The Return of Gene Patrick and "The Passing Scene" – 1974

Regular readers of this blog know that I'm a big fan of Gene Patrick and his "Passing Scene" cartoons that appeared in the Lorain Journal in the 1960s and 70s.

The talented cartoonist and his creations have been the subject of more than 45 blog posts.

Gene started his tenure at the Journal around the spring of 1965, with some of his earliest "Passing Scene" strips showing up in the paper at that time. He also was a staff photographer at the paper and his photos continued to appear even when "The Passing Scene" stopped in July of 1969. He did contribute the occasional comic illustration to accompany a story right into the 1970s.

Gene left the Journal eventually and opened his Hobby Hub business next to Yala's Pizza in April of 1972. 

Unfortunately, the business endeavor didn't last. But Gene didn't immediately go back to his old job at the paper.

So when did he return to the Journal and  revive "The Passing Scene" comic strip?

Apparently the young man went West. This small item in Jim Mahoney's "Mahoney's Memos" column of Feb. 26, 1973 revealed he was out in California.

Then, a little more than a year later, "The Passing Scene" was back in the Journal on March 16, 1974. It would continue to appear about twice a month on Saturday, from that point on.

March 16, 1974

March 23, 1974

March 30, 1974

Readers of the Journal were understandably pleased with the strip's comeback, judging by these two letters to the Editor.

March 20, 1974

May 30, 1974

Gene even enjoyed some international success with his cartooning. This item from the "Mahoney's Memos" of July 31, 1974 explains.

So here are the "Passing Scenes" that appeared from late August through September.

August 24, 1974

Sept. 7, 1974

Sept. 28, 1974

Gene apparently ruffled some feathers with the last panel of the September 7th strip. Check out this Letter to the Editor from Sept. 25, 1974!

Where are the Passing Scene Comics?

My regular readers have probably noticed that it's been several months since I posted any of Gene Patrick's "The Passing Scene" comics from 1969.

That's because after the two strips that ran in July 1969, "The Passing Scene" disappeared from the pages of the Journal after that month. I'm not sure why.

Gene’s own business, Gene’s Hobby Hub, located between Yala’s Pizza and Dom & Luigi’s Barber Shop, wouldn’t open for several more years. So that’s not the reason.

The funny thing is that I know Gene Patrick was still at the Journal during that time period. I found the cartoon below accompanying an article that ran in the paper on September 2, 1969 – ironically, about missing persons.

Gene did contribute a comic illustration to the Journal several times a month during late summer and early fall 1969.

Eventually “The Passing Scene" reappeared at some point, because I've seen strips from the 1970s. I’ll keep you posted – and hopefully some comics too, soon.

Gene Patrick’s Other Comic Strip for the Journal

Anyone who has read this blog for a long time knows that I’m a fan of the late Gene Patrick and his Passing Scene comic strip that ran in the Journal for several years beginning in the mid-1960s and right into the 1970s. At times it must seem like I’m attempting to post the entire run of the strip.

The Passing Scene was great because it commented on the happenings of Lorain County. Politics seemed to provide an endless supply of material for Patrick and his strip included funny caricatures of local politicians such as Lorain Mayors Woody Mathna and Joe Zahorec.

But Patrick must have had an urge to do a classic style strip that would feature his own material and humor, independent of any local angle. He found that outlet in a strip he started a couple years after the Passing Scene was underway.

And that new strip was called Ollie Odd. It was odd all right, and done in a gag-a-day style format.

Here are a few samples of the strip that ran in April 1967 on the 5th, 6th and 14th. This first batch was focused on Ollie’s attempts to come up with a good mode of transportation.

Perhaps it’s fortunate that Patrick's Ollie Odd didn’t take off, as its success might have deprived Journal readers of his well-remembered Passing Scene.

Gene’s Hobby Hub Opens – April 1972

Cartoonist Gene Patrick has been featured many times on this blog over the years.

