R.I.P., George Toomer
We’ve learned that the Dallas illustrator and bon vivant died over the weekend. He struggled with a host of maladies and died in his sleep. He not only appeared on our cover in December 1992 (shown here), but he filled the pages of D Magazine for many years with dining reviews, illustrations, and anything that required a certain wild-ass, subversive approach that only George Toomer could pull off. He’ll be missed.
I’m going to open comments so that those who knew him can say a few words, if they’re so inclined. At some point, his son George Jr. will likely enjoy reading them.
60 Comments to “R.I.P., George Toomer”
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Jr., If you are reading you already know that your dad was one of a kind. I will never forget being around his energy and how he just took over a room. He made me laugh. Always made me laugh.
George was one of the originals. He may have looked like a buffalo (hence the sobriquet Buffalo George) and his creativity may have led him off in weird (but always weirdly brilliant)directions, but he was the gentlest soul ever to put pen to paper.
My first inclination is to believe that George’s passing was a loss to both Dallas and the International Design Community, but I’d rather say it was an honor and privilege to know him in life and to be influenced by his creativity, cynical humor, maverick meanderings and love of life. I can only smile when I think back to DSVC meetings and gatherings and laughing at his jokes. We gained a lot from you, George. Thank You. Your devious smirk behind tobacco stained facial hair will be dearly missed.
Oh, I’m sad to have lost such a good friend. George was such a kind and funny man, irascible comes to mind too, larger than life in every way. He was the most generous person I ever met. The cigars, the Hawaiian shirts, the stinging observations, the quick wit, the big, big heart–I will miss them all. My condolences, Jr. and all of George’s many, many friends.
George gave me some advice about design a long time ago… “It’s done by hand folks, it ain’t cheap and it ain’t fast.”
Miss you George
One of the great stories I heard during the newspaper portion of my journalism career was that George had once tossed spent cartridges onto the grassy knoll to confuse the conspiracy people with their metal detectors. Don’t know how true it is, but it’s an indicator of a man with a sense of humor and that is something Dallas is lacking even more now. Blessings to all.
Dallas has lost one of its iconic folks. If you knew him, you were privy to a unique personality and talent. If you didn’t, you can still get a glimmer of the man through his art and friends.
I only met George Toomer once. Of course, I was impressed with his intellect. We had a mutual friend, the writer A.C. Greene, and we talked about him. I don’t know if there is an afterlife, but I would like to think that A.C. and George are currently engaged in conversation.
George was in the 1961 Woodrow class with Steve Miller. We used one of his drawings of the school(also appeared in a D issue)for the 75th anniversary celebration five years ago.
I remember him most vividly when he worked on Genaro’s Tropical – back when Monica was Eduardo and that was the hottest spot in town. He stood out as hippest among the hip (in his laid-back way). Also when I would pass by his house on Cole(which stood out alone among all the redevelopment)I would make sure to spot his latest funky touch out front or in the driveway.
A true Dallas ‘character’ has left our midst.
Back in the mid-90’s, George taught a couple of classes for us at Brookhaven. What a maverick. I remember walking by his classroom and seeing him at the front of the room holding court, sitting on the desk, wearing a Hawaiian shirt, holding a huge unlit cigar. Those were the days… George was a true gift and talent. He will be missed.
One of the great anti-establishment icons of the Dallas art and advertising scene, Toomer could find fault with almost EVERYTHING that needed to be poked in the ass! He would hold court evey morning for breakfast with a host of loyal creatives that hung on his every winding story! His talent made Dick’s Last Resort and many other Dallas eateries famous, but it was his biting commentary on the silliness of Dallas, it’s history and it’s self importance that I will miss most!
I met George at Brookhaven and I offered to mow his yard and in turn would he just let me watch him draw. He invited me over and told me not to bring the lawnmower.. he wasn’t into yards.
George helped me when I needed it most while struggling to make it while raising my family.
He would hire me at just the right exact time and pay me more than I was ever worth and give me a check right away.
