{"id":255,"date":"2021-06-22T13:30:22","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T13:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/misteroswald.com\/?p=255"},"modified":"2021-06-22T13:30:22","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T13:30:22","slug":"i-heard-harry-carays-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/misteroswald.com\/?p=255","title":{"rendered":"I Heard Harry Caray\u2019s Voice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As described in my first blog post on the site, I discovered Russ Johnson\u2019s work in 1993 when I ran across a copy of his 1968 book, Forty Years with Mister Oswald<\/em><\/strong>, in a used bookstore in Illinois.\u00a0 Two years later I was chatting on the phone with Don Petterson, a collector friend in Vermont, who let me know that Russ was alive and well in Gibson City, Illinois.\u00a0 Don had first gotten in touch with Russ in 1979 after reading an article about Russ and Mister Oswald<\/em><\/strong>, written by Max Allan Collins for the old Comics Buyers Guide<\/u><\/em>.\u00a0 Don ordered a copy of the book directly from Russ ($4.95 postage paid) and kept in steady contact, trading letters and Christmas cards.\u00a0 Don knew that I wanted to get in touch with Russ, so he kindly sent me his contact information, along with Russ\u2019 daughter\u2019s address:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Index Card From Don Petterson<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I called Russ on June 28, 1995, to inquire about conducting an interview with him.  Unfortunately, Russ\u2019 hearing made communicating difficult, so I wrote him a letter the following day.  At the time, I was editing 1506 Nix Nix<\/em><\/strong>, a small-press journal devoted to the comic and cartoon arts.  The title was derived from Bill Holman\u2019s screwball comic strip, Smoky Stover<\/em><\/strong>.  Holman would scrawl the phrase \u201c1506 Nix Nix\u201d into the strip on occasion.  1506 was the hotel room number of his bachelor cartoonist friend Al Posen.  The phrase was meant as a playful inside joke for women to stay away from Posen\u2019s room.  When I wrote to Russ, I explained that I would love to interview him for 1506 Nix Nix<\/em><\/strong>, and that while there were many fans of his work, I hoped to introduce his work to a wider audience.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My letter must have struck a chord with Russ, as I heard back from him just a couple of weeks later:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Letter From Russ Johnson<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I followed up Russ\u2019 letter immediately with a phone call, and we made plans to meet at his house in Gibson City, Illinois on July 29, 1995. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t recall the exact time we agreed to meet, but it had to have been after 1:23 in the afternoon.  How do I know, you ask?  Simple.  The Cubs were already playing their game against the Phillies which started at 1:23. And how do I know about the game, you inquire?  Because of Harry Caray.  When I found my way from the small downtown area of Gibson City to Russ\u2019 house on East 9th<\/sup> street and pulled into his driveway, Harry Caray\u2019s booming voice washed over me.  As baseball fans know, Harry Caray was an iconic baseball figure, especially when he was announcing games for the Chicago Cubs.  Caray was a gregarious character who sometimes found foreign-born players\u2019 names a challenge to pronounce, but he was passionate about the game.  And he was often loud about the game.  Russ was an avid Cubs fan, but at 101 years old he was also quite hard of hearing, so the volume on his TV was turned up.  Way up.  Had I a headful of hair, it might have been blown back by the volume of Caray\u2019s voice coming out of Russ\u2019 house.  I went up to Russ\u2019 door and knocked, but the ballgame was so loud Russ couldn\u2019t hear me knocking.  I knocked on the door for a few more minutes, to no avail.  I thought about trying the door to see if it was open but didn\u2019t want to simply barge right in on a person I didn\u2019t know, so I drove back to the small downtown, found a payphone (yes, this was 1995) and called Russ.  I let him know that I was in town and this time when I pulled up, he was waiting for me at his door, Harry Caray just a loud memory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spent a couple of wonderful hours interviewing Russ.  