Tuesday 26 July 2011

Things that make editors happy...



You see, this is what makes being an editor fun (sometimes)... bribes from artists! Of course, I did have to enter MacFormat and Men's Health illustrator Bill McConkey's 1980s Classic Last Supper Movie Quiz first.

I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing that I was able to name all the films in his wonderful image (which has garnered him at least one commission, so the effort was worth it). But since one of the prizes was chocolate, who cares?

... although I do note that 'Baby Ruth' is an American chocolate bar and wonder how long Bill had it in his fridge/cupboard/competition prize box.

Wikpedia reveals that although the name of the candy bar sounds like the name of the famous baseball player Babe Ruth, the Curtiss Candy Company traditionally claimed that it was named after President Grover Cleveland's daughter, Ruth Cleveland.

The candy maker, located on the same street as Wrigley Field, named the bar "Baby Ruth" in 1921, as Babe Ruth's fame was on the rise, over 30 years after Cleveland had left the White House, and 17 years after his daughter, Ruth, had died. The company did not negotiate an endorsement deal with Ruth, and many saw the company's story about the origin of the name to be a devious way to avoid having to pay the baseball player any royalties.

Curtiss successfully shut down a rival bar that was approved by, and named for, Ruth, on the grounds that the names were too similar.

Bill's additions to the wrapper are of course, homage to Sloth in The Goonies, befriended by Chunk with a chocolate bar.

I know, I really should get out more.

Apart from mailing out bribes, Bill's  been busy with a number of projects including a cover for Insurance Age and an infographic-based image on the subject of a new targeting system on an Apache Helicopter, which saw print in Nuts magazine.

• View Bill's art here on his web site: www.billmcconkey.co.uk


• Check out his latest work at: http://billmcconkey.blogspot.com

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