Editing Virgil Partch

{{Short description|American gag cartoonist}}
[[File:Barguide2.jpg|upright|thumb|''Bar Guide'' cover]]
'''Virgil Franklin Partch''' (October 17, 1916 – August 10, 1984), who generally signed his work '''Vip''',<ref name=cdi>[https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPXN-R7R Virgil Franklin Partch] at the 
California Death Index via FamilySearch.org. Retrieved on August 27, 2015.</ref> was an American gag cartoonist. His work appeared in magazines of the 1940s and 1950s, and he created the newspaper [[comic strips]] ''[[Big George (comic strip)|Big George]]'' and ''[[The Captain's Gig]]''. <!--Partch's cartoons expressed a dry, sardonic wit, and his characters were instantly recognizable by their lipless mouths, large, triangular noses, thin ankles and thin wrists, and sometimes well-combed [[Fringe (hair)|bangs]].--> He published 19 books of illustrations and drew art for [[children's books]].

Despite being a gagwriter for ''[[The New Yorker]]'', his own cartoons were rarely published there because, according to comics historian [[Bhob Stewart]], "''New Yorker'' editor [[Harold Ross]] disliked VIP's drawing style."<ref name=bhob>{{cite news| author-link=Bhob Stewart| first=Bhob |last=Stewart |title=R.I.P. VIP| work= Nemo | issue=14 |date=August 1985| publisher= [[Fantagraphics]]|page= 39}}</ref>

==Early life and career==
Born <!--on [[Saint Paul Island, Alaska]],--> in Alaska, from a mother with the maiden name Pavlof,<ref name=cdi /> Partch <!--attended high school in [[Tucson, Arizona]] and--> studied at the [[University of Arizona]]<!--. In 1937, Partch enrolled at--> and the [[Chouinard Art Institute]] in Los Angeles<!--, where he attended Rico LeBrun's classes for six months before dropping out-->.<ref name=lam>[http://lambiek.net/artists/v/vip.htm VIP: Virgil Partch] at the [[Lambiek Comiclopedia]], Retrieved on August 27, 2015. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130814115811/http://www.lambiek.net/artists/v/vip.htm Archived] from the original on August 14, 2015.</ref> He later <!--began a four-year stint working--> worked for the [[Walt Disney Pictures|Disney]] studios, where he was among those fired after taking part in the [[Disney animators' strike]] of 1941.<ref name=lam /> Partch was a co-writer with Dick Shaw on the 1945 [[Donald Duck]] short film ''[[Duck Pimples]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Disney's "Duck Pimples" {{!}} |url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/goose-duck-pimples/ |access-date=2023-05-01 |website=cartoonresearch.com}}</ref> Soon, he began selling [[gag cartoon]]s to large-circulation magazines, including ''[[Collier's]]'', ''[[The New Yorker]]'', ''[[Playboy]]'', and ''[[True (magazine)|True]]''.<ref name=irvine>{{cite web| url = http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt7580397m/ |title=Guide to the Virgil Partch Cartoons and Artwork| publisher= Special Collections and Archives, [[University of California, Irvine|The UC Irvine Libraries]]| location= Irvine, California| access-date=August 27, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140114171000/http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt7580397m/ | archive-date= January 14, 2014 | url-status=live}}</ref> After he left Disney, he worked briefly for [[Walter Lantz]] on [[Woody Woodpecker]] cartoons.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1986-06-22 |title=Cartoonist Leaves a Legacy of 'Big George' |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-06-22-vw-20831-story.html |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Camera-ready comic art drawing for Big George |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1400709 |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=National Museum of American History |language=en}}</ref>

Partch was drafted into the US Army in 1944, and by the end of his two-year stint had been transferred from the infantry to become art director and cartoonist of the Army's weekly newspaper, the Fort Ord ''Panorama.''