His eyesight was not very good, so he used a magnifying machine to view some of the artwork that I brought along, as well as to view some of his own work.  While Russ\u2019 hearing and eyesight had seen better days, he was as sharp as a tack, regaling me with stories about his life and career.  He could pick out Fred Lasswell\u2019s drawing on a Bunky<\/em><\/strong> Sunday page from the early 1940s that Lasswell had assisted on, even though it was signed by Russ\u2019 former teacher, Billy DeBeck, who created the feature in the 1920s.  Russ could talk about the line work in a Carl Ed Harold Teen<\/em><\/strong> daily, recounting another former teacher of his at the old Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.  Russ also told me about his time in the Navy during WWI.  Yes, WWI.  Russ joined the Navy because he loved reading the Katzenjammer Kids<\/em><\/strong> growing up.  The setting of the Katzenjammer Kid<\/em><\/strong>s largely took place on the ocean or on an island and Russ dreamed of being on the sea after spending his life on landlocked farmland.  Fortunately for the Navy, but unfortunately for Russ, he proved to be such a crack-shot from his years of hunting, that he was made a shooting instructor after spending only a couple of weeks at sea.  As the interview went on, my mind kept going back to the fact that I was interviewing a WWI vet nearly 80 years after he had joined the Navy!  I wish I had known of the cartooning he had done for the base newspaper in Charleston, South Caroline at that time.  Too many unasked questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russ was selling his Mister Oswald<\/em><\/strong> originals for $35.00 each back then.\u00a0 I asked about purchasing an original or two from him and Russ had me go through a metal flat-file filled with strips.\u00a0 I found two strips that I loved and went to pay Russ, but he stopped me and said, \u201cI\u2019m 101 years old.\u00a0 What am I going to do with money?\u201d and graciously gave me the two originals.\u00a0 Below are two photos that I snapped of Russ that day, holding one of the originals that he gifted to me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Russ Without His Hat<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Russ With His Hat<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Russ passed away two months later, on September 7, 1995.\u00a0 I was honored to conduct his final interview, which later appeared in Hogan\u2019s Alley magazine, and thank my lucky stars that I did not procrastinate is setting up my meeting and interview and with Russ. The interview is available to read at: https:\/\/www.hoganmag.com\/blog\/russell-johnson-and-mister-oswald-a-tale-of-two-proprietors<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cubs won that day 9 to 8, so it was a good day all around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for tuning in.\u00a0 If any of you have Russ Johnson or Mister Oswald<\/em><\/strong> stories to share, I would be honored if you would consider sharing them on this blog.\u00a0 Please contact me at rob@robstolzer.com if you are interested in a guest-blogging appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Mister Oswald Original That Russ Is Holding In The Photos – 1954<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As described in my first blog post on the site, I discovered Russ Johnson\u2019s work in 1993 when I ran across a copy of his 1968 book, Forty Years with Mister Oswald, in a used bookstore in Illinois.\u00a0 Two years later I was chatting on the phone with Don Petterson, a collector friend in Vermont, who let me know that Russ was alive and well in Gibson City, Illinois.\u00a0 Don had first gotten in touch with Russ in 1979 after reading an article about Russ and Mister Oswald, written by Max Allan Collins for the old Comics Buyers Guide.\u00a0 Don ordered a copy of the book directly from Russ ($4.95 postage paid) and kept in steady contact, trading letters and Christmas cards.\u00a0 Don knew that I wanted to get in touch with Russ, so he kindly sent me his contact information, along with Russ\u2019 daughter\u2019s address: I called Russ on June 28, 1995, to inquire about conducting an interview with him.  Unfortunately, Russ\u2019 hearing made communicating difficult, so I wrote him a letter the following day.  At the time, I was editing 1506 Nix Nix, a small-press journal devoted to the comic and cartoon arts.  The title was derived from Bill Holman\u2019s screwball comic strip, Smoky Stover.  