A Gene Patrick Cartoon and the Hot Line – Jan. 1973

It's been quite a while since we last saw Gene Patrick's The Passing Scene on this blog. Gene served up two editions of his weekly comic in the Journal in July 1969, and that was it for the 1960s.

While the comic eventually returned some time in the 1970s, there were none in 1970, 1971, or 1972. Of course, Gene opened his Hobby Hub store in April 1972, and was no doubt a little busy.

But apparently he still was trying to maintain some kind of connection with the Journal. The illustration below by Gene appeared in the paper on January 12, 1973. (By the way, the article about burglaries that the cartoon accompanies is pretty interesting.)

I couldn't resist posting the whole page since it includes an ample sample of the popular "The Hot Line" column. This one has some goodies, including a person seeking advice on how to rat out his neighbor, who apparently was running a business out of her home, as well as where to buy a singing canary.

Also on the page are two of those distinctive drawings of Journal columnists, as well as a typical "Below Olympus" cartoons by Frank Interlandi.