He drove all the way to Garland and ate dinner with my family and I felt like I was rubbing shoulders with the famous…because I was.
He never failed to be kind and he wasn’t mean.
I will never forget him and his kindness to me and my family and the others I saw him do the same for.
Love.
George’s generosity was not lost on me, either. I hope his passing was sweet.
George was a contributor to a writers group that I was also a member of. When I heard the news tonight, I went back to past issues to drink in some of George’s funny pieces and have another laugh (Thanks, George). This excerpt from a 1991 issue, though, really got to me tonight. The topic that month was “Aging.”I thought I’d share it with you.
“Much of our world is memories…good and bad. We try to revitalize and some of us make it. Our friends are the most important as they are the only ones we can say real stuff to…our families are second because we don’t want to worry or burden them. We know that we are on the road to an unknown end…which is okay as we’re damned tired of poor service, weird bills, unusable electric devices and a world made for youth. Breathing is the main factor.
My advice to youth: make good memories every day. When you’re up there in the hospital with tubes and drips you won’t think about a $35,000 deposit made 30 years ago—you’ll remember a great backrub in San Francisco. Get plenty of them.
Oh what a loss. i only met him occasionally. but he is what Dallas needs more of. and Like Ac Greene and others that spoke about Dallas, to us, and the rest of the world, he will be missed and remembered.
There are many other Dallas folk that we must cherish. they make this city and area!
I worked/played with George on endless advertising/design projects in the 70s. From high profile brochures to anonymous obscene limericks in Metrosex. We had so much fun. He was a font of ideas and inspiration. He was generous, wickedly funny and a keen observer of people. So many wonderful hours spent cruising in his big Lincoln or verbally jousting over a drink at the Stoneleigh P in its hay day. I’d love to see him put bread sticks up his nose and do Big Wally just one more time. I loved him.
I first met George in 1972. Bill Jenkins and Mark McDowell brought me to his studio. Within a few minutes we were involved in a laugh fest that continues in my heart even today. Our friendship continued for years. George taught a lot of folks how to laugh from the belly, no pun intended. He will be with us until we meet again.
george was like a father to me during my many years of teenage angst. sitting on his porch, smoking and talking, george provided guidance, wisdom, and insight into a world that we both felt to be absurd in every way; the key was learning how to play the game in a way that provided the most freedom for one to be himself. i will never forget the years we spent time together and breakfast at good eats. i’ve missed regularly seeing him for many years now since i moved to the east coast; i will miss him more knowing i can’t stop by to say hello when i’m in dallas. i love you george; you are now my patron saint of generosity and grooviness. at the age of 42 your advice rings truer than ever. peace.
When I met George, I was a copywriter at the Bloom Agency. He once told me that when he was hired to do illustrations for Bloom, he would often include tiny penises, hidden in the intricacies of the drawings. I never tattled until now. I think it would be a fitting tribute for former Bloomers to get out their magnifying glasses, find those ancient penises and thank George for all the amusing surprises, including those we may yet discover.
I worked with George on many things over the years and we made a lot of parties. He was one of the most creative types I have ever known. No one ever spewed quotes and fun knocks about people like he. We have all lost a huge bit of the creative juices in our community.
I loved Buffalo George. His talent and humor were pure joy. He will be greatly missed.
George Toomer spoke truth to power, like no one else I had ever seen. And in the ad business where bull**** comes in a million different varieties, he taught a generation of art directors how to deal with that smell.
But best of all George could collect a bad debt. I remember lamenting with him about deadbeat clients at the P once. He calmly recalled how he had a courier deliver a box containing a live turkey with the old invoice tied around it’s neck to the then magnificent offices of a now defunct ad agency. I always wished I had done that. Peace, George.
Along the way George ceated lots of concepts and crazy ideas. In 1984 he created Dick’s Last Resort as a living display of the art of irreverance. The concept and his humor are still around. We are all grateful for the time he gave to us.