Holman would scrawl the phrase \u201c1506 Nix Nix\u201d into the strip on occasion.  1506 was the hotel room number of his bachelor cartoonist friend Al Posen.  The phrase was meant as a playful inside joke for women to stay away from Posen\u2019s room.  When I wrote to Russ, I explained that I would love to interview him for 1506 Nix Nix, and that while there were many fans of his work, I hoped to introduce his work to a wider audience.   My letter must have struck a chord with Russ, as I heard back from him just a couple of weeks later: I followed up Russ\u2019 letter immediately with a phone call, and we made plans to meet at his house in Gibson City, Illinois on July 29, 1995.  I don\u2019t recall the exact time we agreed to meet, but it had to have been after 1:23 in the afternoon.  How do I know, you ask?  Simple.  The Cubs were already playing their game against the Phillies which started at 1:23. And how do I know about the game, you inquire?  Because of Harry Caray.  When I found my way from the small downtown area of Gibson City to Russ\u2019 house on East 9th street and pulled into his driveway, Harry Caray\u2019s booming voice washed over me.  As baseball fans know, Harry Caray was an iconic baseball figure, especially when he was announcing games for the Chicago Cubs.  Caray was a gregarious character who sometimes found foreign-born players\u2019 names a challenge to pronounce, but he was passionate about the game.  And he was often loud about the game.  Russ was an avid Cubs fan, but at 101 years old he was also quite hard of hearing, so the volume on his TV was turned up.  Way up.  Had I a headful of hair, it might have been blown back by the volume of Caray\u2019s voice coming out of Russ\u2019 house.  I went up to Russ\u2019 door and knocked, but the ballgame was so loud Russ couldn\u2019t hear me knocking.  I knocked on the door for a few more minutes, to no avail.  I thought about trying the door to see if it was open but didn\u2019t want to simply barge right in on a person I didn\u2019t know, so I drove back to the small downtown, found a payphone (yes, this was 1995) and called Russ.  I let him know that I was in town and this time when I pulled up, he was waiting for me at his door, Harry Caray just a loud memory.  I spent a couple of wonderful hours interviewing Russ.  His eyesight was not very good, so he used a magnifying machine to view some of the artwork that I brought along, as well as to view some of his own work.  While Russ\u2019 hearing and eyesight had seen better days, he was as sharp as a tack, regaling me with stories about his life and career.  He could pick out Fred Lasswell\u2019s drawing on a Bunky Sunday page from the early 1940s that Lasswell had assisted on, even though it was signed by Russ\u2019 former teacher, Billy DeBeck, who created the feature in the 1920s.  Russ could talk about the line work in a Carl Ed Harold Teen daily, recounting another former teacher of his at the old Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.  Russ also told me about his time in the Navy during WWI.  Yes, WWI.  Russ joined the Navy because he loved reading the Katzenjammer Kids growing up.  The setting of the Katzenjammer Kids largely took place on the ocean or on an island and Russ dreamed of being on the sea after spending his life on landlocked farmland.  Fortunately for the Navy, but unfortunately for Russ, he proved to be such a crack-shot from his years of hunting, that he was made a shooting instructor after spending only a couple of weeks at sea.  As the interview went on, my mind kept going back to the fact that I was interviewing a WWI vet nearly 80 years after he had joined the Navy!  I wish I had known of the cartooning he had done for the base newspaper in Charleston, South Caroline at that time.  Too many unasked questions. Russ was selling his Mister Oswald originals for $35.00 each back then.\u00a0 I asked about purchasing an original or two from him and Russ had me go through a metal flat-file filled with strips.\u00a0 I found two strips that I loved and went to pay Russ, but he stopped me and said, \u201cI\u2019m 101 years old.\u00a0 What am I going to do with money?\u201d and graciously gave me the two originals.\u00a0 Below are two photos that I snapped of Russ that day, holding one of the originals that he gifted to me: Russ passed away two months later, on September 7, 1995.