20260907 what a pane 26ai07
rre20260907 what a pane 26ai07 please research the following for a new episode - don't tell me how to write it - just give me the raw research to fill in the chart (see attached)
can you explain the humour / context of any of the attached image
Yes. These are all political/editorial cartoons, so they aren't the everyday-foibles examples we were hunting for, but I can explain most of what is going on. The dates in the captions are useful clues.
This appears to be about the federal political landscape as the new Toronto Sun was beginning.
The tall, smiling figure on the right is Pierre Trudeau. The man in the dark hat appears to be Progressive Conservative leader Robert Stanfield, while the short figure at lower left appears to be Réal Caouette, leader of Social Credit.
The visual joke is largely caricature: Donato exaggerates the recognizable physical/personality characteristics of the politicians and turns politics into a kind of parade. Trudeau gets the jaunty, celebrity-like wave while the others look rather less glamorous.
I wouldn't use this particular one without finding its original publication date/caption, because the missing caption is probably essential to the joke.
This one is much more intriguing visually. It looks like several political figures are being carried or constrained by an enormous piece of equipment/harness, with Trudeau apparently stuck underneath/in the middle of the contraption.
1972 matters because Trudeau's Liberals went into that year's federal election with a majority and came out with only two seats more than the Progressive Conservatives, leaving Trudeau with a minority government dependent on parliamentary support from elsewhere.
So the basic visual language is almost certainly politicians being strapped together by political circumstances. But again, I wouldn't claim the precise joke without locating the original caption. Donato's 1972 cartoons were very specifically responding to that election and its aftermath.
This one we can read much more confidently.
The Sun headline says:
NOW YOU SEE IT — NOW YOU DON'T
And the little voter is saying something like:
"GOOD GOD! IT'S A BIG BLUE-BELLIED DOUBLE-BREASTED VOTE SNATCHER!"
The enormous fellow is a stereotypical Ontario Progressive Conservative ("Tory blue") political machine, apparently swallowing up votes/elections.
This was 1975 Ontario. The Progressive Conservatives had governed Ontario continuously since 1943. But in the September 1975 provincial election, Bill Davis's PCs lost their majority and were reduced to a minority government.
So Donato seems to be playing with the idea of this enormous, well-fed political creature that has become accustomed to gobbling up Ontario votes. The tiny ordinary voter observes it almost as though he's discovered some bizarre species of wildlife.
That phrase "big blue-bellied double-breasted vote snatcher" is deliberately mock-naturalist language. That's probably the most purely cartoony joke among these four.
This one is different—and much closer to the kind of Canadian-cultural humour you've been looking for.
The speaker is using an exaggerated American/rural dialect:
"WHAD-A-HELL Y'ALL TALKIN' 'BOUT BOY? ONLY THIN THEY ALL PLAY UP THAR IS HAWKEE AN' LAWCROSS!!"
Meaning:
"What are you talking about? The only things they play up there [in Canada] are hockey and lacrosse!"
So the gag depends upon an American stereotype of Canada: Canadians apparently do nothing except play hockey and lacrosse.
And there's an extra Canadian joke underneath it. Hockey and lacrosse have traditionally been identified as Canada's characteristic national sports—lacrosse particularly carrying the old reputation of being the Canadian national game.
The black man sitting at the counter looks understandably bewildered while these stereotypically American-looking characters confidently explain what those strange Canadians "up thar" supposedly do.
I would want to locate the original 1985 event that prompted it, because that could make the joke considerably better. My suspicion from the picture alone is that the black man's presence and the discussion of what Canadians "play" may mean a Canadian athlete or Canadian participation in an American-dominated sport was in the news. I don't want to invent that missing piece.
Look at the bottom-right corner of the 1985 cartoon.
There's Donato's signature—and beside/around it appears to be his little Donato bird.
That is the recurring G-rated human-interest detail we were discussing. Donato says the bird began appearing around the early 1980s and had become reasonably popular by 1984. He originally happened to draw a bird in a tree, liked it, and kept putting it into his cartoons. Sun readers eventually made a pastime of finding it.
So your 1985 example is from almost exactly the period when "find Donato's bird" was becoming a thing.