Regular readers know that I’m a huge fan of his Passing Scene comic that ran in the Journal in the 60s and 70s. In fact, the number of blog posts featuring his cartoons (43 at this point) even exceeds those with our pal Reddy Kilowatt!

During his time at the Journal, Gene stepped away from his cartoon creation beginning around July 1969. But since he was also a photographer, his great photos kept on appearing in the paper even though his cartoons didn’t.

So what was Gene doing with all that spare time? Well, fifty years ago this month, he opened his own store: Gene’s Hobby Hub, right next door to Yala’s Pizza. (Note that Gene incorporated his first name into the name of his business, as it was the trend back then that I wrote about in yesterday’s post.)

Here’s the article that tells the whole story, from the Journal of April 9, 1972.

According to the article, he was no longer a Journal employee at that time. It points out that he "was a photographer and cartoonist for the Journal for seven years," which sounds about right since the first Passing Scene cartoons I’ve ever seen were from 1965.

The article also notes, “He will sell all types of hobby equipment, including rockets, radio-controlled airplanes and accessories, model railroad trains and equipment, slot racing cars and the new rage, decoupage and iconage supplies.”

I remember going in there a few times with a friend who was into rockets. Gene was always friendly and kind. I recall that some of his Passing Scene cartoons were either taped to the register or hanging on the wall; that’s how I made the connection who he was.

May 12, 1972 ad from the Journal

Anyway, the business eventually closed and Gene returned to the Journal and The Passing Scene. It was probably a disappointment for him, but at least his fans got to once again enjoy his great cartoons for a few more years.

The Passing Scene – May 1968

I wasn’t quite done cleaning up these The Passing Scene comics in Photoshop® when I wrote about the Ahoy Lorain feature earlier in the week. But they’re ready now, so here they are: all four Passing Scene strips that ran in the Lorain Journal back in May 1968 – 50 years ago.

There’s no earth-shattering local news being parodied in the May 4, 1968 edition, but there’s a few innocent gags that would be considered mildly sexist today.

The May 11, 1968 strip includes a caricature of Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes (who looks a bit strange without his signature thick glasses) and a reference to Lorain passing a school bond issue at long last.

The “bridge to nowhere” over State Route 2 makes an appearance in the May 18, 1968 comic. (Hey, my brother mentioned this very comic in a comment he left on that past blog post about the bridge.)

Lorain City Schools and the Ford Plant are the subject of gags in the May 25, 1968 edition. The school gag is pretty appropriate today.

The Passing Scene – December 1968

Well,  December is winding down, and Christmas – as well as my usual holiday break – is looming, so I’d better post these December 1968 editions of Gene Patrick’s “The Passing Scene.”

First up is the strip for December 7, 1968.

Note that it makes passing reference to the fact that Lorain’s YMCA and YWCA almost merged. I like the gag about the stone foot, although I don’t remember seeing the original article.

Next is the December 14, 1968 edition (below), which reminds us once again that Lorain’s City Hall was supposed to be located in the new civic center. 

Unfortunately it did not happen – and it doesn’t appear that the city hall will be moving (and thus making a prime piece of real estate available) any time soon.

The December 21, 1968 strip (below) continues with the civic center theme. There sure were high hopes for it back then.

I like that Gene Patrick reserved the last panel of each December strip for some sort of seasonal gag or theme.

Lastly, the December 28, 1968 strip provides a nice look back at 1968. Many if not most of these comic panels have been posted here on the blog.

I like Gene’s caricature of himself!

I will try to keep posting vintage “The Passing Scene” strips in 2019, although the first batch of January 1969 strips comes from library microfilm that is unusually poor in quality, making some of them almost unreadable. We’ll see.

Hey, where are the “Passing Scene” comics?

You may have noticed that for the fast few months, I haven’t posted any Passing Scenes comics.

Since March, I had been posting a whole month’s worth of cartoonist Gene Patrick’s well-remembered Journal strip from exactly 50 years ago, providing a nice capsule of what was going on in Lorain at the time.