\u00a0 I was honored to conduct his final interview, which later appeared in Hogan\u2019s Alley magazine, and thank my lucky stars that I did not procrastinate is setting up my meeting and interview and with Russ. The interview is available to read at: https:\/\/www.hoganmag.com\/blog\/russell-johnson-and-mister-oswald-a-tale-of-two-proprietors The Cubs won that day 9 to 8, so it was a good day all around. Thanks for tuning in.\u00a0 If any of you have Russ Johnson or Mister Oswald stories to share, I would be honored if you would consider sharing them on this blog.\u00a0 Please contact me at rob@robstolzer.com if you are interested in a guest-blogging appearance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[20,21,16,17,15,18,8,19,7,6,5],"class_list":["post-255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-billy-debeck","tag-carl-ed","tag-cartooning","tag-cartoonist","tag-comic-strip","tag-gibson-city","tag-hardware-retailing","tag-katzenjammer-kids","tag-mister-oswald","tag-russ-johnson","tag-russell-johnson"],"yoast_head":"\nI Heard Harry Caray\u2019s Voice - Mister Oswald<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/misteroswald.com\/?p=255\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I Heard Harry Caray\u2019s Voice - Mister Oswald\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As described in my first blog post on the site, I discovered Russ Johnson\u2019s work in 1993 when I ran across a copy of his 1968 book, Forty Years with Mister Oswald, in a used bookstore in Illinois.\u00a0 Two years later I was chatting on the phone with Don Petterson, a collector friend in Vermont, who let me know that Russ was alive and well in Gibson City, Illinois.\u00a0 Don had first gotten in touch with Russ in 1979 after reading an article about Russ and Mister Oswald, written by Max Allan Collins for the old Comics Buyers Guide.\u00a0 Don ordered a copy of the book directly from Russ ($4.95 postage paid) and kept in steady contact, trading letters and Christmas cards.\u00a0 Don knew that I wanted to get in touch with Russ, so he kindly sent me his contact information, along with Russ\u2019 daughter\u2019s address: I called Russ on June 28, 1995, to inquire about conducting an interview with him.  Unfortunately, Russ\u2019 hearing made communicating difficult, so I wrote him a letter the following day.  At the time, I was editing 1506 Nix Nix, a small-press journal devoted to the comic and cartoon arts.  The title was derived from Bill Holman\u2019s screwball comic strip, Smoky Stover.  Holman would scrawl the phrase \u201c1506 Nix Nix\u201d into the strip on occasion.  1506 was the hotel room number of his bachelor cartoonist friend Al Posen.  The phrase was meant as a playful inside joke for women to stay away from Posen\u2019s room.  When I wrote to Russ, I explained that I would love to interview him for 1506 Nix Nix, and that while there were many fans of his work, I hoped to introduce his work to a wider audience.   My letter must have struck a chord with Russ, as I heard back from him just a couple of weeks later: I followed up Russ\u2019 letter immediately with a phone call, and we made plans to meet at his house in Gibson City, Illinois on July 29, 1995.  I don\u2019t recall the exact time we agreed to meet, but it had to have been after 1:23 in the afternoon.  How do I know, you ask?  Simple.  The Cubs were already playing their game against the Phillies which started at 1:23. And how do I know about the game, you inquire?  Because of Harry Caray.  When I found my way from the small downtown area of Gibson City to Russ\u2019 house on East 9th street and pulled into his driveway, Harry Caray\u2019s booming voice washed over me.  As baseball fans know, Harry Caray was an iconic baseball figure, especially when he was announcing games for the Chicago Cubs.  Caray was a gregarious character who sometimes found foreign-born players\u2019 names a challenge to pronounce, but he was passionate about the game.  And he was often loud about the game.  Russ was an avid Cubs fan, but at 101 years old he was also quite hard of hearing, so the volume on his TV was turned up.  Way up.  Had I a headful of hair, it might have been blown back by the volume of Caray\u2019s voice coming out of Russ\u2019 house.  I went up to Russ\u2019 door and knocked, but the ballgame was so loud Russ couldn\u2019t hear me knocking.  I knocked on the door for a few more minutes, to no avail.  I thought about trying the door to see if it was open but didn\u2019t want to simply barge right in on a person I didn\u2019t know, so I drove back to the small downtown, found a payphone (yes, this was 1995) and called Russ.  