Skitzy: The Story of Floyd W. Skitzafroid

AUTHOR: Freeman, Don

ARTIST: Don Freeman (illustrator)

PUBLISHER: Self-published (1955); Drawn and Quarterly (2008)

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 1955; 2008

Publication History

Don Freeman was born in San Diego in 1908. He moved to New York in 1928 and studied at the Arts Student League with noted social realist artists John Sloan and Harry Wickey. Freeman concentrated his drawings on Depression-era working men and women, predominantly from the theater district. He was an illustrator for the New YorkHerald Tribune and TheNew York Times and became known as the “Daumier of New York City” for his entertaining caricatures and images that resembled nineteenth-century French printmaker and caricaturist Honoré Daumier. He was also a book illustrator, noted for his drawings in William Saroyan’s My Name is Aram (1940) and The Human Comedy (1943). Freeman also illustrated numerous children’s books, including the popular Corduroy series.

Skitzy was self-published in 1955 and printed at John D. Hooper Lithographers in San Francisco. It was originally a spiral-bound book with dimensions of 5.25 × 4 inches. The 2008 edition by Drawn and Quarterly extended the dimensions to 9 × 7 inches and included an illustrated hard cover and an afterword by illustrator Dave Kiersh.

Plot

Skitzy, a nearly wordless book, begins with the text, “As we look in on Mr. and Mrs. Skitzafroid they appear to be blissfully sleeping,” and portrays a middle-aged couple in bed. Mr. Skitzafroid has a smile on his face, but when he turns over to his left side, he displays a frown and scratches his head in unsettled slumber, which awakens his wife. She sits up in bed and shows an expression of worry as she notices his mouth displaying a slight frown on the right side and a smile on the left. When they both awaken, she helps him dress, makes his breakfast, and pauses for a kiss, which she never receives as he rushes off to work. Mr. Skitzafroid races to catch a train, and while reading a newspaper, he splits into two men (one with a disgruntled expression and the other with a smile). When both men step off the train, the smiling Mr. Skitzafroid races downtown, and the disgruntled Mr. Skitzafroid walks uptown.

The smiling Mr. Skitzafroid takes the West Side subway to Greenwich Village. He stops and picks up grapes from a fruit vendor before entering a tenement building under the scrutiny of his neighbors. He unlocks the door to an apartment and enters a studio with an easel and a painting of a naked woman on the wall. A young, attractive woman, who was also on the subway with Skitzafroid, walks up the stairs to his room. She enters the room, where the smiling Mr. Skitzafroid has changed into a beret and painter’s frock. He shakes the young woman’s hand and begins to mix paints on his palette while she undresses. He hands her the cluster of grapes, which she holds over her head in a naked pose. After she finishes posing, Skitzafroid works on his canvas as the model relaxes while sipping from a cup and reading a book entitled Piece of Mind.

When Skitzafroid completes his work, he shows the woman the painting, which she admires. He pays her for posing, and as she leaves, he calls her back and offers her the grapes in a kind gesture. He changes back into his street clothes and rushes off with his painting. He receives mixed reactions from people on the subway, who gaze over his shoulders at the painting. He arrives at an art gallery and sells his painting to the owner, who is captivated with the piece. The owner immediately places the piece in the display window.

When Mr. Skitzafroid passes a jeweler, he sees a necklace, which he buys with the profit he earned from his painting. When he steps outside, he notices a policeman looking at his painting, labeled,“Grape Susette by Skitza,” in the gallery window and admits to being the artist. Although he is initially disappointed that the policeman does not believe him, he walks away in a happy mood and whistles as he reaches the train station early to have his choice of seats.

The second part of the book opens with the text, “During all this time in another part of the city” and displays the disgruntled Skitzafroid working at a desk with a stack of accounting paperwork. Skitzafroid’s frustration is depicted with imaginary numbers spinning around the top of his head. These numbers then take the shape of naked female figures and sinister monsters, finally dissolving and being replaced by his boss, who stands behind him in judgment and scolds him in front of the other workers who then leave for the day.

Mr. Skitzafroid joins a crowd of people, who push one another in a mob to the train station. He squeezes through the crowd and barely manages to jump on the crowded train. The only seat available is next to his artistic self. When he sits down, his two selves come together, and the smiling self takes over the expression of both men.