If we're looking for material for the new episode, I'd be more interested in identifying the exact story behind that 1985 hockey/lacrosse cartoon than the other three. It potentially gives us Donato + Canadian stereotypes + sports + harmless humour + hidden bird, without needing to get very deeply into partisan politics.
i don't see any bird by his name in bottom right picture - if you see it, can you circle it
You're right. On closer inspection, I do not see a Donato bird beside his signature in the bottom-right 1985 cartoon, so I can't honestly circle one.
My previous statement that a bird appeared there was mistaken—I interpreted some of the small marks near the signature as the bird when looking at the reduced image. At this resolution, the bottom-right corner appears to contain only Donato's signature and ordinary drawing/printing marks.
So: no circle warranted. Good catch.
chat1placeholder - no reply needed - just reply with 👍
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how many years was donato's career - how old is he now and how old when he began
Andy Donato's career was extraordinarily long:
Born: 1937 — he is 89 years old in 2026.
Began his professional art career: 1955, when he graduated from Northern Vocational School and went to work as a layout artist for Eaton's. He was about 18.
Began his newspaper career: 1961, joining the Toronto Telegram. He was about 24.
First published editorial cartoon: 1964, concerning Canada's flag debate. He was about 27.
Became a full-time editorial cartoonist: 1974 at the Toronto Sun, around age 37.
Retired: September 2026, at 89.
So there are several legitimate ways to describe the length:
71 years as a professional artist — 1955–2026.
65 years in newspapers — 1961–2026.
62 years as a published editorial cartoonist — 1964–2026.
For your episode, “Donato retired at 89 after a 65-year newspaper career” is probably the cleanest factual formulation. He entered newspaper work at about 24 years old and was still cartooning professionally at 89.
so he actually made enough money to keep a roof over his head - and raise a family? - or buy a car and take trips? or was he still working because he need the money??
Yes — the evidence points pretty strongly to Donato having had a successful, financially viable professional career, rather than being an 89-year-old who had to keep drawing cartoons to pay the bills. I can't find reliable public information about his personal net worth or household finances, so I wouldn't claim he was wealthy.
A few things clarify the picture.
He had a regular salaried newspaper career for decades. He joined the Toronto Telegram in 1961, became its art director, moved immediately to the new Toronto Sun in 1971 as art director, and became its full-time editorial cartoonist in 1974. He remained a staff employee until taking early retirement in 1997.
That phrase "early retirement" is significant. At about 60, he retired from his staff position but chose to continue producing cartoons as a freelancer/contractor. Sources report that his post-retirement arrangement paid roughly $400 per cartoon. At five cartoons a week, $400 would have represented about $100,000 annually if sustained year-round; his later output was lower, so we shouldn't assume that was his actual annual income.
He also wasn't dependent exclusively upon the Sun. His cartoons were syndicated, and he had a substantial second career as a painter. His paintings were exhibited in Toronto, New York, London and Johannesburg, and he produced limited-edition prints.
And there are signs of an ordinary comfortable life outside work. Golf was a longstanding pastime, and he painted landscapes and travelled. So the picture isn't of someone who spent 65 years chained to a drawing board because otherwise he couldn't afford groceries.
The particularly important distinction is:
He actually retired in 1997. Then he kept cartooning for another 29 years.
That's quite different from saying he worked continuously until age 89 because he couldn't afford retirement. The evidence I can find suggests that after 1997, cartooning became paid post-retirement work that he continued because he still wanted to do it. I haven't found Donato explicitly saying, "I didn't need the money," however, so I wouldn't put those words in his mouth.
One biographical detail also makes the career arc rather nice: he grew up working in his father's grocery store, became an Eaton's layout artist at about 18, entered newspapers at 24, eventually became art director and one of Canada's best-known cartoonists, took early retirement at 60—and then apparently enjoyed the work enough to keep sending cartoons to the newspaper until 89.
So for the particular question you're investigating, I think the defensible conclusion is: yes, cartooning was a genuine livelihood for Donato, not an impoverished hobby. And his extraordinary longevity appears to reflect continued engagement with his craft after normal retirement, rather than evidence that he couldn't afford to stop.