I let him know that I was in town and this time when I pulled up, he was waiting for me at his door, Harry Caray just a loud memory.  I spent a couple of wonderful hours interviewing Russ.  His eyesight was not very good, so he used a magnifying machine to view some of the artwork that I brought along, as well as to view some of his own work.  While Russ\u2019 hearing and eyesight had seen better days, he was as sharp as a tack, regaling me with stories about his life and career.  He could pick out Fred Lasswell\u2019s drawing on a Bunky Sunday page from the early 1940s that Lasswell had assisted on, even though it was signed by Russ\u2019 former teacher, Billy DeBeck, who created the feature in the 1920s.  Russ could talk about the line work in a Carl Ed Harold Teen daily, recounting another former teacher of his at the old Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.  Russ also told me about his time in the Navy during WWI.  Yes, WWI.  Russ joined the Navy because he loved reading the Katzenjammer Kids growing up.  The setting of the Katzenjammer Kids largely took place on the ocean or on an island and Russ dreamed of being on the sea after spending his life on landlocked farmland.  Fortunately for the Navy, but unfortunately for Russ, he proved to be such a crack-shot from his years of hunting, that he was made a shooting instructor after spending only a couple of weeks at sea.  As the interview went on, my mind kept going back to the fact that I was interviewing a WWI vet nearly 80 years after he had joined the Navy!  I wish I had known of the cartooning he had done for the base newspaper in Charleston, South Caroline at that time.  Too many unasked questions. Russ was selling his Mister Oswald originals for $35.00 each back then.\u00a0 I asked about purchasing an original or two from him and Russ had me go through a metal flat-file filled with strips.\u00a0 I found two strips that I loved and went to pay Russ, but he stopped me and said, \u201cI\u2019m 101 years old.\u00a0 What am I going to do with money?\u201d and graciously gave me the two originals.\u00a0 Below are two photos that I snapped of Russ that day, holding one of the originals that he gifted to me: Russ passed away two months later, on September 7, 1995.\u00a0 I was honored to conduct his final interview, which later appeared in Hogan\u2019s Alley magazine, and thank my lucky stars that I did not procrastinate is setting up my meeting and interview and with Russ. The interview is available to read at: https:\/\/www.hoganmag.com\/blog\/russell-johnson-and-mister-oswald-a-tale-of-two-proprietors The Cubs won that day 9 to 8, so it was a good day all around. Thanks for tuning in.\u00a0 If any of you have Russ Johnson or Mister Oswald stories to share, I would be honored if you would consider sharing them on this blog.\u00a0 Please contact me at rob@robstolzer.com if you are interested in a guest-blogging appearance.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/misteroswald.com\/?p=255\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mister Oswald\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-22T13:30:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/misteroswald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Index-Card-from-Don-Petterson.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rob Stolzer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rob Stolzer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/misteroswald.com\\\/?p=255#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/misteroswald.com\\\/?p=255\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rob Stolzer\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/misteroswald.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/92b17621c318c45297da798ef892d6b5\"},\"headline\":\"I Heard Harry Caray\u2019s Voice\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-22T13:30:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/misteroswald.com\\\/?p=255\"},\"wordCount\":1191,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/misteroswald.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/misteroswald.com\\\/?p=255#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/misteroswald.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/Index-Card-from-Don-Petterson.