It is no accident that I made Cartoon Town a simple little village - in many ways it mirrored my home town. And, yes, many of my puppet characters took on some of the more eccentric characteristics of people I knew there.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I started, actually, to make my first animated cartoon in 1920. Of course, they were very crude things then and I used sort of little puppet things.
Cartooning was a good fit for me. And yet now, years later, I almost never think about it.
It was memorable the first time 'The New Yorker' bought a cartoon from me. I had been sending them batches for years every week, and they didn't respond to them.
The journalism school helped me develop writing skills, and I had been enjoying cartooning from a very young age. My interest in puppetry, however, came much later.
People will always consider me a cartoon character, a bimbo. They will never give me credit.
I'm skeptical of the 'go local' approach to cartooning to preserve your job.
The thing about that too is that we had the same extras everyday. It was such a community. It was like a microcosmic little town. We were like all little towns people with extras and a crew.
I grew up in the East Village, in Alphabet City, when it was a very dangerous neighborhood. To survive there, I had to learn to be a little bit invisible.
Children have always responded to me because I have that cartoon-character look.
When I was a kid, I never saw a puppet show. I never played with puppets or had any interest in them.