Gary Larson

[Ralph Chapman <MNHAD002@SIVM.SI.EDU>]

  I can report to the good people of the list that Gary Larson is a great
guy in person. About 13 years ago, give or take a few, before he was all
that well known friends here and I got to show him around the museum and
he was absolutely wonderful to talk with. A few years later we had the
Gary Larson show here and he came for a week and was put in the limelight
for a while (which he doesn't like) but we finally go to take him out
to a local seafood restaurant for the whole evening and talk about paleo,
bugs, diving and other wonderful things. Later, one friend, Chip Clark,
took the photograph of the Allosaurus they used for the cover of the
Prehistory of the Far Side (I think that's the one they used it for).
Another photographer took a second photo of the soft-sculpture child in
front of Chip's photo. Chip still gets Christmas cards/updates from
Gary and as a result of the first visit Chip was sent one of his original
cartoons and we (myself and wife Linda deck) got the original of the
Thagomizer cartoon - which is one of my most sacred possessions.

Anyway, this is one case where the celebrity is even nicer and funnier
and smarter in person that you could hope for. I'll always call it a
thagomizer.

Ralph Chapman, NMNH