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" Old cartoonists never retire, they just erase away. "
Mort Walker
Erase
Retire
Old
Related Quotes:
" People take a liking to me like I'm a long-lost friend. "
Mort Walker
Friend
Like
Liking
" Humor strips dominated what were called the funny papers early in the century, but by the 1920s and '30s, adventure strips had taken over. With 'Beetle Bailey,' I revived the funny part of the funny papers, and I'd be proud to be remembered for that. "
Mort Walker
Humor
Adventure
Proud
" I first sold a cartoon for five dollars. I was in the fifth grade. "
Mort Walker
Five
Cartoon
Sold
" Beetle is the embodiment of everybody's resistance to authority, all the rules and regulations which you've got to follow. He deals with it in his own way. And in a way, it's sort of what I did when I was in the Army. I just oftentimes did what I wanted to do. "
Mort Walker
You
Resistance
Authority
" The frustration of being ordered around by somebody to do something - everyone can relate to that. I think Beetle represents that - the common man caught in that morass of rules and regulations. I don't even think of it as an army strip... it's a world anyone can understand. "
Mort Walker
World
Rules
Man
" Belly buttons were a big battle of mine. Down at the syndicate, they would clip them out with a razor blade. I began putting so many of them in, in the margins and everywhere, that they had a little box down there called 'Beetle Bailey''s Belly-Button Box. The editors finally gave up after I did one strip showing a delivery of navel oranges. "
Mort Walker
Mine
Big
Box
" At one time Tribune Syndicate emptied out their storeroom. They put tables full of original cartoons down in the lobby and said take one if you want one. The comics were simply a burden to them. "
Mort Walker
Burden
Down
You
" Most people are sort of against authority. Here's Beetle always challenging authority. I think people relate to it. "
Mort Walker
Authority
People
Here
" Comics have always helped people to read. A lot of people learned to read by reading the comics. And it's our livelihood, after all. If people don't know how to read, they're not reading our comics. "
Mort Walker
Reading
Always
How
" About the only way you can find out about the common man, his slang, what he looked like, what he thought, is through the comic strips. It's a powerful way for young people to learn history. "
Mort Walker
Man
History
People
" You can go through comic strips alone and study the common man. You can trace our history. "
Mort Walker
Study
Go
You
" Beetle Bailey is actually me, in uniform. I've got about 20 characters, and they're all after friends of mine. "
Mort Walker
Uniform
Friends
Got
" The people who were against the Vietnam War thought I was attacking the Army. The guys in the Army thought I was representing their experiences. I was on both sides, and I survived. "
Mort Walker
People
Army
Both Sides
" Laughter is the brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of your heart. "
Mort Walker
Your
Laughter
Heart
" I think it's legitimate to do satire. If you're going to write a book of satire on Marilyn Monroe or Madonna, you're not going to get their permission, because you're going to make fun of them! "
Mort Walker
Fun
Book
Think
" You learn just by trying and experimenting. By the time I was 14, I had my own comic strip in the Kansas City paper. "
Mort Walker
My Own
Trying
You
" Seven days without laughter makes one weak. "
Mort Walker
Without
Laughter
Weak
" If I'm going on vacation, I just work ahead. "
Mort Walker
Ahead
Going
Just
" I took my basic training on a golf course in Florida. Then I was on the boxing team. We did some demonstrations, and they put me in a theater one night and wanted me to box. So OK, I came out boxing with a friend - thinking we would just spar around - but the guy walked out, hit me, and knocked me out with one stroke. "
Mort Walker
Training
Thinking
Night
" I took Beetle home thinking that after the Korean War was over, I would have to take him out of the Army. I thought, well, what am I going to do with him? "
Mort Walker
Thought
War
Him
" When I introduced a black soldier, Lt. Flap, in 1971, the Stars and Stripes banned the strip. They were having racial problems and thought it would increase the tensions. "
Mort Walker
Black
Problems
Soldier
" I like a happy ending. That's what I do all the time. I like to make people feel happy. "
Mort Walker
Feel
Ending
People
" My father was a dreamer who was always broke. He wanted to be a cartoonist. "
Mort Walker
He
Always
Broke
" I was kicked out of The Stars And Stripes twice, and finally got back in. "
Mort Walker
Stars
Out
Stripes
" I say, if you believe what you read in the comic strips, then you believe that mice run around with little gold buttons on their red pants and drive cars. "
Mort Walker
Gold
You
Run
" None of the established museums were treating cartoons seriously. It was considered a lesser art or no art at all, just a way to sell newspapers. Even the syndicates who were dedicated to the cartoons were throwing them out, figuring they had no value after they were printed. "
Mort Walker
Museums
Way
Seriously
" When I write 'Beetle Bailey,' I can always do jokes about him being lazy, and everyone gets it. "
Mort Walker
Always
Jokes
I Can
" Everything I know, I write about. My only research is what I did. "
Mort Walker
Everything
Research
Only
" I've always said that what cartoonists do is create friends for readers. "
Mort Walker
Create
Readers
Friends
" Professionals don't get writer's block. I can always come up with the punch line. "
Mort Walker
Up
Punch
Writer