Gesundheit, Dummy!: The Best of Baloo Book

Humor is not a mood but a way of looking at the world. These words of Ludwig Wittgenstein are the most accurate description of a new title just fresh in print. After 25 years in the business, Rex F. May, one of the most popular cartoonists in America, also known under his pen name Baloo, offers his first collected works.Yet, Rex's drawings are also the way of seeing the world. His humor reflects in dozens of mirrors of his cartoons, offer a very special type of view, of rapport, of feeling one has about things. His many cartoons are little windows offering the insights into our world -- and into us. Kings and clerks, cavemen and business people, politicians and common people, animals and angels - all mixed into this very special blend, black and white in ink yet so colorful in expression, and filled with joie de vivre and diversity of this life. This is the first collection of works by Rex F. May. A Terre Haute, Indiana, native, Rex started out as a writer. He wrote several articles for the National Lampoon in the early '70's. In 1974 he started writing gags for dozens of freelance cartoonists, and continues to be a regular contributor to several syndicated comic strips. Two years later he began to draw cartoons himself. Rex developed the deceptively simple style that has charmed millions of readers. He has always been one of the most prolific contributors writing between 150-200 cartoon captions a week as well as drawing cartoons. Rex's distinctive style is immediately recognizable. His cartoons have appeared in some of the nation's largest, most influential, and diverse publications, including National Review, The Wall Street Journal, Saturday Evening Post, The New Yorker,Playboy, Good Housekeeping, The Rush Limbaugh Letter, Liberty, and many, many more. His works also graced some of the columns of the European press. June 1995 issue of the Smithsonian Magazine named Rex "the king of gag writers".