foreword

      Perbiante once said: “Bring me someone who can make me laugh.” Back in those days a feather archer could have done the trick, but today life has become a bag of frowns, and jesters find it increasingly difficult to get a ha-ha out of the bellies of their audience. R. Simms—the proud and happy parent of what follows—did some biological research into the origin of the belly laugh and came up with a revolutionary method of cartooning. He fills his pen with gastric juice, and has his roommate tickle him under the armpit while he sketches out his stuff. It may not help the cartoons any, but he gets a big kick out of it.

      Simms got his start by sketching military payment certificates as seen through the bottom of a gin bottle. This brief career ended, however, when someone spent the subject matter after the gin ran out While in Korea, Dick—that’s what the “R” stands for—gained recognition for his beautiful murals on the company’s latrine walls, and shortly thereafter moved up to the position of staff artist for the Korean Communications Zone’s “A” Frame News. Many of his cartoons have appeared in such notable publications as Pacific Stars & Stripes, Army Times, and the Seventh Division’s Bayonet, and his work with “A” Frame News netted him an Armed Forces Press Service citation.