A Frog Started My Career

Croaked Frog

When you reach my age (56), it is not unique that one remembers things that happened 50 years ago; but can’t remember what day it is. That’s me.  The one thing I will never forget is how and why I started collecting things. Let me warn you ahead of time, this story will not appeal to “greenies” nor “animal rights activists”. I should know, I am both. But at age four, when I was just beginning to explore the great outdoors, I found what became my new favorite animal, besides my beagle “Buster”.  That animal was the frog.  And since I lived near the woods, I knew I could count on my new friend, the frog, to virtually jump into my hands and into the great big jar full of grass and all kinds of marshy things I put together. It was tall enough to need no top so it generally lived a long time.  I tried to get 3-4 a night so as they could keep company and “tell frog stories”, as I imagined frogs often did.

Unlike my two siblings, my parents made a bedroom for me out of the attic of the home. This had its advantages and disadvantages. One advantage was the ability to hide frogs, even though the croak sort of gave them away. One croak was so loud, Mom ran upstairs, ran past the closet they were in, and to me. I was rubbing my tummy telling her I felt it was gas.  She gave me more Milk Of Magnesia than any human should be aloud to ingest and the croaking continued.

Mom was no dummy, even though at times I thought she was.  She asked, as I rubbed my tummy, “Where are the frogs”.  I took her to the large jar.  She let them out into the woods and explained to me that was their home and where they were happy. I readily agreed and begin collecting insects in jars.  She gave me the same lecture and we let them go.

Finally it occurred to me that I could be creative, make things, and nobody got hurt. I even begin collecting stamps.  Well into elementary school, creative writing became my love and nobody ever got hurt, except for those forced to read it.  However as time went by, I fared well at it, won a few contests and kept at it.

After college came “time to get serious” and there was not much time for creative ventures.  A funny thing happened though. Those creative ventures were still in my heart, and, when the work day was over, I would continue on creating as I pleased.  As time went by, I enjoyed 9-5 work less and less and creative endeavors more and more.  Playwriting took me to book writing, and book writing took me to screenwriting, and screenwriting took me to cartooning which is where I am now.

My cartooning began as a hobby. I had been taking care of a dying Mom and it was something to keep my mind busy.  Never in a million years would I have believed that this little hobby would grow into a business of 5000+ color cartoons and 200,000+ funny gifts & collectibles.  My cartoons are now my own little collectibles. They have replaced frogs, insects, stamps and a multitude of other items that did not serve me well (or vice versa).  Thirteen years of cartooning is a subtle hint that I might be on the right path. With Google & MSN rating my cartoon number one for 6 years, is yet another, subtle hint, this is the right thing for me to “collect”.   Anybody got a big jar?

Place Is Bugged (Click To Enlarge)

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I am a writer, designer and cartoonist who used to collect frogs, insects, stamps and other such items.  Cartoons seem to fit me better. I founded Londons Times Cartoon in 1997 which are the #1 Google & MSN ranked offbeat cartoon on the Internet. I launched several online stores that sell my funny gifts and even have my own line of designer shoes featuring graphics of famous philosophers and poets and their most famous love quotations.

One Comment

  1. Posted March 8, 2011 at 2:27 pm | Permalink

    LMAO oh baby what a wonderful sweet boy! Thank You for sharing this lovely childhood moment.
    Love Your DW Lee xx00xx

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