After having lived in Venice, California for five years from 1980-1985 I got a pretty good taste of the counterculture as it was at the the time. The days of Flower Power were dying on the vine, but there were still remnants of Peace and Love here and there, albeit diluted with the cynicism that comes with time. I lived in a one-bedroom cottage six short blocks from the ocean that had been built for beach vacationers in the 1930's with my then-girlfriend to the tune of $240 a month.
Six blocks down and a little further south was the famed boardwalk and muscle beach where the freak show would be in full swing on any given day. And after playing street hockey in my earlier days, I took up roller skating again, which was a good way to get around faster than walking.
Venice is also where I got one of my gigs in the animation industry. Located upstairs in a rickety old building, I learned all about the trade from old-timers and up-and-comers alike. I remember one in particular, Amby Paliwoda, an animator who had previously worked for many years at Disney. He was a great guy and was always willing to talk shop about the industry and the "good old days". Kunimi Terada was my supervisor and became production supervisor some years after I left. A sweet lady and very patient!
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| The Duck Soup Produckions logo. |
Duck Soup Produckions was located at Main and Pier and co-owned by Roger Choinard and Duane Crowther. The studio's specialty was TV commercials and one client I remember working on was 9 Lives cat food. The shop moved around a few more times over the ensuing years before it finally closed.
In the 1970's, Venice was still pretty "hippy-esque" and it's not surprising that it finally got it's own underground newspaper. Subtitled, "Greatest Show on Pulp!" the aptly titled, VENICE SIDE SHOW tabloid was a psychedelic panoply that echoed other counterculture newspapers like the local LOS ANGELES FREE PRESS and Bay Area broadsheets BERKELEY BARB and THE SAN FRANCISCO ORACLE that were either gone or on their way out by 1974 when this was printed. Unlike the others, though, VENICE SIDE SHOW focused on fun and was bereft of politics. There is no mention of Nixon, Watergate or the Vietnam War and the closest article to anything politically radical was Harlan Ellison's satire, "Ecoawareness". How refreshing! So far as I know, this was the only issue printed, but what a goldmine of talent!
FURTHER READING:
- Uncovering the Sixties: The Life and Times of the Underground Press by Ape Peck (Citadel Press, 1991)
- Free Press: Underground and Alternative Publications, 1965-1975 by Jean-Francois Bizot and Barry Miles (Universe, 2006)
- Rebel Visions: Underground Comix by Patrick Rosenkranz (Fantagraphics Books, 2003)
That final message on the back cover is sadly a message fit for our modern times. My favorite story is the R. Crumb misadventure with Bigfoot. That's some wild darn stuff there my friend. They don't make comics like this anymore. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteWhat a coinkydink--I'm currently perusing Dirty Pictures: How an Underground Network of Nerds, Feminists, Misfits, Geniuses, Bikers, Potheads, Printers, Intellectuals, and Art School Rebels Revolutionized Art and Invented Comix by Brian Doherty (Abrams Press, 2022). Wish it included examples of the artists' work, but an interesting read.
ReplyDeleteLots of fun Duck Soup's spots (including the aforementioned 9 Lives) can be seen here:
https://www.cartoonbrew.com/advertising/roger-chouinard-duck-soup-produckions-rip-227600.html
RIP: Robert Williams' message is quite fitting for these days. Call him misogynistic and perverse, but in my opinion, Robert Crumb is a frickin' genius. I'm a big fan of Ron Cobb, too, especially his political and environmental cartoons, many of them still ringing true.
ReplyDeleteTOP CAT JAMES: I bought that book a while back, but haven't had the chance to read it yet. What really struck me as being very odd is, despite the title, there's no illustrations! Despite that, there's always something new to learn in these underground comics histories.
ReplyDeleteI got the Duck Soup logo from the page you referenced. I still have one of their business cards somewhere but couldn't find it before I posted this. Roger was quite a talented artist and he filled his studio with a huge amount of talent. It was a blast working there.