I met George Toomer in 1969. Back then George wore a coat and tie, can you imagine that? George was a young creative artist who produced a monthly magazine for our company, ClubAmerica. I was the editor and worked many an hour with George, who was a complete delight to be with. Always with a sharp wit and a cigar in his mouth, George was always on the edge of creativity, and few could match his cartooning abilities. George was a good friend for many years – he will be missed.
I’m so sorry to hear about George’s passing. He was a genius, of course.
In the late ’60s–the early hippie days in Dallas–George, me, and a couple of other proto-hippies attempted to get ourselves served at Phil’s Oak Lawn Delicatessen, near Lee Park. We even had the money! Of course we were dressed a tad strangely for the time, and the ever upright (hah!) Phil personally threw us out himself.
Dallas if not the world is a much less interesting place without my dear friend George. His good-humored yet heartfelt cynicism of and disdain for the right-leaning, family values crowd made for an instructive, laugh-filled start-of-the-day at breakfast every weekday morning from the mid-80s through the mid-90s. Sadly, there’s no one who can or probably ever will take his place.
In my life I have never been closer to any one human being as I was to George.
We met in military school over 50 years ago and have been best friends ever since.
I looked up to him and respected his selfless wisdom and bled him of it regularly
to guide me on my path. I always marveled at his sagacity and lightening ready wit.
I’d quote his morsels of inspiration to my friends when I felt his words would serve
them as they had assuaged my problems.
Over and over he’d admonish me to avoid getting “the thinkies”…referring to my habit
of over thinking a problem in my life and agrandizing it out of proportion. I’m sure
others of his friends received the same prescription.
Over the years George allowed me to pester him mercilessly while he worked over his drafting/art table -like a puppy underfoot, never turning me away; always kind and patient.
In 1970 we co-published Claxon Magazine, a “ground-level” alternative magazine, in Dallas.
The four issues we produced were all sell-outs and featured the work of such photograpers as Jack Caspary, Phil Hollenbeck, Shel Hershorn, Moses Olmos, and others.
George designed and produced the entire publication. I edited and wrote. He was not the best speller and I’d remind him when he turned in copy that “You’re pictures, I’m words”…a phrase I heard him say to others in later years…and it made me proud that he’d adopted something of mine into his vernacular; I had so often done so of his.
In November of that year we founded the “Giant Thanksgiving SuperFeast”, a free Thanksgiving dinner for anyone needing a place to go, regardless of their ability to pay for it. A history of those SuperFeasts can be found at
Over the years it became a goal of mine to make him laugh at my humor. He was the master humorist. He could, if given the stage and his bent for performance, most assuredly, hold his own with the best comics of our time.
I never met a soul that wasn’t convulsed by him time and again. And so, I’d try to make him laugh…and succeeded, perhaps, five times.
And those five times were the highest moments of my life. Surely, he’d tell me I was funny…and I knew I was…but to hear him laugh spontaneously at a joke or witticism from my lips was as if I’d found the Holy Grail itself.
These last years, and more so this last, we’d talk on the phone perhaps every 10-15 days or so: I in Chicago, he in Dallas. It may have been two old farts checking in, unsaid but underneath, “You still alive?” “Yeah, you?” but it was always two old friends reminiscing and sharing.
It had been about two weeks since our last chat so I called my friend Saturday afternoon at 5:13 pm. We talked for forty-four minutes and 50 seconds according to my cell phone’s log.
We bemoaned our age, our aches and pains, the fact that we’d not enjoy the close company of women any more. He offered advice about my current spate of problems and “thinkies” and I tried to
comfort him by understanding the pain he was suffering.
And then, as do all calls, it was time to sign off.
I spoke first, “I love you, man!”
George replied, “Yeah, me too.”
Note the history of the SuperFeasts (link automatically deletes from posts) is
http colon slash slash thanksgivingsuperfeast dot blogspot dot com slash.
The world is less bright without our beloved GT.
For those on Facebook, Pat Foss has set up a site called “Friends of the Buffalo” where you can make additional comments and see and post photos, etc.
