The Mystery of "The Wizard of Id's Bar Book"
Why Did a Popular Cartoonist Put His Name on a Cocktail Book?
My initial professional ambition, back when I was a pre-teen and teenager, was to be a cartoonist. I’ve always loved both drawing and writing and was pretty good at both. During those early years, I executed a few original comic strips for practice and my own amusement. One featured a cast of snakes.
I held on to that goal until my freshman year at college, when—after a discouraging experience authoring a comic strip for the school newspaper—I switched to journalism. I later discovered that that particular occupational progression was not all that uncommon. Many writers, including legendary reporter Pete Hamill, for one, started out as budding cartoonists.
My childhood idols were Charles M. Schulz (the creator of Peanuts), Walt Kelly (Pogo) and Johnny Hart (whose B.C. and The Wizard of Id were a direct influence on my snake comic) and whenever I managed to lay my hands on some cash, I walked down to the corner drug store near my home in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, plopped down fifty cents and bought the latest paperback volume of Peanuts, B.C., The Wizard of Id, Tumbleweeds, Hägar the Horrible, Hi and Lois, or Pogo. I must have owned a collection of three-hundred such softcovers.
But somehow, through all those early years of Hart fandom, The Wizard of Id’s Bar Book eluded me. I came across this peculiar little volume a few years back, long after my professional interests had switched from comics to cocktails. Of course, I had to buy it. I’ve grown ever more curious about this book ever since.