Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Hilda Terry June 25, 1914 - October 13, 2006

I just got word that Hilda Terry, creator of the King Features comic strip "Teena" (1941-64), passed away on Friday.

And she pushed for, and succeeded in, getting women admitted to the then-all male National Cartoonists Society. Hilda also (according to her autobiography) invented the first open-toe shoe in 1928, and pioneered computer graphics for stadium scoreboards.

Heidi MacDonald has a very good post about Ms. Terry and her life at her blog.

Hilda Terry always popped up unexpectedly. I would always see her at the NCS Reuben conventions. The last time I saw her was on the second floor of the Overlook Lounge a few months back, telling stories to about 6 colleagues over the BOOM BOOM BOOM of the pub's piped in rock music.

She was also a believer in odd matters, as exemplified by her Web site. Her autobio STRANGE BOD FELLOWS is described thusly:

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From the computer we learn that a past life CAN survive in Nature’s backup, probably with a life and awareness of its own. If we find the key to invading a past file, we should be able to open it. My past life got through to me. She identified herself as the child of a mother hung as a witch. I later learned she had existed, and suffered a blighted childhood. Our cartoons, recapturing in this life the lost years of that previous life, exhibit the normalcy of the paranormal.

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And so, this morning, after hearing about her passing away, I rummaged through some piles of books, and wandering from the shelves in the bedroom to the shelves in the living room. I couldn't find my copy of STRANGE BOD FELLOWS. I sat down, patted a cat, thought for a moment, and then went back to the bedroom to try again -- and THERE IT WAS! The book was suddenly staring me in the face, on top of a pile of books I had moved.

Hilda Terry, once again, popping up unexpectedly!

Hat tip to Dirk Deppy's Journalista! site.

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