Out of the Army, Partch [[freelance]]d for [[ERA Productions]]. He published a number of books of single-panel cartoons, some previously published, others done specifically for the books. His 1950 bestseller, ''Bottle Fatigue,'' focused on alcohol-themed humor, sold nearly 95,000 hardcover copies by the decade's end.<ref name=bhob />

==Syndicated cartoonist==
[[File:Captainsgig1.jpg|right|thumb|500px|Virgil Partch's ''The Captain's Gig'' (September 25, 1977)]]
Later in his career, Partch drew the successful syndicated comic strip ''Big George''<ref name=toonopedia-biggeorge>[http://toonopedia.com/bigeorge.htm ''Big George''] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]].  [https://archive.today/20240527114914/https://www.webcitation.org/6b68yy8GY?url=http://toonopedia.com/bigeorge.htm Archived] from the original on August 27, 2015.</ref> It was a six-day-a-week [[single panel cartoon]] about a typical husband when introduced in 1960.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.si.edu/object/camera-ready-comic-art-drawing-big-george%3Anmah_1400709|title=Camera-ready comic art drawing for Big George|publisher=[[National Museum of American History]]|access-date=June 5, 2024}}</ref>

Partch created the strip, ''The Captain's Gig'' (about a motley bunch of mariners and castaways), syndicated by [[Field Newspaper Syndicate|Field Enterprises]]. He also illustrated several children's books including ''The Dog Who Snored Symphonies'' and ''The Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snatcher''.<ref name=irvine />

From 1956, Partch lived in a house on the cliffs above [[Corona del Mar, Newport Beach]]. He often joined the cartoonists who regularly met at midday in the bar at the White House restaurant on the [[Pacific Coast Highway (California)|Pacific Coast Highway]] in [[Laguna Beach, California|Laguna Beach]]: Phil and Frank Interlandi, Ed Nofziger, John Dempsey, Don Tobin, Roger Armstrong, Dick Shaw, and Dick Oldden. The gathering began after Phil Interlandi moved to Laguna Beach in 1952. "That was the first bar I walked into in Laguna," Interlandi explained in 1982, "and it became a habit."<ref>[http://www.animationarchive.org/2009/03/pinups-early-interlandi-playboy.html Armstrong, Carla Interlandi. "A Brief History of Phil Interlandi," ASIFA, March 26. 2009.]</ref>

==Later life and death==
In 1979, Partch was awarded the [[Inkpot Award]].<ref>[https://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot Inkpot Award]</ref> With the onset of cataracts, Partch retired from cartooning in January 1984, and donated his collection of 3,700 original cartoons to the [[University of California, Irvine]] library. Partch and his wife died in an auto accident August 10, 1984, on [[Interstate 5]] near [[Valencia, California]]. Due to his aggressive creative efforts, at the time of his death he left behind enough "Big George" panels for the feature to continue for six more years of new material.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-06-22-vw-20831-story.html|title=Cartoonist Leaves a Legacy of 'Big George'|first=Dennis |last=McLellan|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=June 22, 1986}}</ref>

His cousin was the composer [[Harry Partch]].<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ADuyy0FeFfwC&q=virgil+%22harry+partch%22&pg=PA38|author-link=Jonathan Williams (poet)|last=Williams|first=Jonathan|title=A Palpable Elysium: Portraits of Genius and Solitude|chapter=Harry Partch (1901-1974)|page=38|publisher=David R. Godine|year=2002|isbn=9781567921496 | quote=It's fitting that his cousin VIP (Virgil Partch) was a fine zany cartoonist of his time.}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*Moore, Scott. "Life Inside a Comic Strip," ''Los Angeles Times'' (December 26, 1974), p. E1
*Obituary, ''Los Angeles Times'', (August 12, 1984), Metro Section, p. B1.

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/19981203100857/http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/partch.htm Illustrated biography/bibliography]}}
*[http://www.pbase.com/csw62/partch Virgil Partch photo gallery]
*[http://www.animationarchive.org/2008/01/comics-virgil-partchs-wild-wild-women.html Animation Archive]
{{Inkpot Award 1970s}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Partch, Virgil Franklin}}
[[Category:1916 births]]
[[Category:1984 deaths]]
[[Category:American comic strip cartoonists]]
[[Category:American humorists]]
[[Category:American children's book illustrators]]
[[Category:20th-century American illustrators]]
[[Category:American comics artists]]
[[Category:Road incident deaths in California]]
[[Category:Chouinard Art Institute alumni]]
[[Category:University of Arizona alumni]]
[[Category:Walt Disney Animation Studios people]]
[[Category:Walter Lantz Productions people]]
[[Category:Playboy cartoonists]]
[[Category:Inkpot Award winners]]