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can you find any info on winnipeg comic strip cartoonists - not the kind who make comic books but rather the kind who publish a comic strip or a single pane comic with a caption - and again, they should be family rated
Yes. I searched specifically for Winnipeg/Manitoba people who actually draw newspaper-style comic strips or single-panel gag cartoons, rather than comic-book artists or animators. There are some surprisingly good possibilities.
Cartoonist
Winnipeg connection
What they drew/draw
Family-rating assessment
Ben Batsford (1892–1977)
Grew up in Winnipeg; worked for the Manitoba Free Press
Unk and Billy / Billy's Uncle — daily newspaper comic strip beginning in 1921
Excellent — G/PG historical family comic
Arch Dale (1882–1962)
Longtime Winnipeg cartoonist; worked for Winnipeg Free Press
The Doo Dads — humorous single-panel cartoons with captions, later also a Sunday strip
Very promising — originally appeared on children's pages
Julie Dale
Winnipeg; daughter of Arch Dale; eventually headed the Free Press art department
Newspaper cartoonist/illustrator
Potentially good, although much less material is readily available online
Kenneth Harasym
Current Winnipeg artist/cartoonist
Get a Room — current comic strip about the misadventures of an assistant manager at an oddball hotel
Very promising contemporary choice
Ryan Harby
Lives and works in Winnipeg
Current short-form comics about ordinary life and absurdities
Often family-friendly, but individual cartoons should be screened
This one jumped out.
Batsford began Unk and Billy (also called Billy's Uncle) in the Manitoba Free Press in 1921. It concerned a boy named Billy and his uncle getting into assorted ridiculous adventures.
And there's a significant piece of Canadian cartoon history attached to it:
The Winnipeg Free Press was apparently the first Canadian daily newspaper to launch its own daily comic strip.
Then something unexpected happened.
A New York syndicate picked up Batsford's Winnipeg-made strip. By spring 1922, Unk and Billy was already appearing in 20 American newspapers. According to the contemporary Free Press, this made Batsford the first Canadian cartoonist to have a comic strip syndicated in the United States.
Batsford consequently left Winnipeg for New York.
He eventually got an even stranger assignment: in 1939 he worked on Mortimer and Charlie, involving Edgar Bergen's famous ventriloquist characters Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd.
There's also an example of Batsford's humour that survives remarkably well.
In a June 20, 1921 cartoon, Unk and Billy visit Winnipeg's mayor. The joke concerns whether Winnipeg civic employees are actually providing enough work for the salaries they're receiving. The Manitoba Historical Society observes that although humour often ages badly, this particular joke remains recognizable a century later.
So Batsford gives you:
Winnipeg → family comic strip → 1921 → American syndication → international career.
That's potentially very usable.
Arch Dale is particularly interesting because I found exactly the format you specified:
single-panel cartoon + caption
His characters were called The Doo Dads.
They were little round characters with what one historian describes as fried-egg eyes. There were eventually Lady Doo Dads and Baby Doo Dads as well.
And the significant thing for your purposes:
The single-panel Doo Dads cartoons actually ran on children's pages in newspapers across Canada.
So there's very strong evidence that this really was family/child-oriented newspaper humour, rather than us having to examine an editorial cartoonist's output one picture at a time.
Dale subsequently produced a syndicated Doo Dads strip from 1921–27, and it also appeared in the United States.
He spent decades doing freelance artwork for the Winnipeg Free Press and retired in 1954. He died in Winnipeg in 1962.
One historical caveat: some First World War Doo Dads material caricatured Germans in ways characteristic of wartime propaganda. So although the ordinary Doo Dads material was children's-page fare, I'd still select individual examples rather than declaring every surviving Dale cartoon suitable today.
This may actually be the contemporary discovery worth pursuing.
Kenneth Harasym is a Winnipeg artist currently producing a comic strip called Get a Room.
Its premise is delightfully ordinary:
the amusing misadventures of a well-meaning assistant manager at an offbeat hotel.
Harasym says the strip grew out of his years working in hospitality. So he's mining everyday things that happen in hotels—employees, guests, misunderstandings and the absurdities of customer service—for jokes.
That's considerably closer to the human-foibles/fads/everyday-life territory you've been looking for than an editorial cartoonist.
