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Aug. 5th, 2011 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolariDate: Thu, 4 Aug 2011 23:14:13 +0000
From: "Lansing, Allen" <alansing@kens5.com>
To: "jenn@dolari.net" <jenn@dolari.net>
Subject: Captain Gus San Antonio
Hi jenn.
My name is Allen Lansing and I am the Director of Creative Services for KENS TV. I am in the research stage of creating a reunion show for a San Antonio
kids show called the Captain Gus Show. While retrieving archival artifacts I came across your strip featuring Captain Gus. I am dying to know what lead you to doing this strip with Captain Gus?
With your permission I would like to put it up on the FaceBook group page.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/82783141149/
Allen Lansing
Director of Creative Services
KENS-TV * Kens5.com * Estrella 5.2
KENS5 kens5 Flat
Follow KENS on Facebook
My response:
Well, in the story my main character, Carrie, had had a lot of things happen in her life up to this point, and I wanted to have an episode where she sits and
thinks about what's happen - and we realize she's stayed up all night.
It's really hard to show the passage of time in comics, since you don't have the dissolves or cutaways you get in TV, so I looked for something a little more
recognizable. We've all had days where we sit and think while the TVs on, and the next thing we know, it's early morning.
I grew up in San Antonio in the late 70s and 80s, and my late nights for most of those years were KENS locally produced shows. Things like Project Terror, The
Grim Reaper (why my dad let me both of these as a kid, I'll never know, but it's forever warped my love of bad bad bad movies), and Sci Fi Theater (something I've
"recreated" with Netflix on Saturday Nights as I draw Monday's comics). I used Project Terror for the night time slot in the comic. WHERE THE SCIENTIFIC, AND
THE TERRIFYING, EMERGE! Every little town had their late night horror movie show, and I thought it translated well to the comics.
Early mornings were Capt Kangaroo in the late 70s, but I didn't want to use that in the comic. He was too well known, being a national kind of kids icon, but in
the late 70s, my afternoons were TOTALLY TOTALLY TOTALLY about Captain Gus.
I wasn't in school in those years, so I spent most of the time at my grandmother's house, and come afternoon, I'd sit glued watching Capt Gus and Popeye cartoons.
Between him and First Mate Mortimer, I was usually watching wide eyed and giggly for the whole show, and that meant, for my mom and grandmother, I was out of
their hair for a few hours while dinner was made. They happily let the good Captain babysit for them. :)
My memory of it all is kinda fuzzy. According to my mom I was watching the show when I was very very very little, and I was only five when the show was cancelled
(I remember being devastated, though). One thing I just remembered specifically about the cancellation, however: For the longest time, I thought the Drydock Restaurant at Wurzbach and Fredericksburg
was where the Amigus ended up when the show was cancelled.
When it came time to draw the comic, like I said, I was looking for someone to represent Morning-TV, and although Captain Gus was an afternoon show, he fit
perfectly for what I wanted for morning. A kids show host, with a kid-friendly persona, and just a touch of locally-produced TV. :)
That may sound kind of pretentious, when you think "all this thinking over one panel of comic?" But it pays off. For most of my readers, they just see someone
who stayed awake over night, thinking about her problems. But I've gotten a few letters and EMails saying "IS THAT CAPTAIN GUS?! YOU REMEMBER CAPTAIN GUS?!" As
long as someone got the reference, it was worth it. :)
I never visited the Captain Gus set, sadly, although my sister did show up in the 1982 Christmas episode of Mortimer's "Gobs of Fun" as part of her Girl Scout
Troop. I was really surprised to run across Dennis' website, which is where I got the image of Captain Gus I based the panel I drew off of. I promised him a
Mortimer pic, and I feel badly I never got around to it (life got a bit hectic).
As an aside, I've always been a fan of the 70s and 80s era KENS locally produced stuff. My mom and I really loved The Grim Reaper, and Sci Fi Theater was a
Saturday Night Thing in our house (I vividly remember the Grim Reaper's last episode, where he was beamed aboard the Enterprise, which was taking over his slot!)
