Nancy Classics by Ernie Bushmiller for August 21, 2023

My dad, the late Foxo Reardon, creator of Bozo (now on GoComics) met Ernie Bushmiller when both were members of the National Cartoonist’ Society. I was only a boy but I remember dad’s high praise of Ernie as both a cartoonist and as a gentleman.This strip reminds me of an event that my dad attended with a good number of other cartoonists. There was a large audience of cartoon fans present, and each cartoonist was asked go on stage to address the crowd. A very large paper pad was placed facing the audience in case any cartoonist wanted to make a drawing with his comments. My dad and another cartoonist decided to make a joint appearance and make a presentation to the audience in regard to what they learned in art school. My dad addressed the audience by noting that he never attended art school. The other cartoonist then said he nevertheless wanted to relate what he learned in art school. “First of all,” he said, “I learned to make a horizontal line,” using the pad to demonstrate, “and then I learned to make another horizontal line,” placing the second line beneath the first line by about a foot. He continued, “I then learned to make a vertical line,” crossing the horizontal one on the pad, “and then I learned to make another vertical line,” placing the second line about a foot to the right of the first vertical line. He then made an X in one of the squares, and dad placed an O in another square, and within a few seconds dad had beating him in a game of Tic-Tac-Toe. The audience was still laughing when the next cartoonist came on stage to make his appearance