He's also actively publishing the strip now and allows people to subscribe to receive new cartoons.
And his prints are produced at Martha Street Studio in Winnipeg, so this isn't merely somebody who happened to have been born here. He's part of the current Winnipeg arts community.
See Kenneth Harasym's Get a Room cartoons
I would investigate Harasym further for your episode.
Ryan Harby is a cartoonist and writer who currently works from Winnipeg, where he lives with his family. He studied at the University of Manitoba and previously worked in newspapers and advertising before becoming a full-time independent creator.
His website contains comics going back to about 2015. He's also done professional work for CBC, Netflix and Kayak magazine.
His material tends toward observations and absurdities rather than traditional superhero/comic-book storytelling.
I'd put an asterisk beside him for your purposes: I'd screen individual Harby cartoons before using one, rather than certify his entire output as G-rated.
There's a little cartooning family tree hiding here.
Arch Dale was the Winnipeg cartoonist who created the child-friendly Doo Dads.
His daughter Julie Dale was also a cartoonist and illustrator.
And Julie eventually became head of the Winnipeg Free Press art department in the 1950s.
Meanwhile, Winnipeg's Free Press had already launched Ben Batsford's Unk and Billy in 1921 and claimed the distinction of being the first Canadian daily to originate its own daily comic strip.
So there is actually a legitimate Winnipeg newspaper-cartooning tradition here that I hadn't appreciated before doing the search.
For rre20260907tbd26ai07, I'd put Kenneth Harasym at the top of the current research pile and Ben Batsford at the top of the historical pile. Batsford's story is particularly remarkable because a home-grown Winnipeg Free Press comic apparently became the first Canadian strip syndicated into the United States.
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word count with spaces and fact check the following please:
*See full 20260907 what a pane 26ai07 script below re: Revelation 2:23b (M:SS), Andy Donato (M:SS),, Proverbs 7:3 (M:SS), Ryan Harby (M:SS), Psalm 33:13 (M:SS), closing prayer (M:SS), And morE eg Kenneth Harasym (M:SS).. *
1001host - ohhDublmw 26ai07 what a pane but first Revelation chapter 2 verse 23b:
1002cohost - Then all the sacred families will know that I am the one who looks into the thoughts and sees the hearts of all people.
1003host - For more than 60 years, Andy Donato in Toronto produced cartoon panes and related commentary in order to make people laugh even as he made people think.
1004cohost - Andy began his career designing eye-catching appeals to attract retail shoppers. Newspapers noticed his ability to show and say a lot in just one published frame in ways that kept readers buying their papers to see what was on Andy’s mind every day.
*1005host - Andy didn’t disappoint. When Canada was designing its new flag he drew what everyone was thinking in a way that showed people how big a challenge it was to capture everything our beautiful country means to all of its people. And he also had time, not only for golf, but also time to paint many beautiful canvases which said something about him: He loved people and the places they lived in which were also, in some ways, reflections of who they found themselves to be and who they wanted to be. *
1006cohost -Proverbs 7 verse 3 reads: Tie them on your fingers as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart.
1007host - In some ways this verse reminds me of Ryan Harby in Winnipeg who also creates single pane art uniquely capturing the comedy of life so as to say, ‘For what it’s worth, stop and think a moment about what’s going on here, please.’
1008cohost - While it’s rare to find another human whose tastes agree 100% with our own,it’s still healthy for people to pursue fair expression. I love the way Ryan talks about himself and allows for his work to be shared.
1009host - Psalms 33 verse 13 reads: The Lord looks down from heaven and sees the whole human race.
1010cohost - Winnipeger Kenneth Harasym has also generated comic panes and panels around hotel customers and staff he has observed first hand. Staff complaints about vacuum cleaners or ‘cow’ like customers proclaiming their ‘no-tipping’ policy and other iconic subjects and figures populate his professional website and gallery. Artistic expression and one-off comic relief are again on full display in a way that simply says no matter how good or how bad one’s day has been, for heaven’s sake, don’t overlook the smile-worthy moments in plain sight all around.
