Today, August 25, is the centennial of
Walt Kelly, the creator of the celebrated
Pogo comic strip. His book
Pogo: Welcome to the Beginning was published in 1965 for the Neighborhood Youth Corps, a government program for urban youth that was a part of President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society. Kelly's star character Pogo Possum appears in some of the cartoon illustrations. The book attempts to instill a work ethic and make it appear cool.
These scans are graciously provided by Mark Fuller Dillon.
 |
| Walt Kelly, Pogo: Welcome to the Beginning, 1965, Front Cover |
 |
| Walt Kelly, Pogo: Welcome to the Beginning, 1965, Back Cover |
Note: As mentioned above, today is
Walt Kelly's hundredth birthday! You can see more of his work up close and personal on this very blog
here.
Mark Fuller Dillon, who made all these beautiful scans, has his own blog
here and there's even a bit about his discovery of
Pogo today. His scans of
Pogo: Welcome to the Beginning are also included on Thomas Haller Buchanan's
Whirled of Kelly blog
here, where they appear condensed in an online "'zine" format.
This is where I learned of them. You can see other wonders on the
Whirled of Kelly blog
here. Today's post is especially noteworthy as it has a link to
Delineated Life: Celebrating Walt Kelly and his Work, a 138 page tribute to the creator of Pogo on the occasion of his centennial. It's truly a labor of love.
As a boy in 1966, Mr. Buchanan actually met Walt Kelly and obtained a souvenir drawing of Pogo. He first wrote about his half hour with Walt Kelly
here but now it also appears in the
Delineated Life tribute.
Okay, that should keep you busy for a while. When you're done with that, hey, get a job!
