The Ultimate Droodles Compendium: The Absurdly Complete Collection of All the Classic Zany Creations [Paperback]

Before the inspired nonsense of Monty Python, David Letterman and the Far Side, there were Droodles. With a few squiggles in a simple square, these clever drawings created absurd scenes like "Ship arriving too late to save a drowning witch" (used by Frank Zappa as an album cover), "Octopus signaling for a left turn" and "Clam with buck teeth." And they were all the creation of one brilliant and unpredictable man: Roger Price.At the height of their popularity in the mid-1950s, fans enjoyed the Droodles TV show, a Droodles daily newspaper column, Droodles magazine features, Droodles cocktail napkins, even Droodles in ads for Lucky Strike cigarettes. Like hula hoops, drive-in movies and UFOs, Droodles were one of the biggest fads of the 1950s.Now Droodles make their triumphant return to delight a new generation that can use some laughs. The Ultimate Droodles Compendium includes every one of Roger Price's 352 most famous Droodles in delightful new full-quality reproductions, with Price's inspired text and quirky footnotes. There's more: a Roger Price/Droodles reminiscence by beloved media critic Leonard Maltin, a full history of Roger Price and Droodles by Emmy-winning writer Fritz Holznagel, and comments from comedy legend Carl Reiner, Boing Boing's Mark Frauenfelder and Carla Sinclair, and others.Droodles are back in this handsome, hilarious, ultimate collection from Tallfellow Press. Droodles now. Droodles forever!From A Brief History of Roger Price and Droodles:All the geometric Americana of the era showed up in Droodles: cigarettes, bowling balls, martini glasses, bow ties and TV antennae. Price was infatuated with and infuriated by television, and Droodles are full of 1950s ad themes like floating soap, marching cigarettes and chlorophyll for fresh breath.The text was pure offbeat Price, with an absurdity that was less post-Bob Hope and more pre-Monty Python. A Droodle about the Tower of Pisa somehow turned into an appreciation of thl£0