Continuing Sign Shop Saga

Shortly after the impressionable and successful " Starbucks blizzard project "
soaked in to the people at Starbucks in Seattle . . I received another call that they were very impressed and that I would be awarded many more contracts for future stores . . . We went on to do 26 more stores in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area, one store in Atlanta, one in Greenwich, Ct. and the flagship store in Boston.

Then I got a call from Detroit . . Starbucks was asking me if I could do a complete new Starbucks store in 3 weeks. That is, a set of 18 inch all brand new neon internally lighted letters and a couple 36 inch lighted logo disks to hang in windows . . . manufacture them, secure permits AND install them in DETROIT ! I was told that two sign companies in Detroit said it could NOT be done in that short amount of time. ( Normally, a job like this requires 6 - 8 weeks. I told them, it's not easy, but yes, we can do it, and I gave them a figure. Next day, Starbucks told me that one of the sign shops in Detroit said that if a company in Virginia can do it, then they all of a sudden said they can do it.

That sign shop will never know what a favor he did me when he decided to take the job !

Then, Starbucks asked me if I "wanted" New York . . . They planned for two downtown stores in Manhattan to open in 8 weeks . . and another 40 or so in the area . . real quick . . you want them ? He asked . . I thought to myself . . What about my cartooning ? Hey, where are we going with all this ? Slow down, take a breath . . This sign shop was only supposed to be in 1975 for a little one-man sign company where I could eventually start my cartoon career . . where did the 26 tears go ? All this was swimming in my head . . HELP ! I want OUT ! HEL-LO ! Anybody home ?

The greatest shock was when I actually tried to estimate the two jobs in New York. We've all heard of the Gambino Family and the Concrete Construction tight hold they had in New York. Well I found out that they were in a whole lot of other "businesses ". The average set of permits for a sign company to secure for a store opening usually consists of Building, Sign and Electrical permits. The cost to the customer whether in Washington, D.C., Virginia, Detroit, Atlanta, Greenwich, Boston or anywhere ( Except N.Y.) was about $600.00 to @1000.00. This includes the actual cost of the permits plus the acquisition fee ( The labor to pay someone to fill out the forms and actually securing the paper permits in their hands ) .

It turned out, in New York, the paperwork had to be "funneled" from one entity to another entity, each time they added the "surcharges" and by the time I got them in my hands, my cost was to be about $2200.00 - $2800.00.
Then, I'm supposed to mark them up ? I couldn't do it with a straight face, and I BEGGED them, PLEASE don't make me do the Starbuck signs in New York, PLEASE ! HELP ! I FINALLY CONVINCED THEM THAT I REALLY DID NOT WANT TO DO THEM, IT WAS HARD TO DO . . But you gotta do what you gotta do. And that was that.

I kept drawing cartoons all the time and selling more and more . . everywhere BUT the New Yorker . . I usually achieve my goals and I'm not used to losing . I STILL believe, and you will see that The New Yorker WILL buy mycartoons . Anybody wanna bet ?

Anyway, in 2001 the Sign Company was sold to a Pakistani Holding Company, it stayed open for two and a half years and they finally lost interest and closed it. One of the top guys had passed away and the old story . . he couldn't get good help . . I believe him . . that is why I always 'MADE' my help.

I remember early when starting my business, The elder J.W. Marriott, who lived in Washington, D.C. was being interviewed on a local business talk show and when asked about getting good help . . He said he always looked for young people with taste and judgement . . and went on to say, " the rest you can buy by the pound . . " I used his advice and it turned out to be very true ! IBM does the same thing as all large companies do.

Some day I'll put this in a book with photos and pictures of signs and employees and a few lettering legends that I had the pleasure to work with . . lots of interesting and exciting stuff . . like accidentally not being able to jump off a high speed railroad flatcar at age 15 years old and travelling to the next town, 50 miles away . . meeting Bob Barnes at age 18 , lunching and chit chatting twice with Johnny Unitis . . . two Redskin Super Bowls, a couple Boston Celtics/L.A. Laker games, bumping into Greta Van Susteren, Mrs. Hubert Humphrey, Mohammad Ali, . . Sitting next to the Bionic Woman at the Pasadena Redskin/Miami Super Bowl . .

Lots of interesting people, employees, conventions, street people, has beens, never weres . .

That's about it for now, 26 years, tightly, very tightly condensed of the "interruption" to my cartoon career.

TH-H-A--A-T-Ts . . AL-LL . . F-F-FOLKS !

Continuing Sign Shop Saga

Now we are in 2005 or 2007, I don't remember exactly which year it was,

but I noticed I had a missed call on my cellphone . . you know how that is . . I DO remember it was a Tuesday and it was May 2nd . . THAT is ingrained in my mind forever. . . and it was 11:24 AM.