Thank you opening this comment space. It’s bringing back a flood of wonderful memories. I’m going to miss George a lot.
I knew George mostly at the original Stoneleigh P back in the middle 1970’s. He would ‘hold court’ at one of the big round tables with designers and photographers. My wife, Linda Smith and George were friends from way back.
He will be missed.
Mara,
Many “F.O.T.B”s on Facebook…which is correct one? Would like to link up with it.
David–
Connect to F.O.T.B. through Pat Foss–I can’t find it any other way, their search function hasn’t caught up yet.
BTW, so glad you got to talk to him at length. I missed his call a couple of months ago and am kicking myself for not returning it. I would have loved to have talked to him. You’re lucky.
I just heard the news and have so many memories of opening all the Dick’s Last Resorts with George and Jr. too, in Atlanta. He was very kind and that kindness was only exceeded by his immense talent. I remember in a cavernous building in Cleveland, I wondered how we would ever “fill it up” and make it a Dick’s. He sat in the middle of the room and just looked around, thought for a while and began to draw. What he could do with his incredible mind and a piece of paper, coupled with that famous irreverence was a treat to observe. We will all miss him.
George will always be the heart and soul of so many things!
If anyone wants to get together and informally remember/pay our respects/tell stories please come to the new Dick’s Last Resort in the Victory area on Tuesday 21 at 5:30 -until the stories dry up!
Toomer was one of my heroes. And he always made me laugh..and think.
I first met George in 1968. He was one of my first clients when I went on my own. Looking back, I realize now that, if not for George, those would have been some difficult years. So I thank you, George, for the man you were to me & so many others to follow. Thanks, too, for the laughs too numerous to count, the stories and the sage advice. I always did like the tossed shell casings on the grassy knoll story.
I’m so glad that Elle was able to wrangle you out of the house just weeks before your passing. We had some munchies and watched the sun go down over the lake as it now has on your life. You will be sorely missed, my friend. By all of us.
George once gave me the best back rub of all time.
It was just another of his most wonderful talents I enjoyed in joy with his living spirit.
May we all find the peace that he has now.
I met George in 1970 when I was starting out as a graphic designer and he taught me a lot. He was the first person to point out to me that words have shape and texture, and that a headline should look good as well as make sense. Later when I hired him to do illustrations for me he was always late on deadlines. I was frustrated and asked him what I could do to get the illustrations on time. His response: “lie to me about the deadlines”. Typical George. I remember riding around in his blue VW microbus swigging expensive champagne from the bottle. There will never be another George. Oh yeah, and the ‘penis thing’ it is absolutely true. Bye George.
Jimmy D.Papa @ July 18, 2009 12:50 am
Wow Dallas,Texas without George Toomer, Thats a tuff one. I met George in 1983,I was there to have him designed (1) logo for a record, I was producing for a Wrestler. Well if I had know how much enjoyment, he got out of this whole thing,I could haved save myself a bunch of cash. But when I came back to his house to see the six different Logo’s all mounted on six individual frames,I was blown away. Then he started the show, and started to give me my first lesson in marketing and advertising. That logo was for a song I was producing called Badstreet USA for Michael Hayes and the Freebirds, arch enemies of the beloved, Von Erich Boys. It is credited, and started The Rock And Wrestling connection. George’s Badstreet USA logo, would kick off all whole new million dollar industry.And that started 27 year friendship, that I cherish to this day.From that day forward George Toomer was the only person to put his magic, to pen and paper, for every single project I have ever done. He was not cheap, but if I needed a favor, and couldnt afford him,He was there. I was promoting a concert and money was running short, he said. Go get me a box of cigars. I remember the night,he was having one of his book signings at the Bronco Bowl. And I showed up with the Freebirds.He was really happy.An of course he was not signing his book that night, he had a stamp made up.With his signature on it. And stamped your book. I sent him an email a few weeks ago, with some of Album covers and CD covers he had design for me, the colors were so unbelievable.When record producer Rick Ruben saw the cover he did, for the Slam Jam 1 album he said “That cover is so fantastic I might give you a record deal without hearing it”. That is the impact George Toomer could make instantly on Hollywood. My favorite event, I did with George, was called “The Malace in Dallas” He played the evil, briefcase toting manager, for the President of Steven’s Aviation. Verses the hometown hero for Southwest Airlines,the Cigarette smoking, Wild Turkey drinking. Herb Kelleher They had a 2 out of three fall arm wrestling match,at the World Famous Sportatorium, at 11:00 am, and there were 2500 people scraming and yelling. It generated over 20,000,000 in free publicity. And George was right there in the middle of it, and loving every minute. It was carried on all three Network Newscast that night,and the BBC brodcast it live. I have the Video if anyone needs this or any thing for George’s tribute please contact me.