But I decided to put that regular feature on hold when another artist began drawing the feature on June 22, 1968. The new artist – Larry Alvarez – was certainly talented, but his style was quite different from Gene Patrick's. Here's one of his strips from this period.

Alvarez also created the iconic illustration for the Journal’s Clothe-A-Child program (below) which accompanied articles about the charity drive for years.

The drawing first appeared in the paper in 1969, when the Clothe-a-Child program was making the transition from a glitzy benefit show to a Journal reader donation-driven effort.

Anyway, the “new” Passing Scene strip did not enjoy the prominent place at the top of the second section that had been its home for so long. The comic seemed to move around the paper, appearing at the top of the page one week and at the bottom of the page the following week. Plus, the Journal reproduced it much smaller than before, making it easier to overlook.

Gene Patrick returned to his creation fairly soon, because in the past, I posted a Passing Scene of his from March 1969. There are also posted samples of the strip from the early to mid-70s. So it appears that his sabbatical from the strip was merely a temporary one.

So who drew the strip in September? Watch for the answer here next month.

The Passing Scene – April 1969

April’s winding down pretty quick, so I’d better post these.

There were just two of Gene Patrick's The Passing Scene comics published in the Journal in April 1969. Maybe Gene was just busy with other endeavors, although the opening of his hobby shop next to Yala’s Pizza was still several years away.

Despite there being only two strips this month, he covered a lot of Lorain County turf in them. His topics included news events in several Lorain County cities, including Elyria, Sheffield Lake, Oberlin, Vermilion, North Ridgeville and Avon Lake.

The April 19, 1969 edition included a gag showing the fate of the Oberlin student protester (who was the subject of Passing Scene strips in preceding months).

The April 26, 1969 strip (below) pokes fun at the idea of illegally praying in school. (The second of two landmark decisions by the Supreme Court declaring school-sponsored prayer unconstitutional had occurred only six years earlier.)

The strip also reminds us just how late in spring that daylight savings time used to start.

I liked it better that way. Today’s changeover is much too early; it takes me weeks to get used to it.

Early “The Passing Scene” Cartoons – April 1965

To close out the week, here’s a few very early The Passing Scene comics from April 1965. It’s appropriate since the cartoonist himself, Gene Patrick, was featured here yesterday on the blog.

These are the earliest editions of the strip that I’ve ever seen. The first one ran in the Journal on April 10, 1965.

Gene sneaks in a few caricatures. I guess that’s one of the Beatles in the second panel. And that’s a great drawing of a miserable President Lyndon Baines Johnson in the third panel. 

The strip below ran on this blog before. But in the interest of grouping it with the strips that ran before and after it, here it is again. It’s from April 17, 1965.

The last strip is from April 24, 1965. I like that ‘Adventure Night’ at the Huron Library panel. It reminds me of the old Hanna Barbera cartoons which depicted Adventurer’s Clubs (usually in old Snagglepuss cartoons) in which the members wore pith helmets and recanted tales of their various safaris and other hunting expeditions.

As you’ve noticed, there haven’t been any Passing Scene cartoons on the blog for quite a while. Hopefully I will encounter them soon as I review old microfilm at the library month by month for my “50 years ago this month” themed posts.

The Passing Scene – September 1968

Well, September is just about over, so I’d better get this Passing Scene update in.

As I mentioned last month, the comic strip was drawn by a different artist rather than creator Gene Patrick during July 1968, before eventually disappearing from the pages of the Journal the following month.

But not forever.

Although the comic did not appear in the Journal during the first three weeks of September 1968, a hint that cartoonist Gene Patrick was back appeared in the paper on the 24th. That’s when his artwork accompanied a humorous article by Staff Writer Bonnie Lamp about an Oberlin College student winning a pony at an Indians game.

And four days later, a brand new Gene Patrick-drawn Passing Scene appeared in the paper in its old spot, atop the first page of the second section.

