Going past the theatre for eighty years

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

I almost always like little vignettes like these, showingh the passsage of time while telling a story. Here it just seems to be the eighty-odd years of a man's life spent in the same town. The most obvious changes are the cars and the theatre, but the types of movies shown show how our dreams changed as well. You might also say the condition and upkeep of the buildings and street reflects the man's well-being, too (or maybe the other way around). It's all fairly poignant.



This is from the seventh issue of ECLIPSE, back in November 1982. I don't know anything about Kevin C Brown, and google has let me down, but his style looks familiar... maybe he did something for NATIONAL LAMPOON?

Comments

[icon_uk.insanejournal.com]

That's very nicely done, though I was waiting for the final mode of transportation to be a hearse, which might have matched the "Closed" sign a little better.

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

Oh, that would be a nice touch. The visual of the baby carriage at first and a wheelchair at the end works well, though.

[cmdr_zoom.insanejournal.com]

Motto.

[superfan1.insanejournal.com]

I like the visual, but the ending depressing somewhat through.

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

Ah well, that's life though. Maybe if the hearse panel had been drawn instead, with a new mommy pushing her baby in a stroller to show that life goes on?

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

The style might look familiar because(IMO) it appears lifted from Gilbert Shelton, and the idea itself is a variation on a very famous one-pager by Robert Crumb.

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

Yes, a very strong Shelton look to the art. I don't know if you want to say "inspired by" or "swiped from," depending on how charitable you're feeling. If Brown had gone on to develop a distinctive approach of his own, I'd be forgiving of early derivations; most comics artists start off drawing in imitation.

I'm thinking of a one-page strip about a man's hand, shown upraised in the various stages of life. Was that Crumb, and is it what you're think of? My guess is that this sort of gag was drawn well back into the 19th Century by illustrators for magazines and now I want to dig up some examples.

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

I'm thinking of "A Short History of America."
http://rcrumb.com/files/A-SHORT-HISTORY-OF-AMERICA-.jpg

An even more advanced take on the same theme would be Richard McGuire's "Here," a major inspiration for Chris Ware. One page:

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

This theme has been done any number of times over the years. I seem to remember something from the late 19th Century showing a forest going ghostly as a skyscraper faded in. There's also a one-pager I know is around here somewhere, with a hand reaching up in each panel. The hand changes from an infant clutching a parent's hand to a withered old man touching the hand of a nurse, with the different stages of life between.

Crumb did a fine job, you could have worse posters than that in your kitchen.

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

I wish I had that one.

[halloweenjack.insanejournal.com]

Not to nitpick, but although it's a nice variation on the aforementioned Crumb theme, I doubt that a neighborhood grocery store could be converted into a movie theater (especially the old-fashioned kind) without tearing the whole building down, although I've seen theaters converted to other purposes (there was one in Memphis that was remade into a bookstore).

[dr_hermes.insanejournal.com]

Those old screens were huge. It would indeed take serious renovation, including use of the second story.

[jlroberson.insanejournal.com]

Actually, that happened to quite a few when TV started hurting theatre attendance in the 1950s. But--THE OTHER WAY AROUND. Movie theatres became stores. There are quite a few photos from the period that I've seen in documentaries attesting to this.

I never heard of it happening this way myself.

[geoffsebesta.insanejournal.com]

An excellent take on a classic theme.

I'd say )due to the rendering style, the cratoony figures, the car choices, and the use of central composition) that this artist was influenced by Crumb very specifically.

A little bit ham-handed and NYC-specific, but then, what isn't around here? Good stuff!