In the mid-1990’s, the monthly publication Medical Economics started running a feature called “Funny Bones”, in which the editors showcased the work of some of the cartoonists who had been gracing their pages. As one of their featured contributors, I was invited to be a part of the running series. It would involve them purchasing a bunch of new cartoons from me, and would also include a photo and a short bio. Of course I was glad to accept and my wife took many photos of me at my drawing board (the photo they used is the one that I still show at the top of this archive/blog).
Here is the two-page spread that appeared. Note that the publication removed my signatures from the individual panels.
Hopefully, you’ll be able to zoom in on the pages for easier reading.
Explanation: First of all, Graphic Arts Monthly was a respected trade publication covering (obviously) the graphic arts, printing, advertising and publishing industries.
Second, about the phrase etaoin shrdlu, here’s a good quote from Wikipedia:
“The letters on type-casting machine keyboards (such as Linotype and Intertype) were arranged by letter frequency, so e-t-a-o-i-n s-h-r-d-l-u were the lowercase keys in the first two vertical columns on the left side of the keyboard. When operators made a mistake in composing, they would often finish the line by running a finger down the first two columns of the keyboard and then start over. Occasionally the faulty line of hot-metal type would be overlooked and printed erroneously.
A documentary about the last issue of The New York Times to be composed in the hot-metal printing process (2 July 1978) was titled Farewell, Etaoin Shrdlu.“
So what it all adds up to is that in the good old days when printing type was cast from hot metal, there was a slight chance that you could come across the phrase etaoin shrdlu in your newspaper article, by accident. Sometimes I think the phrase was inserted on purpose, by typesetters who fancied themselves practical jokers.
The sad fact is that the entire hot metal typesetting industry was decimated and destroyed when computer technology took over and print and advertising type could be digitally created by anybody with a keyboard and the right software.
And now you also know why tnshrdl are the first consonants selected on “Wheel of Fortune”, and why the vowels eaoiu are bought in that order.
The editors at Rotarian Magazine routinely sent me a complimentary copy of any issue in which my cartoon appeared. This cartoon was bought and paid for in 2001, but I never saw it in print. The publication at that time was drastically cutting down on its cartoon usage and eventually dropped them completely — so I guess this cartoon got lost in that format re-design.
If you would like to reprint any cartoon found on this site, please contact me at elilast@verizon.net. Reproduction or publication for commercial purposes of any of the cartoons on this site without prior permission is strictly prohibited.
EliSteinCartoons.com