We will miss you buddy, you gave us all so many special memories, and good times. We have all your years of hard work, and with that, we can all, live through you forever.
If Buffalo George wasn’t the inspiration for the “Most interesting man in the world” beer ads, he at least should have been in the team picture.
mike
The year was 1975, and I was a young man producing an “experimental short film” festival at McFarlin Auditorium at SMU. Radio station KZEW (The Zoo) was the sponsoring station, and after seeing some of George’s awesome artwork for the Stoneleigh P Bar and Grill, I went to visit him at his studio. Having George do the artwork for my large, full-color advertising poster was a dream come true, and I learned at that first meeting that George had a mischievious sense of humor…he and I were discussing terms concerning how much money I would put down to start the creative process and he said,”Step back and let me see what color shoes you are wearing!” I did what he asked, he looked at my shoes and then said, “Good, they are not white, because the last guy who wore white shoes in here ripped me off!” What a funny guy! Well, the event was a huge success (it sold-out McFarlin Auditorium)and the poster George created for me was so popular at KZEW, it hung in their control room for many years, and is today my personal favorite. George also created a wonderful logo for my Mother’s bakery, “The Taste of France”. George told me that after his grandmother passed away, he missed her cooking and company so much, he placed an ad in the Dallas Morning News with the heading, “Wanted: A Grandmother” and sure enough, he got many responces and I understand he even chose one of the them to visit. It was a pleasure to introduce George to friends of mine who ended up hiring him to do work for them, and although Dallas and the World has lost a unique, rare talent, George’s memory and amazing portfolio will live on forever!
Anyone have any old Climatic Air Conditioning parts catalogues, circa mid 60s?
George drew the schematics for the parts and, you guessed it, included all manner of tiny little pictures: animals, lovers, dripping faucets.
If you have one or can get access to one, check it out. Some of the drawing may still exist in modern catalogues.
All hail the Master!
I was “in” the Image Group in the late 60’s and a pain in George’s butt through the early 70’s. My God, what a ride!!
I met George when I was a 19 year-old hippie chick in 1968. I haven’t stopped laughing (or crying since). We used to have calligraphy contests, and spend time at The Villager and Stoneleigh P. I especially remember one Christmas when we went to a party near SMU. Ev Gilmore was there with his tuba, and George with his harmonica. Best set of Christmas carols I’ve ever heard!
John Bloom (aka Joe Bob Briggs) had this to say about his friend George:
http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/2009/07/20/john-bloom-on-george-toomer/
I met George with Pat Foss in 1975 while working at Azel Art Supply and would have the pleasure of seeing him from time to time on the street or at his ‘house of art’. He was always there for me to cry or laugh on or to ask him many of the ‘unanswered life questions’ that I would have and he always had the perfect answer even if it was not exactly what I wanted to hear!
I will miss you terribly George! You are and always will be one of a kind!
I have worked for Dick’s Last Resort for the last 22 year, I know, Right. I meet George not long after I started, and liked his sarcasism from the first moment. Here’s a quick George story he told me about “One ups-man-ship”. When you are in a meeting and you need to pull a power move on the other guy, take the business card he gave you and slowly start picking your teeth w/ it while talking to him. Then George looked at me w/ that George “the devil” smile and said, “Now who in control”.