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Billy DeBeck\",\"Carl Ed\",\"Cartooning\",\"Cartoonist\",\"Comic Strip\",\"Gibson City\",\"Hardware Retailing\",\"Katzenjammer Kids\",\"Mister Oswald\",\"Russ Johnson\",\"Russell Johnson\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/misteroswald.com\\\/?p=255#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/misteroswald.com\\\/?p=255\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/misteroswald.com\\\/?p=255\",\"name\":\"I Heard Harry Caray\u2019s Voice - 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He has written numerous articles for Hogan's Alley, the CFA-APA 1506 Nix Nix and other journals. Stolzer taught art at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point for 33 years, where he taught Drawing, Figure Drawing, Graphic Narration, Illustration, and Painting.\u00a0 Stolzer was granted emeritus professor status upon retirement in 2023.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/misteroswald.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/misteroswald.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I Heard Harry Caray\u2019s Voice - Mister Oswald","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/misteroswald.com\/?p=255","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"I Heard Harry Caray\u2019s Voice - Mister Oswald","og_description":"As described in my first blog post on the site, I discovered Russ Johnson\u2019s work in 1993 when I ran across a copy of his 1968 book, Forty Years with Mister Oswald, in a used bookstore in Illinois.\u00a0 Two years later I was chatting on the phone with Don Petterson, a collector friend in Vermont, who let me know that Russ was alive and well in Gibson City, Illinois.\u00a0 Don had first gotten in touch with Russ in 1979 after reading an article about Russ and Mister Oswald, written by Max Allan Collins for the old Comics Buyers Guide.\u00a0 Don ordered a copy of the book directly from Russ ($4.95 postage paid) and kept in steady contact, trading letters and Christmas cards.\u00a0 Don knew that I wanted to get in touch with Russ, so he kindly sent me his contact information, along with Russ\u2019 daughter\u2019s address: I called Russ on June 28, 1995, to inquire about conducting an interview with him.  Unfortunately, Russ\u2019 hearing made communicating difficult, so I wrote him a letter the following day.  At the time, I was editing 1506 Nix Nix, a small-press journal devoted to the comic and cartoon arts.  The title was derived from Bill Holman\u2019s screwball comic strip, Smoky Stover.  Holman would scrawl the phrase \u201c1506 Nix Nix\u201d into the strip on occasion.  1506 was the hotel room number of his bachelor cartoonist friend Al Posen.  The phrase was meant as a playful inside joke for women to stay away from Posen\u2019s room.  When I wrote to Russ, I explained that I would love to interview him for 1506 Nix Nix, and that while there were many fans of his work, I hoped to introduce his work to a wider audience.   My letter must have struck a chord with Russ, as I heard back from him just a couple of weeks later: I followed up Russ\u2019 letter immediately with a phone call, and we made plans to meet at his house in Gibson City, Illinois on July 29, 1995.  I don\u2019t recall the exact time we agreed to meet, but it had to have been after 1:23 in the afternoon.  How do I know, you ask?  Simple.  The Cubs were already playing their game against the Phillies which started at 1:23. And how do I know about the game, you inquire?  Because of Harry Caray.  When I found my way from the small downtown area of Gibson City to Russ\u2019 house on East 9th street and pulled into his driveway, Harry Caray\u2019s booming voice washed over me.  As baseball fans know, Harry Caray was an iconic baseball figure, especially when he was announcing games for the Chicago Cubs.  Caray was a gregarious character who sometimes found foreign-born players\u2019 names a challenge to pronounce, but he was passionate about the game.  And he was often loud about the game.  Russ was an avid Cubs fan, but at 101 years old he was also quite hard of hearing, so the volume on his TV was turned up.  Way up.  Had I a headful of hair, it might have been blown back by the volume of Caray\u2019s voice coming out of Russ\u2019 house.  I went up to Russ\u2019 door and knocked, but the ballgame was so loud Russ couldn\u2019t hear me knocking.  I knocked on the door for a few more minutes, to no avail.  I thought about trying the door to see if it was open but didn\u2019t want to simply barge right in on a person I didn\u2019t know, so I drove back to the small downtown, found a payphone (yes, this was 1995) and called Russ.  