'B.C.' creator dies at 76 Obituary -- Johnny Hart by Mary Esch | The Pioneer | April 10, 2007
http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=OPED&file_name=opd4%2Etxt&counter_img=4 He made cavemen funny, ants erudite For millions of comic strip readers across the world, the prehistoric era was hilarious: Cavemen played baseball, ants went to school, birds rode on the back of turtles and snakes made quips. All of it was thanks to cartoonist Johnny Hart, who died on Saturday at age 76 while working at his home in Endicott. "He had a stroke. He died at his storyboard," his wife, Bobby, said. Hart's 'B.C.' strip was launched in 1958 and eventually appeared in more than 1,300 newspapers with an audience of 100 million. "He was generally regarded as one of the best cartoonists we've ever had. He was totally original. 'B.C.' broke ground and led the way for a number of imitators, none of which ever came close," Hart's friend Mell Lazarus, creator of the 'Momma' and 'Miss Peach' comic strips, said. Hart, who also co-created "The Wizard of Id," won numerous awards for his work, including the National Cartoonist Society's prestigious Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year and an award from the International Congress of Comics. After his discharge from the US military in 1954, Hart worked in the art department at General Electric while selling cartoons on the side. He began reading Charles Schulz's 'Peanuts' and was inspired to start his own strip. "Caveman gags, for reasons which I still cannot explain, were an obsession in those days. One day, a friend jokingly suggested I create a strip revolving around prehistoric times," Hart had said, explaining the birth of 'B.C.' 'B.C.' was filled with puns and sly digs at modern society. One recent strip showed an ant teacher asking her class, "Who can tell me what second-hand smoke is?" One pupil raised his hand with an answer: "A political speech made by a vice-presidential candidate." After he graduated from Union-Endicott High School, Hart met Brant Parker, a young cartoonist who became a prime influence and eventual co-creator with Hart of 'The Wizard of Id' in 1964. Hart enlisted in the Air Force and began producing cartoons for Pacific Stars and Stripes. He sold his first freelance cartoon to the Saturday Evening Post after his discharge from the military in 1954. Many of Hart's characters were patterned after his friends. "He was a free spirit who loved everybody, and everything. He was never embarrassed by doing silly things," Jack Caprio, a childhood friend and model for "Clumsy Carp" in the 'B.C.' strip, told the Star- Gazette of Elmira. Besides his wife, Hart is survived by two daughters, Patti and Perri.
