’s books. How she used what she learned in animation to write and create characters that may be still on the page, but alive to the reader.  How acting with your pencil can put personality into your drawings.  

Together, doing drawing exercises with character prompts, the children can create a character of their own and a short story board to start them on their own creative journey. 

Kelly Light also loves art, especially cartoons. Growing up she loved watching cartoons and drawing cartoon characters. She went off to art school determined to start a career in animation which lead to working as a character artist for cartoon licensing. She spent a very long time drawing some of the most beloved cartoon characters, including the characters created by her favorite artist of all time, Chuck Jones.  

It was a chance meeting with Mr. Jones that sparked the desire to create her characters. Years later, Louise was created and published and is now a seven book series that hopes to inspire kids to be creative and pick up their own pencils and draw out their imaginations. 

Louise Loves Art will be available for sale that day and Ms. Light has agreed to sign copies purchased at the Center.

Check out Darrell J. Park at Center for Living Peace for Saturday Morning Cartoons & Quick Draw on 4/6/13 at 11:30am

Join Bugs Bunny, Marvin the Martian, Wile E. Coyote & the Road Runner along w/all their friends for Saturday Morning Cartoons!... 'And have FUN drawing too! We'll watch & explore the magical world of Chuck Jones, legendary director & animator!The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity inspires joy and innovation in people of all ages, energizing them to transform their lives, their communities, and society as a whole.  The best way to tap into the creative energy that dwells inside us is to trust our minds  & hands, NOT overthink the process.  Whether it's watching a cartoon or your child at play, we hold onto these moments through pictures, sounds & feelings, in which we store away as brilliant memories.  Chuck Jones would do the same thing, only he would recall those memories and express them through his art. Chuck Jones cartoons & drawing!... 'And of course, FUN!

"I try never to talk down to a child, no matter how young, not because he might lose something by my doing so, but because a child's mind is like a bud. It will open, but not under the kind of liquid it often receives." - Chuck Jones

About Darrell J. Park

"Art opens up a whole new world of possibilities, once where there was a blank piece of paper, now exists a line...

Your line. A unique line that was brought into creation by you, the artist. This is your "world," where you can freely create & express yourself, find your own voice." - DJ Park

'With grass-skirt roots from Hawai'i, Darrell J. Park, grew up doodling on pieces of scratch paper. He attended the Academy of Art, San Francisco, where Mr. Park received his formal training in classical animation & illustration. Mr. Park also has degrees in commercial art, graphic design & photography. In 1998, Mr. Park met Chuck Jones while Mr. Jones was attending a gallery opening in San Francisco. By the fall of 1999, Mr. Park was mentoring with Mr. Jones at his corporate headquarters in Southern California. Since that first meeting, Mr. Park has worked closely with the Jones family to help promote the Chuck Jones Legacy til present.

Mr. Park also operates his own company: "Toona Sandwich - art, design & print"

He also performs stand-up comedy in the Hollywood & Santa Monica Area. (i.e. - The Comedy Store, Hollywood)

"A dot can be the beginning of a line, or the end of one... (But by then it's called a "period.") - DJ Park

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For more details, visit www.GoodHappens.org or contact Sasha@ChuckJonesCenter.org or (949) 660-7793 x107