What had transpired a month or two prior to receiving this call, I had drafted polite, professional letters inquiring, just inquiring ( Since I did not get a coherent answer 7 years ago to my "funny trick" letter ) why
my stuff is not right for the magazine, now. I asked please for a communication. I asked in the letter that don't you think that if you are not going to buy a cartoon from me after 19,000 rejections, the chances are that you won't, and it would maybe be a wise thing to tell me to save us BOTH time and not to send any more ? ( And save me postage ) I said PLEASE, all you have to do is to tell me and I'll disappear from your incoming box. Hell, this is nothing, believe me, I CAN handle the bad news. No big deal. I've never worked for the Post Office, I can handle pressure, I work best under pressure! This is all small stuff.

I told him I could " handle " this type of rejection, that I was the CEO, in house psychiatrist to my company, professional businessman with 32 employees and running a successful business that I founded 25 years ago, dealing with all kind of nut jobs, on a professional basis.

My work had evolved and I thought ( like a lot of other cartoonists ) that my work BELONGED in the magazine. In fact, I received a letter from a big publication, " REACT ", which was a Sunday magazine supplement like PARADE magazine, stating that my work, although it was good, was

" TOO NEW YORKERISH " ! This letter will be published in its entirety in a few days.

I listened to the missed call, I'm paraphrasing . . " Hi, this is Bob Mankoff . . Roy, you wanted communications, here it is . . You're not a BAD cartoonist, in fact you're a pretty GOOD cartoonist . . It might be good for Reader's Digest, but it's not quite right for us. If you want to talk about it, call me . . " and he left his personal number.


I never called back, it could not be done on the telephone.

I listened to it twice, and then I headed directly to the kitchen and poured myself a double-shot of the GOOD WILD TURKEY straight up. Then I chased it with an ice cold Coors Banquet Beer in a bottle.

I sat myself down, and thought and studied about what I just heard. For the first time in my life, I felt like either I SOUND dumb, COMMUNICATE dumb, LOOK dumb, COME OFF as dumb or maybe I AM DUMB, ( But I don't REALLY think so, in fact I know so, I'm sorry ).

WHY in the world would he mention READER'S DIGEST ? True, I had the most cartoons in their recent hardback book of cartoons . . . " LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE " and was doing quite well there, BUT, BUT WHY not mention HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW where I appeared there MORE or BARRON'S where I was appearing there also on a regular basis . .

MAYBE, JUST MAYBE it could have been because by mentioning READER'S DIGEST, it IS PLAUSIBLE that their humor is a little more geared to a family, wholesome audience. ( Although many New Yorker cartoonists send their NYer rejects to Reader's Digest and sell them there ). And maybe, if I was not TOO swift, I would overlook this. It might be worth a shot, so I'll try. ( Was THIS the thinking, H-M-m ? )

I must be paranoid thinking like this !

Interesting to note also that the cartoonists in HBR and BARRON'S are ninety-percent NEW YORKER cartoonists . . HM-M-M-n-n ? H-M-m ?

THERE HAS TO BE A NICE WAY ( I KNOW THAT I COULD DO IT ) to draft a polite "stock" letter to send to people like me who continue to waste editor's time and money. I think it is the "right" thing to do.

If we can put a man on the moon, I think this is a no-brainer.

What most people want in this world is someone that can talk straight with no games, just be honest, straightforward and courteous, AND EXPLAIN YOURSELF . . If you CAN"T EXPLAIN it coherently, SAY you can't explain it or try to find more words like GOSSAMERS, ENIGMAS,
words like these ARE helpful, VERY helpful ! , SURE. Yeah !

Look, it's not them . . it's me.

Too much Alan Watts can screw you up.

Continued Sign Shop Saga

Although we are now in 1993 . . let me digress a bit to 1992, I got ahead of myself to an important point where I decided to go into cartooning full time, it was the summer of '92 . . out of the blue, I decided to jump into cartooning big time . . so I started submitting 10 cartoons to the New Yorker every 10 days or so . . I did this all the time operating a very busy sign shop. It was hectic, but doable, I just started coming in 2 hours earlier and going home one hour later and working all day Saturdays. ( And sometimes Sundays )

I would send the New Yorker rejects to the other markets and then Good Housekeeping started buying from me, then Barron's bought five from one batch and then Reader's Digest bought five from one batch and The Wall Street Journal bought and everyone was buying EXCEPT The New Yorker.

When The Harvard Business Review came on the scene, it became my number one market and I was and still am one of the top three sellers there.

This was not uncommon. I kept submitting and submitting and submitting steady and without missing a beat to The New Yorker. I never said or wrote any notes to the Cartoon Editor. One day, I looked up at the calendar and I noticed it was 1998, so, I began inserting a letter at this time in a couple batches asking maybe briefly why my stuff was not "right" for The New Yorker.

I know Editors are busy people and cannot answer stupid questions from neophyte cartoonists, they don't have the time. I don't blame them, I wouldn't either. But I thought that maybe, just maybe, just maybe I might deserve a quick answer to my dilemma beacuse I thought maybe I deserved an answer, one pro to another, just maybe?

