In 1982, I was reading a column in the life/styles section of the Gary Post-Tribune newspaper. The columnist, a Mr. Blaine Marz, had a fictional character that he used from time to time, called Hashish McTavish. My cartoon character Plum Duff seemed perfect for the column, so I sent some drawings in to the paper. In a column called Reader has own concept of Hash (Hashish McTavish), Mr. Marz wrote, Spencer, formerly Szpejnowski, sent along sketches of several other of his cartoon characters, including Crabb Apple, who might be more appropriate for the McTavish of late than the obviously more lighthearted Plum Duff. I almost wrote it Plum McDuff.
Along with the drawing of the Scottish Plum smoking a pipe, Mr. Marz used a poem that I had written, entitled Uncle Tony. Later, In November 1983, Mr. Marz used the Plum Duff character in a column that included my poem starlight on Snowdrifts. Plum Duff was shown for a third time when I set in a cartoon for the Garg Post-Tribune Future contest. The idea was to describe how Northwest Indiana would look in the future. Plum Duff was shown next to a drawing of Still Mill in Gary that had a big closed sign on it. My entry got an honorable mention. Now that I have retired, I have decided to share Plum Duff and the others with the world. I hope that everyone will enjoy the drawings, along with the Hot Cross Puns.
