DEATH OF A CARTOONIST

I was saddened to read John Callahan's obituary by Bruce Weber in the July 30th New York Times.

I wrote about Callahan several years ago after I read a feature story about him in the Sunday magazine section of the New York Times (June 7, 1992).

A quadriplegic, Callahan was a syndicated cartoonist who could laugh at himself and at us. His comic strips poked fun at the blind, the handicapped, the hard of hearing, nuns in Catholic schools, blacks, dysfunctional families, TV talk show hosts, and many others. He was especially disdainful of anyone who showed pity on the disabled or condescended to them.

After watching the daily parade of people with personality disorders on Donahue, Winfrey and Rivera, Callahan drew a cartoon showing TV host Geraldo Rivera on his knees saying his bedtime prayers: "Thank you, God, for all the tragedy, wretchedness, and perversion in the world."

Callahan was an alcoholic by the time he was 12. Shortly after his 21st birthday he and a friend were driving in Callahan’s Volkswagen. Driving over 90 miles an hour, the friend lost control of the VW and crashed into a pole. Callahan’s spinal cord was severed, so for the rest of his life he lived in a wheelchair during the day. At night an attendant helped him into bed; in the morning, another attendant got him back into the wheel chair. He could not move all of his fingers, so he drew cartoons by clutching a pen in his right hand and guiding it across the page with his left. At his peak, he produced three to ten cartoons a week.

He was not always that productive. By 1978 Callahan was drinking a fifth of hard liquor a day. When his attendant was out running errands for him one day, Callahan tried for an hour to open a bottle of liquor with his teeth. The bottle fell to the floor out of his reach leaving Callahan in a rage. He finally realized that his problem was not his quadriplegia but his alcoholism. He joined A.A. and at his funeral Mass, Callahan’s brother said he remained sober for the rest of his life.

Although the Catholic church was the butt of much of his humor, a few days before he died, Callahan told his family he wanted a Catholic funeral. Reports on his brother’s eulogy and the priest celebrant’s remarks can be found on several Internet sites along with examples of Callahan’s cartoons. One shows a figure dressed in a surplice looking at a line drawn on the wall with a sign that says, ”You must be this tall to be abused by a member of the clergy.”

Another example of the cartoonist’s irreverent and sometimes shocking wit is found in his obituary by Bruce Weber, who quotes an answering service message Callahan once recorded on his telephone: “This is John. I’m a little too depressed to take your call today. Please leave your message at the gunshot.”

Callahan’s humor offended some people, but others, including those (perhaps especially those) with disabilities, found it hilariously funny.

I have always had a spontaneous laugh-out-loud response to his cartoons. If a man who lives most of his waking hours in a wheelchair can laugh at himself, I don’t think I have to apologize for responding as he hoped I would. And whether he intended it or not, I also learned from Callahan that laughing at my own disabilities, especially as I age, makes life a lot more pleasant for me and probably for those around me. Rest in peace, John, and welcome to the communion of saints.

Posted August 12, 2010

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