I got ignored again. So then, being a student of human behavior, motivation, psychology, behavior supervision, and having just finished a long seminar on Practical Ways to Change Unsatisfactory behavior and increase productivity, I felt confident that I could draft the "correct " letter to elicit an appropriate response to my request from this editor . . . I was right.

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The letter went something like this:

I know you are a very busy man, I too am exremely busy running a large sign shop with many employees and juggling conventions and big sign projects. In fact, I excused myself out of a meeting to type this letter.

I have been submitting cartoons on a very regular basis, to you for about 6-7 years , I know it is difficult to answer questions like this, but would you please try ? It will only take about 5 minutes to read and check the box that you THINK MIGHT be the reason why my work is not being picked. ( It is OK to be wrong, just give it a try . . no one will judge you, it will not be carved on Mt. Rushmore for the world to see. ) Remember, you can always ignore this letter and deny you ever received it, if you choose to do so, you have a perfect right !, right ? ) Remember, it is MY problem . . NOT yours. A stamped self-addressed envelope is enclosed for your kind reply. Check a box, PLEASE, and return.


Box # 1 Your drawing style is OK, but your writing and gags are not
" right ".


Box # 2 Your writing style and gags are OK but your drawings aren't
quite "right".


Box # 3 Your drawings AND your writing and gags are not quite right
for us.

Box # 4 I don't answer letters like this.

Box # 5 I'm going to read this but you can't make me do anything.

Box # 6 This isn't MY problem.

Box # 7 You are going to have to figure it out yourself.

Box # 8 I don't know WHY. I wish I knew. Please believe me.

Box # 9 I decided not to check any of the boxes, except this one.
Will not tell a soul about all this, and mail it back to you.

Box #10 I decided not to check any of the boxes, except this one,
but I WILL tell people about this.

Box # 11 I don't know what to tell you.
( Have you considered therapy ?)

Box #12 I am mailing this back to you, but at least you know I read it.


Box 13 I've got mine . . you've got yours to get !

Of course, you can read this letter and don't reply and ignore me some more, and let me continue to try to figure it out. ( Look, I've got my OWN problems, Roy ! )





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Two weeks went by and I was out of the shop and returned about 2:00 PM.


I saw a note on my desk: One of these little phone notes " While you were out, Mr Mankoff called, please call him and it was his private number.


I nervously dialed the number . . after introducing myself, a friendly cartoony male voice replied , "Oh Hello, Roy You want to talk . . Yes, by the way,. . . do you play chess ?" . . I said "Yes, and I'm pretty good !" He continued . . " I've been seeing a lot of your work . . here! . . there's another envelope . . and here is another batch ! - - About all I can say is don't make your name so big and don't send so much. ". . . then it got real quiet . . that was about it . .


I said, " Thanks ". ( But looking back, I 'm trying to figure out WHY I said thanks . . thanks for WHAT ?) . . . I wonder if Lithium works ?


Interesting thing about this, he never checked a box and he never returned my questionairre. I knew no more now than I knew 7 years ago.


This submission exercise continued till May 2, 2007, when the next time he calls me on my cellphone, at 11:24 AM, it was a Tuesday, And I had taken half of his suggestions, my name WAS too big so I started making it smaller . . he was right ! I started to be more selective, is what I thought he actually meant when he said don't send so much . . But I DID send on a regular basis and my work was improving and evolving to what I was beginning to like what I was seeing come off my drawing board !

Roy Delgado Sign Studio ( Origin of, 1975 )

In October, 1975 in Falls Church , Virginia I began Roy Delgado's Sign Studio on the second floor of an office building. It began as a solo operation . . where I was the CEO, Sales Deptartment and Production Department of an enterprise that would specialize in producing posters, signage, banners, displays and graphics for the huge multi-million dollar business of trade shows, expositions, meetings and events held in and around the nation's capital.

I was pretty efficient in showcard writing, which is the part of sign painting that uses watercolor tempra and red sable brushes, and works exclusively with showcard board or posterboard. and In the union, Local 1129, Sign, Pictorial and Display Workers Union at that time, the "showcard signartist" could produce a higher dollar-per-hour production than any other type of sign painting. He, along with the sketch artist, who designs the signs, were usually the highest paid men or persons in a sign shop and could demand the highest paycheck. It so happened, this was my specialty and I was friends with the area's most talented fastest, most creative showcard sign men in the Metro-Washington D.C. area. ( I had them in mind to help me and rescue me in case I oversold myself or would get a HUGE job with a short deadline . . which not to my surprise, did happen . . but I was READY )

The old adage, " LUCK is preparation meeting opportunity. " became so clear to me and it was exhillarating . . and I was ready.

Shown here is myself in the middle of a paper sign for a local ladies fashion wear shop. Picture taken around November 1975. I would mail flyers to local merchants in the area, restaurants, stores anyone that uses signs . .everyday I made it appoint to mail at least 20 flyers, getting the addresses out of the phone book.