PORTLAND/OBSERVER Oct. 15, 1970
Comic pages find Negro heroes
More than 40 years American
Children have watched Tarzan
alternately bamboozle and bedev­
il the black cannibals who ca­
vort through the jungles on the
comic pages of the nation's
newspapers.
With the change in trends and
with angry raised clutched fist,
no longer are the black men
cannibals to Innocent children,
thanks to the wisdom of Tar­
zan’s latest creator, they are
now equal partners.
T h is change in the Tarzan
comic strip came in 1968. Call
it a touch of God working on the
hearts of men or a wave of con­
sciousness among the newspa­
per editors and syndicate mana­
gers who since 1968, have intro­
duced a half dozen new comic
strips
featuring
black
c h a r a c t e r s as heroes and
heroines rather than as the
"tom s" mouthed stereotypes of
the past.
Most of the new thrust comic
strips have not penetrated many
states in the Deep South, but a
great number of children are no
more growing up seeing nothing
but white faces on the comic page
they devour daily.
Carl Schmidt of the National
Comic Council said "Today,
some 48 million comic sections
circulate throughout the United
States every Sunday." "Peanuts
is the largest circulating strip
with a daily circulation of
29,262,000 in 745 papers and
3 0 ,1 8 6 ,0 0 0 in 393 Sunday
papers."
LONG TIME A COMING
Like a number of opportuni-
ties for Blacks, the change in
comics strips was a long time
coming. Comic strips first ap­
peared in America in the 19th
century, when they first made
their appearance in Sunday sup­
plements of some of the sensa­
tional big newspapers.
Blacks were featured occa­
sionally. For example "Mush-
mouth" a p p e a r e d in "Moon
shuffling
Mullins'
as
character in the old Amos 'n'
Andy tradition.
COURAGE TO CHANGE
Nov. 11, 1968, the first episode
of "Dateline; Danger" was of­
fered for syndication. It in­
volves a team of two roving
correspondents, Troy, a tall,
strapping blond, and raven, a
black former football star and
intellectual.
The Observers of the same
opinion of Mr. Schmidt of Na­
tional Comics Council believe
that comics help shape views of
preschoolers to adults.
The entire news media will
have to take this seriously. This
is the key to some people's
th in k in g without even knowing
why.
Two years ago for two weeks,
Mr. Schulz Introduced a small
black boy named Franklin, into
"P eanuts." Since then he has
appeared from time to time for
a day or two and the Observer
thinks he will return.
Mr. Schulz said in a telephone
interview from his home in Se­
bastopol Calif. "I thought for a
long time of introducing such a
boy o r girl, but I didn't want to
do it with the patronizing atti­
tude and I was not sure I was
capable of handling it proper­
ly.
"What prompted me to do it
was two letters I received from
two fathers. One said, even it
you don't do it right at least try,
so I did it.
" I thought and felt that Pean­
uts had a universal appeal, but
Mr. B ra n d o m , creator of
'Luther' disagreed."
BLACK CONSULTANT
There are a few black draw­
ing comic strips today, one is
Brumsic Brardon J r . of West­
bury, Long Island, who has been
drawing cartoons and design for
25 y rs. Two years ago he creat­
ed his first black comic strip,
"L uther," and the adventures of
a 9 year old black boy growing
up in a slum.
Other comic strips now fea­ NARROW WINDOW INDEED
turing black Include "Friday
It is a very narrow window
F oster" of The New York e d i t o r s are trying to look
News-Chicago Tribune Syndi­ through. The general feeling,
cate, the adventures of a black particularly In the industry, is
fashion
model-photographer that the times are changing, and
from Harlem; and two so-called for the better.
big-foot o r humorous comic
The question of appeal of the
strip s, "Quincy" and "Wee black-oriented c o m ic strip to
P als."
the black community is one that
THEATRE
What color is talent?
By WILLIAM R. DEIZ
In the fashion of the big
cities, Portland hasn't arrived
yet, but it's catching up. One
barometer of changing social
attitudes can be found, If you
look a little, in that most liberal
of institutions-the theatre. The
revolution that has swept blacks
into starring and supporting
roles on and off Broadway, In
movies and on television, after
spending generations type-cast
as subordinates and flunkies, is
just now beginning to make its
effects felt here on the stage in
the Rose city.
Four years ago the Portland
Opera Association-prodded by
the Park Bureau-put up the
money to finance an extravagant
p r o d u c t i o n of "West Side
Story," a play that is based, in
part, on the classic "Romeo and
Juliet" theme, but which substi­
tutes warring rival street gangs
in New York City for the war­
ring families of Shakespeare's
Play.
Four years ago when the Park
Bureau cast the roles, the
choice, when it came to casting
black people was simple. All of
the blacks in the production
would naturally be "Sharks"
(the Puerto Rican gang), while
no b l a c k , no matter how
"A m erican" or otherwise fit
for the part would play a Jet
(the American gang).
The production cost a lot of
money. It played at the old Ori­
ental Theatre, and was well re­
ceived by the public. And with
t h e black/white confrontation
played out on stage, it wasn't
difficult to get over to the audi­
ence a feeling of reality in the
racially tense fight scenes.
But New York (at least the
New York of "West Side Story")
was not a black white town. That
New York was an ETHNIC town,
with the hatred between rival
gangs of blacks and Puerto Ri­
cans every bit as acute as the
hatreds between the Irish or the
Polish gangs.
