"People Watching" Is Pastime
University Daily Kansan Page 13
Pen, Ink, Eaton Spell Laughs
On election night in the UDK newsroom — to employ the vernacular — all hell broke loose.
Tom Eaton was in his element — watching the swirl of human activity — and trying to capture the scene on paper with the quick, deft strokes which characterize his well-known cartoons.
The room was jammed with humanity. Paper was flying; teletypewriters were clacking away; shouts, cross-shouts, and countershouts of voting results produced a cacophonous symphony. Gleefful whoops or muttered oats went up from the partisans watching their man pull ahead or fall behind on the tote board. Chaos reigned.
IN ONE CORNER a tow-headed young man, dressed in a hooded sweatshirt, jeans and tennis shoes, sat and calmly surveyed the confusion while he doodled on a large art pad.
Unofficially designated as "KU's Pfeiffer." Tom's work can be seen in almost every University publication. His editorial cartoons in the UDK have depicted everything from campus and state to international problems in a pungent manner. He draws panels and cartoons for the Jayhawker annual. He illustrates advertising for the UDK and the Jayhawker. His cartoons appeared in the two issues of Spectrum, the campus literary magazine. And he does it well enough to make many professional cartoonists look like first grade finger-painters.
"I hope my style is my own," he says. "Certainly, I'm not trying to copy anyone, but I do admire the work of Walt Kelly (PoGo), Gus Arriola (Gordo), Hank Ketcham (Dennis the Menace), and several others, all of whom work in a simple, direct-line style. One line instead of twenty, emphasis on expression — this is good stuff."
Where does he get his ideas for
Friday, Jan. 20, 1961
his sometimes bitterly satirical and at other times outrageously humorous cartoons? From people-watching.
"ILL TAKE IDEAS from anywhere and anyone, so long as they aren't old or hackneyed," he says. "Some of my best items have jumped in my lap as I sat in the Hawk's Nest and just listened to conversations around me.
"Freshman girls are the best.
Freshman girls are beautiful creatures. The ideal situation for me is to inconspicuously find a seat beside a group of freshman girls and watch them with beady eyes while sipping my coffee and writing down what they say . . . Great!"
Tom's home is Wichita, where he began his cartooning career on his high school newspaper. Until his senior year, he had intended to study engineering in college.
"I was scheming and plotting to wangle a berth at M.I.T," he says, "but sometime during the year I changed my mind and decided to do what I did best and enjoyed most.
"Uncle Sam beckons for awhile and then — there are eighty million things I'd like to do," he says. "I plan to hit Australia, to herd sheep for awhile, to see Brasilia, Rome, and all the tourist traps. Eventually I'd like to come back and either be a political cartoonist or do a comic strip, probably the comic strip . . . a funny one first and then, possibly, a serious, adventure-type one, maybe in collaboration with someone."
IT BECOMES apparent when talking to the elfin-faced artist, that he considers cartooning a serious business and one which calls for as much work as talent.
"Cartooning is just as much an art as concert piano playin or fine painting," he says. "It is an art and probably the most nerve-wracking profession there is — being funny seven days a week, 365 days a year, every year. And besides that, once every seven days in color!
Is spite of late hours, no-doz pills, tranquilizers and other accompaniments of finals, students are remaining unseasonably healthy. Watkins Hospital, usually busy at this time of year, has admitted few patients recently.
"It's a way for me to get a lot of satisfaction out of life, give other people a little too, and — buy groceries."
"It has been pretty quiet around here," Dr. Maurice Gross said. "Those admitted are just colds."
Students Healthy
He said that their is no flu epidemic in the country now and the hospital has given very few flu shots.
As Rutherford B. Hayes's inaugural day fell on Sunday, he broke precedent by taking his oath privately at the White House.
Longest Versus Shortest Elderly William Henry Harrison delivered the longest inaugural in history. Consisting of nearly 8,500 words, it required one and three-quarters of an hour to orate. At the other extreme was George Washington's second inaugural—only 135 words.
Monroe Didn't Like Speech The custom of a new President delivering an inaugural address was opposed by James Monroe's friends, who held that the practice was anti-republican and not authorized by the Constitution. The Cabinet considered but decided against dispensing with the speech.
ATTENTION, SKIERS!
White Ski Parkas. $1.98
Thermal-Knit Long Johns. $1.69
Boot Socks. 69c to 98c
Hooded Sweat Shirts. $1.98
Water-Proof Parkas. $4.98
Wide-Vision Goggles. $1.98
LAWRENCE SURPLUS
740 MASSACHUSETTS ST.
VI 3-3933
SELL YOUR USED BOOKS
Monday thru Saturday, Jan. 23-28
When you finish your exams, sell us those books you no longer need that have been readopted for next semester. We will buy those titles the University has advised us will be used again during Spring Semester, 1961.
An Off-Campus Buyer will be here Jan.24 thru 28 to make you an offer on those titles no longer used at K.U.
KANSAS UNION BOOK STORE