I love the expression of the convict eyeing the guns!

The Passing Scene – June 1968

There's only three "The Passing Scene" strips that ran in the Lorain Journal in June 1968. But what's strange is that cartoonist Gene Patrick only drew two of them!

Here's the June 1, 1968 edition, which shows Gene at his prime. There's a funny gag involving midges (those pesky lake bugs that look like mosquitoes) and two panels that feature well-drawn shapely gals. And the first panel (with a guy about to be tarred and feathered) is pretty funny too.

Next up is the June 15, 1968 strip, which innocently pokes fun at a Japanese visitor to the Ridge Tool headquarters in Elyria (but in a way that is considered racist and unflattering today). 

And lastly, here is that strip drawn by someone else, which ran in the paper on June 22, 1968. Maybe Gene just wrote the gags but was too busy to illustrate them.

While the 'guest artist' was certainly talented, the gags simply don't work as well. It shows how critical Gene's clean, simple, cartoony style was to the humor of the strip.

In the past, I've posted "Passing Scene" strips from the 1970s that Gene drew, so perhaps this was a one-shot deal. We'll see next month.

Passing Scene Surprise – March 7, 2020

Did you see it?

Forty-some years after it last appeared in the Journal, Gene Patrick’s Passing Scene comic strip made an appearance in the Morning Journal over the weekend.

The Saturday, March 7, 2020 edition included an “Another Viewpoint” feature written by Marcia Ballinger, President of Lorain County Community College (LCCC). The focus of the opinion piece was to encourage county residents to support Issue 17, which renews the original operating levy, along with an additional 0.5 mill.

About a third of the way into the article, it notes that at the time that it opened, "the Lorain Journal featured an editorial cartoon ... commemorating the gift for the public with the tag “From the people of Lorain County to future generations.”

The piece included the last panel from the Passing Scene comic strip of October 1, 1966 from my blog post of October 3, 2011.

Although it would have been nice if Gene's strip had been identified by name (as opposed to referring to it as an editorial cartoon), it was great to see his name and some of his artwork back in the Journal after so many years.

Gene Patrick, Passing Scene Artist, 1936 - 2012

(Courtesy Morning Journal)

It was very sad to pick up the Morning Journal yesterday and see that Gene Patrick, the talented artist behind the Journal's The Passing Scene weekly cartoon feature in the 1960s and 70s had passed away. In case you missed it, here is the link to his obituary.

(Longtime readers of this blog remember that I'm a big fan of his Passing Scene cartoons and featured many of them in this space over the last few years, such as in this two-part series.)

Gene Patrick had a unique ability to sum up the week's local news events in simple cartoons that were funny, but never mean-spirited. His likenesses of local politicians and other officials were dead on, and added to the enjoyment of the strip.

Besides working for the Journal, he had several other careers. I'm sure many of you remember Gene's Hobby Hub, his small hobby shop that was located next to Yala's Pizza. And he had a career out in Hollywood as an extra in movies and TV shows.

I put out the call a few years ago to try and find out how he was doing, and had hoped that he would Google his name at some point, find his many mentions on this blog, and consequently drop me a line. I'm disappointed that it never happened.

More Passing Scene Cartoons – October 1968

I'm a little bit busy this week with my other ongoing writing project, contributing articles to the Black Swamp Trader & Firelands Gazette. As I'm preparing this blog post on Tuesday night, my current  article for the paper is due this week. So forgive me if you see a few blog posts of the "filler" variety as I slowly get back to my normal schedule.

First up are a couple of The Passing Scene cartoons by Gene Patrick that ran on October 12, 19, and 26, 1968. (By George, I've cleaned up so many of these strips in Photoshop that if I keep this blog going for a few more years, I'll probably have posted The Passing Scene's entire run!

Of interest in the October 19th strip – particularly in view of the current Ebola scare –  is the reference to the Hong Kong flu, a 1968 flu pandemic that killed one million people worldwide.

