Mr. McGoo Cel

During my recent L.A. trip I drove by the old building where the Billy Hon School of Cartooning used to be ( near Beverly and Rampart ) . . and it brought back memories . . I was only 17 when I got there ( Sept. of '53 ) and I was full of fire and enthusiasm and after only being at the school for a short time, I sold my first cartoon to The Prarie Farmer for $4.00. Billy Hon told me, if you can sell 1, you can sell 2, if you can sell 2 you can sell 3 . . etc.
I was too dumb to know any better . . but I believed him.

A lot of the Southern California Cartoonists used to meet on Melrose Avenue at a restaurant called The Carolina Pines on the first Tuesday of the month . Ali, Burr Shafer, Jack Bonnestell, Phil Interlandi and Bob Barnes were some of the guys that used to attend . . man it was like being around movie stars !
I'll never forget, the night Bob Barnes ( Creator of The Better Half and a rock star in the magazine cartooning field ) dropped by and during the bull session after the dinner took a look at my cartoons and asked me how old I was . . I told him I just turned 18 . . he said : " Your stuff looks pretty good, Roy . . there isn't a doubt in my mind that if you keep at it and don't give up, you'll make it as a successful magazine cartoonist. " I was young and dumb and didn't know any better, but I believed him.

All I can say is you better be careful what you believe . . because that is your reality, that is your belief system telling you what is real . . whatever it is . .

Enter Mr. McGoo . . on Saturdays 1 or 2 of the students at the school and myself would call and visit other area cartoonists . . Mell Millar, Grover Troop, Lew Card were just a few.

One Saturday we visited an open house at UPA STUDIOS . . This new animation studio was the first with the new modern stylized look. This was the studio which produced Mr. McGoo, Gerald McBoing Boing and other great animated cartoons. They had tables and tables of art for sale . . mostly cels . . I picked this one up for $1.50. ( over the years, termites or other bugs must've eaten away at the paint ) The Art Director was T. Hee, man, here's a guy who went into the right business.