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PERSONALITY PEEKS:
CHARLIE HALL, Cartoonist

by FRANK O'DONNELL
January 25, 2007

When Charlie Hall got the 2007 edition of the Best Editorial Cartoonists of the Year, he opened to the index and held his breath.

"You hold your breath,"said the local cartoonist and comedian, "look for your name, and then exhale into a brown paper bag. It also cures hiccups."

Hall, whose work appears regularly throughout the state in the Rhode Island Newspaper Group papers, had mailed in a handful of his cartoons for consideration in October.

In previous years, he's had cartoons selected for inclusion in the publication. According to the book, this edition features "more than 160 leading editorial cartoonists in the United States and Canada."

"This is the bible for all the cartoonists in the country,"says Hall. "You have to be a ‘working' cartoonist. In other words, your work has to appear either daily or weekly in some media – in print, or on the Web."

This year, Hall's work appears four times, putting him in the company of only 45 cartoonists with four or more pieces in this book.

I asked him what he thought the criteria for inclusion were. "They must be funny, topical and a fresh look at some national issue – which doesn't leave a lot of choice for me since most of mine are local. Evidently, the country doesn't care whether Rhode Island should build a casino, or if some kid in Portsmouth can get his yearbook picture taken while holding a sword. But things like those sky-high gas prices affect us all, so I do get in some of the more national items once in a while."

One of the featured cartoons shows a couple driving into a gas station. The price per gallon hovers at $4.50. The driver says, "Forget ethanol, hydrogen, helium or steam. What we need is a car that runs on the carcasses of greedy oil executives."

Hall points out that artistic ability isn't always the key. "A solid message can trump bad drawing. Besides, everyone has his own style. The cartoonists who display both – artistic ability and message delivery – many times get a Pulitzer, which is the highest honor for a cartoonist. The winner last year was Mike Luckovich (of The Atlanta Constitution), maybe my fave among the top guys."
Luckovich called Hall once. "He told me my stuff was very funny and my drawing style was fairly original. He might have come up with the best cartoon of last year – he spelled out a big thick WHY? with the names of all the soldiers who died in Iraq up until that time. A great message."

While Hall is mainly a humorist, he does have a serious side. "Every once in a while, you do a toon that you deem important and relevant, where you're saying something,  where you show some passion or conviction, where you can make people think."

An example is a recent cartoon he drew about the West Warwick fire marshal's grand jury testimony that he didn't see the polyurethane foam on the walls of the Station nightclub because he was angry about a fire door. "I think this cartoon shows more clearly than any TV report or newspaper article the foolishness"of the inspector's claim.

In the cartoon, a man in official looking gear stands inside a room, pointing at a door that's open to the outside. Every flat surface, including the door itself, is covered with a dark wavy material. "Much to my surprise, all the publishers printed it. I thought it may have been a bit edgy for them. It's nice to feel that you can have some effect on the community."

So what does inclusion in the book mean to Hall? "It makes you feel that you can play with the big boys. It actually got me to looking into trying to syndicate my cartoons to one of the big syndicates – but they take very few new cartoonists, and unless you are one of the top 20 or 30 or so in the country, the money is just average. But I think I could do it if I wanted to. Very few of these guys have as much experience in the world of comedy that I do. Ideas for me come a mile a minute. For many, it takes them all day to think of one or two really funny ideas."

As a comedian and producer of the Ocean State Follies, Hall is able to reuse many of his cartoon ideas. "The idea can be used in my Follies to become a song or a skit or just a quick line in our fake newscast, which gives the idea more shelf life."

And of course, Hall has published two collections of his cartoons. "Not to brag, but I was Number One on the Benny's Best Seller list for six straight weeks last Christmas. Don Bousquet and I take turns."