How Frank Miller’s cartoon found a home at The Times

Sharp-eyed viewers of the documentary movie “Storm Lake” that was broadcast Nov. 15 on PBS noticed a large cartoon behind Art Cullen’s desk. The 21x26 inch sketch was drawn by Frank Miller, the great Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist at the Des Moines Register from 1953-1983. Those sharp-eyed viewers included Rick and Robin Chambers of Iowa City, former Storm Lakers and Buena Vista University graduates who taught in this area before settling in Iowa City over 40 years ago. “There was something in the film that gave me quite a surprise,” Robin wrote us. “On the wall in your office is a large original Frank Miller cartoon of an old lady yelling ‘OUT!’ Do you know the origin of that cartoon? “In the early-to-mid 70s, Miller came to Storm Lake as a guest of the Storm Lake Area Arts Council, of which I was one of the founders and officers,” Robin says. “Miller gave a lecture/demonstration of his cartooning, using poster board and pastel crayons. It was incredibly entertaining. Miller was quite a raconteur, as well as a fine cartoonist. At the end of the program, his drawings were given to the attendees via a raffle. “A year or two later I became the librarian at Storm Lake High School and found the old lady cartoon on the door to the workroom next to my office, left by my predecessor who must have won it at the raffle,” Robin continues. “Dick Kearney, who taught chemistry and physics for years and years at SLHS, begged a trade. He had a pair of cartoons showing two versions of a man in the bathroom getting ready for the day. He had always wanted the ‘OUT!’ one. I agreed to the trade. “I don’t know what Dick did with his cartoon, but I brought the two ‘bathroom guy’ drawings home and had them framed. They came to Iowa City with us, and have been in our downstairs bathroom all this time. Many visitors to our home have commented on them, notably Tom Harkin, who was here for an event (our house was campaign central for Iowa City Precinct 18), and wanted to know how we got them. Most people say, ‘Are those REALLY Frank Miller drawings?’ and we say yes, we watched him draw them! “So how did you folks get the ‘OUT!’ cartoon? Just to bring the story full circle, you know. I’m delighted that it’s being given pride of place.” We received the cartoon several years ago from former Storm Lake newspaper publisher John B. Anderson, who had been given it by Dick Kearney. Anderson and his wife Joann were moving to Des Moines after living in The City Beautiful for decades, and had to thin their possessions because of limited space in their new home. John was my first boss when I started out as a cub reporter in 1972. He brought the drawing to our office because he knew we would appreciate it, treasure it and give it the place of prominence it deserves, in our newsroom. I remember Miller’s appearance here. I covered it for the newspaper and took photos of Miller as he whipped out these drawings on the large pad of newsprint that hung on his easel. Miller’s cartoons appeared every day on the front page of the Des Moines Register, and he was one of the best editorial cartoonists in the nation, back in the day when these folks were greatly celebrated for their wit and artistry. Miller was a character. He not only was a great cartoonist, but was also an accomplished painter who did several water colors of Buena Vista County that were published in Picture Magazine, the Register’s Sunday supplement. Robin ended her letter with this: “We enjoy the newspaper twice a week. It is so heartwarming to see the photos and read the names of school children, who are so wonderfully international and yet so purely Storm Lakers. Great things are happening there. We enjoy the Happy Beat and the straight news, and the columns and editorials.” We are glad to give Frank Miller’s cartoon a good home and know that his other drawings from Storm Lake will continue to be treasured by the Chambers in their Iowa City home. John Cullen is the founder and retired publisher of The Storm Lake Times. He can be reached at news@stormlake.com.