George was and is a strong part of what made Dick’s work.
Can’t make it to the Wake at Dick’s Tues, hope you all tell great George stories.
Mike
Don’t worry George, we’ll keep East Dallas eclectic. And sarcastic. And eccentric. We delight in seeming odd to those silly lemmings who march up Preston Road from the Bubble to Oklahoma.
Woodrow has lost yet another archetype. But we shall carry on like a wayward son.
I live in Virginia now, so I didn’t hear of George’s death until late. Still, the news saddened me and brought back memories of an old friend.
George was one of the first folks I met when I moved to Dallas in 1981. Along with Mike Shropshire, Alex Burton and John Anders, he helped me discover the city where I would live for 20 years, and he helped make me feel at home.
My best George Toomer memories, however, were made in the late 1990s. The writer, Richard West, and I, and sometimes one or two others, would stop by George’s house once a week, usually on Tuesday afternoons, if I remember correctly. We would sit out on George’s porch, talking about literature and life until the sun went down. Richard and I would share a six-pack, but George rarely drank alcohol in those days. He would down 7-Eleven Big Gulps (he called them Big Gupps) one after another.
In these sessions we often discussed books. Among my favorite authors is Henry Miller, and it turned out that George knew more about Henry Miller than anyone else I have ever met, including the fellow who curates the Miller museum in Big Sur. George also had a huge collection of Miller’s works, many of them first editions. He loaned me all sorts of obscure Miller books that I might never have read otherwise.
George also owned the only classic Bentley I have ever ridden in. He and I occasionally had lunch together, and we always rode to the cafe in his car. He got a kick out of watching folks stare as we drove past. It may have been the car that attracted attention, but seeing such a vehicle inhabited by the Buffalo and his bearded and disheveled companion (me) must have been strange, indeed.
For me, life in Dallas was richer because I was able to call George Toomer my friend. For those who still live in Dallas, existence will be a bit more bleak without him.
Now, because this is Tuesday, I think I’ll go in search of a Big Gupp.
It was 1977. The lapels on my polyester suit even wider than my tie. I was standing in this strange little yellow house with George Toomer and Jack Caspary and we were talking creative. I was damn excited. George was illustrating the cover of my magazine, Dallas Magazine. (This was back when the chamber of commerce produced a monthly.) The cover story was on metal recycling and George was inspired to draw a monster machine crunching an old car in its jaws. If there was a penis hidden in the artwork, I never saw it. Of course, chamber of commerce guys didn’t look for such silly things. (Until Jack Unruh illustrated one of my covers, that is.) To this day, I still recall the fascinating discussions George and I shared over french toast breakfasts at Lucky’s. George Toomer had an insight into life that most will never see.
Sorry, George to weigh in so late. And it is great to see names of those that of us that shared his orbit back in the early 70’s…
I suppose I might have been the perfect client. We were opening a waterbed store, (no kidding waterbeds) over on Routh when George produced our brochure THE GREAT WATERBED MYTH… Won a bunch of awards in Kansas City and probably didn’t sell $Hit, but who cared… It was like the projects that I got Tom Sawyer’ed into trying to sell and promote like Golf Ball Breeders and the Orson Wells like April Fools Day parade that Bob White and maybe Alex reported on some radio stations and people were calling into Dallas Police Dept to avoid the traffic caused by the Toomer-imagined low-riders, and horse manure dodging marching bands.
Best memories? Maybe the poker game at the Artist’s and Models Ball with Stoney Burns sitting at the table with the old judge from the Lee Park Massacre and George dressed up as a ‘55 Chevy. (had the shape for it…)
No, the best was while I was rep’ing Jack Caspary, George said one day at the Stoneleigh, “I am going to market myself, Buffalo George Toomer. We have been damn successful marketing other companies, stupid products like your waterbeds and snack food, its’ time to put myself on the map. Brewer, mark my words I know I will arrived when I am on the Johnny Carson show and every morning television show.