From: "Lansing, Allen" <alansing@kens5.com>
To: "jenn@dolari.net" <jenn@dolari.net>
Subject: Captain Gus San Antonio
Hi jenn.
My name is Allen Lansing and I am the Director of Creative Services for KENS TV. I am in the research stage of creating a reunion show for a San Antonio
kids show called the Captain Gus Show. While retrieving archival artifacts I came across your strip featuring Captain Gus. I am dying to know what lead you to doing this strip with Captain Gus?
With your permission I would like to put it up on the FaceBook group page.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/82783141149/
Allen Lansing
Director of Creative Services
KENS-TV * Kens5.com * Estrella 5.2
KENS5 kens5 Flat
Follow KENS on Facebook
My response:
Well, in the story my main character, Carrie, had had a lot of things happen in her life up to this point, and I wanted to have an episode where she sits and
thinks about what's happen - and we realize she's stayed up all night.
It's really hard to show the passage of time in comics, since you don't have the dissolves or cutaways you get in TV, so I looked for something a little more
recognizable. We've all had days where we sit and think while the TVs on, and the next thing we know, it's early morning.
I grew up in San Antonio in the late 70s and 80s, and my late nights for most of those years were KENS locally produced shows. Things like Project Terror, The
Grim Reaper (why my dad let me both of these as a kid, I'll never know, but it's forever warped my love of bad bad bad movies), and Sci Fi Theater (something I've
"recreated" with Netflix on Saturday Nights as I draw Monday's comics). I used Project Terror for the night time slot in the comic. WHERE THE SCIENTIFIC, AND
THE TERRIFYING, EMERGE! Every little town had their late night horror movie show, and I thought it translated well to the comics.
Early mornings were Capt Kangaroo in the late 70s, but I didn't want to use that in the comic. He was too well known, being a national kind of kids icon, but in
the late 70s, my afternoons were TOTALLY TOTALLY TOTALLY about Captain Gus.
I wasn't in school in those years, so I spent most of the time at my grandmother's house, and come afternoon, I'd sit glued watching Capt Gus and Popeye cartoons.
Between him and First Mate Mortimer, I was usually watching wide eyed and giggly for the whole show, and that meant, for my mom and grandmother, I was out of
their hair for a few hours while dinner was made. They happily let the good Captain babysit for them. :)
My memory of it all is kinda fuzzy. According to my mom I was watching the show when I was very very very little, and I was only five when the show was cancelled
(I remember being devastated, though). One thing I just remembered specifically about the cancellation, however: For the longest time, I thought the Drydock Restaurant at Wurzbach and Fredericksburg
was where the Amigus ended up when the show was cancelled.
When it came time to draw the comic, like I said, I was looking for someone to represent Morning-TV, and although Captain Gus was an afternoon show, he fit
perfectly for what I wanted for morning. A kids show host, with a kid-friendly persona, and just a touch of locally-produced TV. :)
That may sound kind of pretentious, when you think "all this thinking over one panel of comic?" But it pays off. For most of my readers, they just see someone
who stayed awake over night, thinking about her problems. But I've gotten a few letters and EMails saying "IS THAT CAPTAIN GUS?! YOU REMEMBER CAPTAIN GUS?!" As
long as someone got the reference, it was worth it. :)
I never visited the Captain Gus set, sadly, although my sister did show up in the 1982 Christmas episode of Mortimer's "Gobs of Fun" as part of her Girl Scout
Troop. I was really surprised to run across Dennis' website, which is where I got the image of Captain Gus I based the panel I drew off of. I promised him a
Mortimer pic, and I feel badly I never got around to it (life got a bit hectic).
As an aside, I've always been a fan of the 70s and 80s era KENS locally produced stuff. My mom and I really loved The Grim Reaper, and Sci Fi Theater was a
Saturday Night Thing in our house (I vividly remember the Grim Reaper's last episode, where he was beamed aboard the Enterprise, which was taking over his slot!)