So it is even more logical that
if blacks (who have lived in New
York longer than practically an-
yone-except the Indians) be cast
as anything, they be cast as
Jets.
Which is exactly what the
Portland Civic Theatre is doing
in its version of "West Side
Story" -s e t to play in early No­
vember on the Main stage.
An honest attempt has been
made by director Ed Udavik to
define CHARACTERS and not
just racial types. And this Is a
step In the right direction. The
production itself may fall flat
for various reasons, but at least
the impetus is "right on." If you
have actors, let them act-at the
roles they're best suited for. I
don't care what color they are.
WTiat color is talent?
O f course other Portland
groups, such as the American
Theatre Company, and the New
Theatre have been giving parts
to blacks all along. But for the
ATC, these parts seem, too
often, to be for specialized oc­
casions; while the New Theatre
just doesn't have the audience.
The Civic Theatre still has a
long way to go. But it is the
recognition, by those on the in­
side who make the decisions as
to who will play what part that
talent is where you find it, that
gives cause for hope.
WILLIAM R. DEIZ
If you want to act-ond you
CAN act-try out for a part in
the next Civic Theatre produc­
tion. You may just be pleasantly
s u r p r l s e d - a n d they're not
"Tom " roles either.
Tektronix $349,000 gift
UGN drive’s largest
Tektronix, Inc. of Beaver­
ton, contributed $349,000 to
United Good Neighbors, and In
so doing, became the largest
giver to date in the $6,130,162
campaign.
The Tektronix gift was re­
ported at the Oct. 8 UGN
progress luncheon in Port­
land's Benson Hotel, by Bob
Hazen, UGN general campaign
chairman.
In report the amount, Hazen
said: "The corporate pledge
obtained by the UGN advance
gifts division was an Increase
of 7 per cent over the same
amount contributed last year.
This came to $91,000.
"Then gifts of Individuals at
Tektronix
amounted
to
$257,412 - with 85 per cent of
the employes giving their full
share. This is the largest con­
tribution to UGN so far in this
campaign and is an increase
that meets the total goal In­
crease of our four county
campaign."
He added:
"Tektronix has conducted
one single campaign for chari­
table purposes throughout its
24 year history. However, the
staff took a look at the last ten
campaigns and came up with a
tremendous record of individ­
ual and corporate giving that
has brought into the UGN cof-
f e r s for agency use in ten
years
a
total
of over
$2,000,000. The average gift of
Individual e m p lo y e s at Tek­
tronix has increased from
$18.50 in 1961 to $43.75 for
each of 6.000 local employes
last year.’1
The Tektronix UGN drive
actually started In 1969, when
Earl Wantland, executive vice
president, accepted the chair­
manship of the company cam­
paign late in the year. Want-
land, who also served three
years on the UGN budget com­
mittee, planned the events of
this year's campaign well in
advance.
Late in August more than
300 of the firm s managers
and area r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s
toured UGN agencies. A major
meeting featuring the compa­
ny's leadership and UGN
speakers was held for area
representatives.
Solicitor
training meetings for more
than 600 managers were led
by Chairman Wantland and
community relations manager
Tom Williams.
M a n a g e r s throughout the
company and area represen­
tatives then held over 100 in­
formational m e e t i n g s which
were followed by actual solici­
tation. The campaign started
Sept. 9 and ended Sept. 25.
In addition to the $349,000,
Tektronix is also lending five
employes to UGN for the dura­
tion of the drive.
The UGN campaign contin­
ues t h r o u g h o u t Clackamas,
M u ltn o m a h , and Washington
counties In Oregon, and Clark
County, Wash, through Nov. 5.
continues to puzzle the newspa­
per editor who carry the strips
every day.
"Friday Foster the Black
newspaper photographer is Just
a black face Brenda S ta rr" said
one Black soul siste r. She did
agree, however, that the times
are changing and admits that the
comic are receiving some fa­
vorable comments even from
militant black groups.
Two years ago Russ Manning
took over as the fifth creator of
Tarzan
since
Edgar
Rice
Burroughs and Hal Foster begun
the strip in 1929.
The original blacks were al­
most invariable cannibals; they
were the slaves. Mr. Manning
said in a recent telephone inter­
view from the golden state of
California. "But in the current
episode in the Sunday pages, for
instance, Tarzan has gone into
the North Sahare to rescue a
group of people from his Jungle.
"In helping to rescue them he
in turn is helped by a ten year
old black girl from Tarzan’s
jungle who courageously loosens
Tarzan's bonds as he is alout
to t*e thrown into molten lava.
" B u t I handle them as
partners. The Wazlrls the Afri­
can Trltie of which Tarzan is
chief. He helped him and he
helps them, I've made a point
of that. The Wazlrls are a
strong able people. That's the
way it should lie—the blacks
were in the jungle first."
This is really what the Ob­
server believes. Read statement
on the Editorial page.
Ads mislead
on Medicare
Some p r i v a t e insurance
companies have been sending
misleading advertisements to
Medicare beneficiaries in the
Portland area, according to
James Pizza, social security
district manager, in an effort
to sell them health insurance
to supplement their Medicare
protection.
Having a dance or social
event? Let us rent you a neat
spacious hall w ith necessary
facilities to accommodate ap­
proxim ately one hundred peo­
ple. Reasonable fee. One bed­
room and Bachelor apts for rent
also.
For inform ation call 2 8 8 -4 0 4 0
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