Of course, we all know the punch line. He pretty well did it all. I was pulling on my pants in a hotel room in St. Louis when I heard them say on Good Morning America, “We are presenting the Great Debate from Texas, representing Houston is Mickey Gilley and telling the Dallas story, Buffalo George Toomer.”
George, you made it bearable. Never walked into your house or studio, that I didn’t leave smarter and more amused at the world. Damn, I will miss ya…
Sorry to miss the wake. Looking for the FOTB group, tried Facebook under Pat. Too many Pat Foss’s, of course we know that the rest are imposters… Drop me a reply or my email is on the website. Would really like to see the old gang again, and I just moved back to Dallas. (left George a message when I got here, but no reply and I had just not gotten around to stopping by Cole. Once again the lesson, don’t put off the chance to be with your friends…)
Here’s the link to the Facebook’s Friends of the Buffalo.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=109091402623
Cheers.
When I moved away from Dallas and George, it was like cutting off my conjoined twin. Difference was that George had dozens of others. Looking at the names who’ve written here I see the lovely Clair Kittle and other creatives to whom George introduced me. We all became more, with him. Well, I did anyway. Usually, he was pictures and I was words, but together we wrote the best radio ads in history. That must be true because he said so. There’s no one else on earth with whom I could have created a Morning News fantasy fashion feature on Phyllis Diller’s new clothing line.
I quote him often, my favorite story being when we discussed those pesky little jobs for unappreciative clients. He said, “The next time somebody offers me a $500 job, I’m going say, look, I’ll pay you $500 to take that job to someone else. That way I’ll save myself $1,000 and about three days work.”
Sharing work, play, women, music, family, and food, categories that were not mutually exclusive for George, was the height of livin’. Let’s laugh it up. He is.
George was one of the first people I showed my portfolio to after going on my own. I didn’t know anything about him, I just was told I should talk to him. I called a few times before he finally said “Tell me your history” (this was before electronic resumes and etc). I told him I had been with The Richard Group briefly he stopped me there and said, “briefly”? Come on by. He told me I had good stuff, too good to be working for someone else. He might have just been a good liar, but I liked him from then on. lol
He had to be the only person I’ve known more laid back than me. I loved his drawing style and used him a few times, plus even more on concept/layouts. I always was amazed at how easily good ideas just rolled off his tongue during our meetings.
For a short time it got to be where I could dropped in on him just to say hey, while driving down Cole ave.
Unfortunately he moved and the computer came into power and we’ve all become self-contained pods- no more farming this and that out- dropping off type at midnight and chatting with the typesetter about how are the kids are. Our industry has really changed and I don’t get out very often to see my comrades any more- and now there’s one less to bump into somewhere. Dang
August 4, 2009
Out of nowhere a voice told me to Google George Toomer today, approximately 26 years since I last saw George. Where did that come from? I left advertising in Dallas to cook on a sailboat in the Caribbean and am now living in Ft. Lauderdale. When I Googled George Toomer today, I discovered he has physically left us but is still very much alive in the fond memories of many. He taught me how to fold napkins 5 different ways over dinner one night eating Chinese. He let my elderly neighbor sit in his classic Bentley when he came to visit. He challenged me to live life. Thanks for the memories George and for the “visit” today. That’s the only way I know how to describe it.
George Toomer was the Larger than Life, Living Legend of Illustration in Dallas. He was a formidable rival at both The Sketchpad and Studio X. His studio was just up the street on Cole Avenue and Studio X on Carlisle Street, so bumping into his crew at Asel Art Supplies (there’s a term I haven’t used in years) was more than just an occasional occurrence, it was a showdown of artistic differences. They were loyal to George Toomer as we were loyal to our mentor, Don Ivan Punchatz. The Stoneliegh P (Restaurant) served as the only neutral watering hole we could share to traded secrets and stories over many pitchers of beer and fountain drinks with the occasional burger.
George will be remembered and missed, even by me, the opposition.
the real Mr Dallas
E. Pluribus Unum!
George was that to so many …
the curbstone philosopher has left the room …