1011host - God, make this day completely divine, Father, Son, Holy Ghost, North-South-East-West & God, please bless Mr. Andy Donato who is retiring in Ontario with health care and even emotional and spiritual care as he ages so that he can savour even more fully for the rest of his days the joy you foremost have in mind for him and God, please also bless Ryan and Kenneth in Winnipeg with the supplies they need and with help in their scheduling and with subject matter that leaves them in awe of all the creative genius you so liberally embed around them and all of us to enjoy and develop for the benefit of one and all and more beside & God, may your benefits moreover flow as we address and confess any and every sin that’s earned guilt and distance and hurt and darkness. Whosoever will may come to God, who is listening now. He’s ready to run towards the one needing embrace and forgiveness and life eternal. Without force, he’s asking admission. Before death, please, invite Jesus, the only way, truth and life into your whole self without delay, as your sole and final and certain hope for rescue now, your loving Saviour and fun to follow Lord and friend forever, Amen. Please contact our 220 Pritchard Winnipeg studio, but before we go, Peace-out, hallelujah, maranatha, shalom.
Yes. I checked the biographical/cartooning claims against current sources, including Donato's retirement coverage and the cartoonists' own sites.
Word count: I get 681 words for everything you pasted, including the opening “See full…” description, speaker numbers/names, and the closing prayer. If by “with spaces” you mean a character count including spaces, I get 3,899 characters including spaces and line breaks.
Overall, the script is sound, but two Donato sentences overstate what the evidence establishes, and I'd make a few smaller precision changes.
1003 — Essentially correct. “For more than 60 years” is safe. Donato's newspaper career began at the Toronto Telegram in 1961, and his retirement has just been announced after 65 years. He did both cartoons and commentary/satire intended to provoke thought and laughter.
One terminology point: “cartoon panes” isn't the conventional term. “Cartoon panels” or simply “cartoons” would be more accurate. Interestingly, Donato really did create a weekly comic panel/strip called Flunko beginning in 1964, in addition to his editorial cartoons.
1004 — First sentence needs correction. Donato did start at Eaton's as a layout artist after graduating in 1955, so the retail connection is real. But I can't substantiate the more specific claim that his job was “designing eye-catching appeals to attract retail shoppers.” Sources simply describe him as a layout artist/illustrator.
The bigger problem is:
“Newspapers noticed his ability…”
I would not state that as fact. The documented sequence is that after Eaton's and other art work, Donato joined the Toronto Telegram in 1961 as a graphic artist in its promotion department. We don't have evidence that newspaper people specifically discovered his Eaton's work and recruited him because of it.
Likewise, “kept readers buying their papers to see what was on Andy's mind every day” is colourful but not a verifiable historical claim. He certainly became a major attraction and prominent cartoonist, but I wouldn't attribute newspaper sales specifically to him without evidence.
1005 — Flag cartoon: partly factual, partly interpretation. This is an especially interesting fact-check because sources conflict on the year his editorial cartooning “began.” Current retirement coverage quotes Donato himself saying his first cartoon was in 1964 and concerned the Canadian flag debate, and it reproduces the Telegram cartoon dated August 24, 1964. That's stronger evidence than older biographies saying he began political cartooning in 1968. So your basic statement is solid.
However:
“he drew what everyone was thinking”
is impossible to establish literally. And:
“showed people how big a challenge it was to capture everything our beautiful country means to all of its people”
is your interpretation of the cartoon, not a documented description of Donato's intention. That's perfectly legitimate commentary in your program, but it isn't something I can certify as historical fact.
Golf and painting are correct. Painting was a serious second artistic pursuit, not merely a pastime. Sources describe him producing fine-art landscapes/cityscapes and spending substantial periods painting.
The statement that his canvases demonstrate “He loved people and the places they lived” is again interpretation. I wouldn't call it false, but it shouldn't be presented as something Donato is documented as having said unless you have another source.
1007 — Ryan Harby: broadly correct, but “single pane” is too restrictive. Harby is a Winnipeg-based cartoonist and writer. His site contains comics dating back to about 2015, and his subjects certainly include absurdities of ordinary life. However, his work isn't exclusively single-panel. Better factually would be “creates comic art” or “creates cartoons and comics.”
