Stilwell - Stunt Nite

Continuing the digital restoration of "Stilwell," the comic strip that ran from 1971 through '73 in the Cleveland State University student weekly, The Cauldron. Stunt Nite was arguably one of the most entertaining campus events, because it consisted of staged skits poking fun at life at CSU, which, of course, with my cartoons, was right in my wheelhouse. This was largely if not solely a Greek-participation event. Each sorority and fraternity on campus put on a skit. I loved the show the year before, so I attended the 1972 event with great anticipation for a fun night, at Fat Glenn's, the on-campus 3.2 beer bar and dance place. I remember it fondly because two of the sketches presented that night made reference to the comic strip itself. One group, a sorority if I recall correctly, even created costumes representing the frogs themselves. As much as I was not a fan of the whole fraternity/sorority scene, I did feel pretty stoked that my work got acknowledged. But a major turn-off for me that night was the fact that the whole show was almost impossible to hear because of either a non-functioning or non-existent sound system. That had to be frustrating for a lot of people who attended. I know it was for me, and I had to make my feelings known about it in my next cartoon, which was published March 7, 1972. So typical of the Cleveland State vibe to put on a major event like that and not have a fail-safe plan for miking it adequately. It's sort of like having a campus newspaper put in a comic strip featuring frogs instead of, say, a Doonesbury-like strip with some class and sass. Well, I really do think I had the sass, but ... well, I think I made my point.