The October 26th strip is interesting also – in it, it's shown that you could still burn leaves in Lorain.

“The Passing Scene" Looks Back at 1967

It just wouldn’t be the Brady Blog if you didn’t have an occasional sample of Gene Patrick’s The Passing Scene comic feature that ran in the Journal. So here’s one that ran on January 1, 1968 – 50 years ago.

It features a nice look back at some of the local events of 1967, including the re-election of Mayor Woodrow Mathna, as well as the inaugural Lorain International Festival.

And as a bonus, here’s the first Passing Scene that ran in the Journal in 1968. It appeared on January 6, 1968.

Perry J. Carter and his "Passing Scene” of the 1890s

Front page comic from the August 10, 1899 Elyria Reporter

Anyone who reads this blog for even a little while knows that I’m a big fan of Gene Patrick’s "Passing Scene" comic from the 1960s and 70s.

Regular blog contributor Rick Kurish is certainly aware of it. He wrote, "Since you are a fan of the old "Passing Scene" feature of the Lorain Journal, I thought I would share what I guess would be a sort of forerunner of that feature.

"I ran across the concept years ago in an old Elyria Newspaper named the Elyria Reporter, which was published in the 1890s and early 1900s. The paper would periodically publish the happenings in the County in a semi-comic series of drawings. They would always appear just below the mast head on the front page of the paper.

"I have attached a few samples from the 1899 period. Since times have changed, some images that were published would not be politically correct today. Some of the subjects are everyday happenings which we can appreciate today --- but some refer to goings on that you would have to be a student of Elyria history to understand.

"The paper did manage to take some shots at its rival at the time, the Elyria Republican newspaper. The question of building a water treatment plant on Lake Erie was also a frequent topic. The city spent several years debating lake water vs. river water, before they finally built the current plant on West Erie Avenue. Kind of reminds you of a Flint, Michigan decision. Yikes!”

Special thanks to Rick for sending me these samples. They are extremely well-drawn and quite clever.

So who was the talented artist who created the comic?

According to the Elyria Reporter of August 31, 1899, it was Mr. Perry J. Carter. The paper noted, "Our Artist – Mr. Perry J. Carter, of Cleveland, whose cartoons in the Reporter have attracted so much favorable comment, has accepted a position on the Reporter Staff and will hereafter devote his entire time to the interest of our readers.

“A special department will be fitted up especially for Mr. Carter's use, and all the facilities necessary will be placed at his disposal. Our readers can expect some very clever illustrations from his pen, not only in the cartoon line, but in the way of illustrating current happenings. For more than, two years, Mr. Carter was on the St. Paul Daily Globe, but the paper being democratic in politics, Mr. Carter resigned his position rather than draw cartoons of President McKinley. Since leaving St. Paul he has been connected with a large illustrating house in Cleveland. We bespeak for Mr. Carter and his pictures a cordial reception by the people of Elyria.”

Here’s a link to Allan Holtz’s blog, which focuses on the history of the American newspaper comic strip. His December 1, 2015 post includes a 1913 biography and photo of Perry Carter, along with some hilarious samples of Carter's work.

As for the Carter samples on this post, the August 10, 1899 strip at the top of this post includes references to an injunction case against the Linseed Oil company and the “offensive odors" arising from its works; a Grange picnic at Pittsfield; the launch of the Malietoa in the Lorain shipyards; a reference to English highwayman Dick Turpin; and mudslinging by the Medina Gazette aimed at the Sheriff over his handling of a case.

And here are three more sample strips (below). They’re a lot of fun to look at, with their references to Lorain, etc. But they can be cruel as well, like the cartoon depicting the circulation of rival newspaper the Republican as a chicken with limberneck disease.

Front page comic from the August 24, 1899 Elyria Reporter

Front page comic from the September 21, 1899 Elyria Reporter

Front page comic from the November 29, 1899 Elyria Reporter

Special thanks to Rick for his suggestion and help with this post!