I let him know that I was in town and this time when I pulled up, he was waiting for me at his door, Harry Caray just a loud memory.  I spent a couple of wonderful hours interviewing Russ.  His eyesight was not very good, so he used a magnifying machine to view some of the artwork that I brought along, as well as to view some of his own work.  While Russ\u2019 hearing and eyesight had seen better days, he was as sharp as a tack, regaling me with stories about his life and career.  He could pick out Fred Lasswell\u2019s drawing on a Bunky Sunday page from the early 1940s that Lasswell had assisted on, even though it was signed by Russ\u2019 former teacher, Billy DeBeck, who created the feature in the 1920s.  Russ could talk about the line work in a Carl Ed Harold Teen daily, recounting another former teacher of his at the old Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.  Russ also told me about his time in the Navy during WWI.  Yes, WWI.  Russ joined the Navy because he loved reading the Katzenjammer Kids growing up.  The setting of the Katzenjammer Kids largely took place on the ocean or on an island and Russ dreamed of being on the sea after spending his life on landlocked farmland.  Fortunately for the Navy, but unfortunately for Russ, he proved to be such a crack-shot from his years of hunting, that he was made a shooting instructor after spending only a couple of weeks at sea.  As the interview went on, my mind kept going back to the fact that I was interviewing a WWI vet nearly 80 years after he had joined the Navy!  I wish I had known of the cartooning he had done for the base newspaper in Charleston, South Caroline at that time.  Too many unasked questions. Russ was selling his Mister Oswald originals for $35.00 each back then.\u00a0 I asked about purchasing an original or two from him and Russ had me go through a metal flat-file filled with strips.\u00a0 I found two strips that I loved and went to pay Russ, but he stopped me and said, \u201cI\u2019m 101 years old.\u00a0 What am I going to do with money?\u201d and graciously gave me the two originals.\u00a0 Below are two photos that I snapped of Russ that day, holding one of the originals that he gifted to me: Russ passed away two months later, on September 7, 1995.\u00a0 I was honored to conduct his final interview, which later appeared in Hogan\u2019s Alley magazine, and thank my lucky stars that I did not procrastinate is setting up my meeting and interview and with Russ. The interview is available to read at: https:\/\/www.hoganmag.com\/blog\/russell-johnson-and-mister-oswald-a-tale-of-two-proprietors The Cubs won that day 9 to 8, so it was a good day all around. Thanks for tuning in.\u00a0 If any of you have Russ Johnson or Mister Oswald stories to share, I would be honored if you would consider sharing them on this blog.\u00a0 Please contact me at rob@robstolzer.com if you are interested in a guest-blogging appearance.","og_url":"https:\/\/misteroswald.com\/?p=255","og_site_name":"Mister Oswald","article_published_time":"2021-06-22T13:30:22+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/misteroswald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Index-Card-from-Don-Petterson.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Rob Stolzer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rob Stolzer","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/misteroswald.com\/?p=255#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/misteroswald.com\/?p=255"},"author":{"name":"Rob Stolzer","@id":"https:\/\/misteroswald.com\/#\/schema\/person\/92b17621c318c45297da798ef892d6b5"},"headline":"I Heard Harry Caray\u2019s Voice","datePublished":"2021-06-22T13:30:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/misteroswald.com\/?p=255"},"wordCount":1191,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/misteroswald.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/misteroswald.com\/?p=255#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/misteroswald.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Index-Card-from-Don-Petterson.jpg","keywords":["Billy DeBeck","Carl Ed","Cartooning","Cartoonist","Comic Strip","Gibson City","Hardware Retailing","Katzenjammer Kids","Mister Oswald","Russ Johnson","Russell Johnson"],"articleSection":["Blog"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/misteroswald.com\/?p=255#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/misteroswald.com\/?p=255","url":"https:\/\/misteroswald.com\/?p=255","name":"I Heard Harry Caray\u2019s Voice - 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