The quotation beginning “For what it's worth…” is clearly your characterization, not something Harby actually said. That's okay provided the wording makes that distinction clear.
1008 — Very solid. This is actually one of your best-supported observations. Harby's own About page is playful and self-deprecating. More importantly, he explicitly says people can repost his comics with credit, and that non-profit publications may print them; for-profit publication requires contacting him. So “I love the way Ryan talks about himself and allows for his work to be shared” is well grounded.
1010 — Kenneth Harasym: basic premise confirmed. His own site says he is the creator of Get a Room, which grew out of his years working in hospitality, and describes the strip as the amusing misadventures of the well-meaning assistant manager of an offbeat hotel. He explicitly says his work highlights humour and absurdity in the ordinary.
I couldn't independently verify from the searchable text the specific vacuum-cleaner complaint and cow/no-tipping customer examples. If you personally saw those cartoons on his site—and it sounds as though you did—they're fine as descriptions of what you've viewed. I just can't certify those two particular examples from the indexed material.
I'd change “customers and staff he has observed first hand” slightly. We know his strip is inspired by years working in hospitality; we don't know that particular characters/customers depicted are literal first-hand observations of particular people.
The three passages are recognizable paraphrastic translations of Revelation 2:23b, Proverbs 7:3 and Psalm 33:13. The exact wording depends upon the Bible translation you're intentionally using, so I wouldn't “correct” those unless you want me to identify and verify the particular translation.
If you want to retain your voice almost entirely intact, the factual trouble spots boil down to four:
“cartoon panes” → “cartoon panels” would be standard terminology.
Donato was an Eaton's layout artist; we can't establish that he specifically designed advertisements to entice shoppers.
We can't establish that newspapers discovered/recruited Donato because of his Eaton's retail work, nor that readers specifically bought papers to see his cartoon.
Harasym's strip grew from his years in hospitality; saying the customers/staff are people he personally observed is a little stronger than his own description warrants.
One particularly nice fact you could safely have used, incidentally: Donato didn't merely make editorial cartoons. In 1964 he created Flunko, a weekly comic panel/strip for the Toronto Telegram that ran until 1966 and was later rerun in some U.S. newspapers. That makes your episode's broader focus on single-panel/comic-strip cartooning more historically apt than I initially realized.
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thumbnail motif for my last podcast episode attached - create similar RE 26ai07 - what a pane episode
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Yesterday 4:16 AM
see cowtip and simpler thumbnail attached. adjust what a pane accordingly EXCEPT must still have OmmwStudio callout and Faith (Adult) Learning Centre - upgrading to grade 12 and more - graduate with us - flcaae.ca AND reference cartoonists from Winnipeg by first name only and focus on fact that they are from winnipeg - and revelation 2:23b must include some of the words that go with this selection
Edit
more tweaks:
get rid of bottom right people places ideas graphic
move grade 12 and more graphic box down to bottom right
use these words for Revelation verse: 'know that I (Jesus) am the one who looks into the thoughts and sees the hearts of all people'
replace Cartoons that make us think WITH 'see through God's wonderful window too!'
replace Different people ... same big picture WITH 'walk each day animated by His Holy Spirit'
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Today 7:15 AM
please merge RE youtube description:
please give me timestamps RE: See full 20260907 what a pane 26ai07 script below re: Revelation 2:23b (M:SS), Andy Donato (M:SS),, Proverbs 7:3 (M:SS), Ryan Harby (M:SS), Psalm 33:13 (M:SS), closing prayer (M:SS), And morE eg Kenneth Harasym (M:SS).
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Here are the timestamps for the key sections discussed in the video:
Revelation 2:23b: (0:07)
Andy Donato: (0:21)
Proverbs 7:3: (1:21)
Ryan Harby: (1:32)
Psalm 33:13: (2:03)
Kenneth Harasym: (2:11)
Closing Prayer: (2:51)
Here it is merged and ready to paste into the YouTube description:
See full 20260907 what a pane 26ai07 script below re: Revelation 2:23b (0:07), Andy Donato (0:21), Proverbs 7:3 (1:21), Ryan Harby (1:32), Psalm 33:13 (2:03), Kenneth Harasym (2:11), closing prayer (2:51), and more.