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April 22, 2008
Original cartoon art on display
University Park, PA— "My Beloved Cartoonists: Original Cartoon Art from Fred Waring's America" is on display May 5–August 8, 2008, in Pattee Library, main exhibit hall. The cartoons, comic strips and illustrations from the Waring collection, are part of the Special Collections Library, Penn State's University Libraries.
Fred Waring, band leader, music publisher, entrepreneur, distinguished Penn State alumnus and personification of patriotism, whose legendary show choir and orchestra, The Pennsylvanians, dominated the Big Band era, was also a lifelong reader of newspaper comic strips and an admirer of the artists who created them. 
The Sunday following his death, a strip by cartoonist and close friend, Milt Caniff, ran in the newspapers that opened with the line, "You knew Fred Waring as the famous orchestra and choral leader who thrilled people for years as he and his Pennsylvanians interpreted the world's music. You probably were not aware that Fred was one of the foremost newspaper cartoon buffs and collectors. On tour, late editions from every city were delivered to him on the bus, so he could follow the comics—all the comics!"
Beginning in 1948 and continuing for the next 28 years, Fred Waring hosted the members of the National Cartoonists Society (NCS), his "beloved cartoonists," as he called them, at his Shawnee Inn and Country Club, one weekend every year to celebrate his birthday. As a result of his long-term friendship with members of the NCS, Waring accumulated hundreds of cartoons, comic strips, illustrations and sketches drawn for him and about him by leading artists. These included Rube Goldberg, "Sad Sack;" Hal Foster, "Prince Valiant;" Mort Walker, "Beetle Bailey;" Milt Caniff, "Steve Canyon" and "Terry and the Pirates;" Walt Kelley, "Pogo;" Bil Keane, "Family Circus;" Chester Gould, "Dick Tracy;" and many others.
The exhibit includes only a sampling of the collection of more than 500 items, which is housed in the 313 Pattee Library, west, and is accessible during regular business hours. Information about the collection also can be found at http://www.libraries.psu.edu/waring/ or by calling 814-863-2911. Research inquiries are encouraged, and many materials are available for use by music educators, researchers and community groups.