The Cat On a Hot Thin Groove

by Gene Deitch

Collects legendary animator/cartoonist’s covers for a record magazine, as well as his comic starring the record collector “The Cat.” On the long road to becoming an Oscar-winning animation director, Gene Deitch became an intense jazz fan. At the age of 21, he discovered The Record Changer magazine, a jazz fan magazine filled with obsessive, scholarly, and purist essays about jazz as well as listings of hard-to-find jazz albums. Every jazz swinger in the ’40s was called a cat (as in “cool cat”), so Gene Deitch created a cartoon feature for Record Changer titled “The Cat,” which quickly became a fixture of the magazine. He also started drawing the covers, which graced almost every issue from 1945 to 1951 along with “The Cat.” Deitch’s stylistically virtuoso images exquisitely embodied the essence of the 1950s hipster, and was a visual paean to the joy of collecting records and appreciating jazz. The Cat on a Hot Thin Groove collects all of Deitch’s Record Changer work in one gorgeous, coffee-table art book, with commentary and reminiscences by Deitch himself. Originally published in 2003 in hardcover and out-of-print for almost a decade, this first-ever paperback edition will delight a new generation of fans. Yes

Genres: Music, Art, Nonfiction, Comics

160 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2003

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can a record lover or collector resist this wonderful book of cartoons and magazine covers by Gene Deitch? Obsessive of course, but that is what a music lover is - or should say "record collector." In the 50's there was a magazine called "Record Changer" that was devoted to the study of the 78 rpm Jazz record. Deitch did most if not all of the covers plus he had a cartoon series in each issue that features a nerdy collector by the name of "The Cat." The character is very much an obsessed record collector, who only dreams to find that lost vinyl or 78 that is lost to the world. Actually I love this book because it reminds me of hanging out in the vinyl section at Ameoba.

Nevertheless I also like the book because of Deitch's drawings. Very hardcore 50's Moderne and uber-groovy. The book also shows the layout of the actual magazine - every issue in fact! Since I have a deep interest in book and magazine layouts, this volume is really important to yours truly with respect to publishing, designing, etc.