When he reaches home, the smiling Mr. Skitzafroid takes his wife in a warm embrace and kisses her passionately, much to her surprise. She is dressed for an occasion, perhaps an anniversary, with candles burning on their dining table. He offers her the necklace he bought, and she proudly wears it during dinner. After they have eaten and he relaxes in his chair, she opens a curtain, and presents him a gift—the painting that he sold to the gallery. When she leaves the room, he looks down at his painting and discovers that she paid eight hundred dollars for the work for which he was paid one hundred dollars.

After he goes to bed, he ponders the rise in cost. His wife sheds a tear, thinking that she has done something to upset him. He tosses and turns all night until he awakes in the morning and comes up with the idea to open his own gallery, Froid Art Gallery, with his artistic side doing the artwork and his accountant side managing the business. With a contented smile on his face, he looks over to his wife who beams with admiration and love.

Characters

•Mr. Skitzafroid is a middle-aged man with two personalities. One is a frazzled accountant who cannot concentrate at work and is neglectful to his wife. The other is a smiling artist, dedicated and proud of his artwork, who is friendly to everyone he meets and attentive to his wife.

•Mrs. Skitzafroid is a stay-at-home, caring wife who is concerned over her husband’s lack of interest and the toll that his job is having on his health and on their relationship.

•Susette is a 1950’s stereotype of a model. She has large breasts, wavy hair that is long and blond, and she wears a fluffy slip, a dress, and high heels.

Artistic Style

Freeman used pen and ink on white cardboard for the Skitzy drawings, which are not framed inside a panel but float freely on each page, which gives the narrative a relaxed flow. His simple line work, without the use of shading, and the open layout of the pages allow him to create different facial expressions in his characters that change the mood of the story. Freeman expertly displays feeling and emotion in facial expressions, as seen in the critical stares of people on the subway as they judge Mr. Skitzafroid’s nude painting. Freeman begins the book with a few lines and a dominant use of white space. This minimalist approach immediately directs readers’ attention to the couple in bed. The pages fill with more objects as Mr. Skitzafroid enters the city, and Freeman displays realistic street scenes that depict activities such as children playing behind garbage cans and street vendors selling fruit and vegetables. One of the more skillful examples of his line work is in the sequence in which the accountant mind of Mr. Skitzafroid is shown in rebellion with his artistic side. Freeman accomplishes this in a display of numbers that twist and turn above Mr. Skitzafroid’s head and transform into naked female models with the number 8 on its side depicting their breasts and the number 6 portraying a woman’s right arm that is raised over her face.

Freeman indicates action and emotion with a variety of lines, such as speed lines when Mr. Skitzafroid the artist races down the street, motion lines when the policeman twirls his baton or shakes his thumb, and beaming lines from Mr. Skitzafroid to indicate an idea or surprise. Freeman’s use of stereotypes is easily recognizable in his caricatures, as, for example, with the policeman’s authoritative disposition.

Finally, Freeman includes signs and store displays that provide narrative support and character insight. One example is when Mrs. Skitzafroid, concerned about her husband’s lack of interest, reads a magazine article that is titled, “Is Your Husband Culturally Starved?”

Mr. Skitzafroid’s split personality is made clear not only in the title of the book but also in the way he is rendered. There are two chapter openings with text—one in the beginning and the other when the story switches from artist to accountant—though these could be omitted because the visual narrative is strong enough to avoid any plot confusion.

Themes

Skitzy centers on an alienated white-collar worker who is part of a mass of other workers who live in the suburbs and scramble to and from their jobs on a train. His wife remains at home, cleaning and cooking. This monotonous routine has been referred to as the “rat race” and was something sociologists focused on during the 1950’s to research whether a healthy balance between work and play was attainable. Freeman presents this idea dramatically in the psychological breakdown and the creation of the two personalities in Mr. Skitzafroid. Although this drama is presented in a lighthearted manner and ends happily, it nevertheless displays the debilitating feeling most men and women feel when trapped in jobs that offer few rewards. Many never find the freedom to do something they actually want and love to do. Freeman presents the balance —the integration of work and creativity and the possibility of a happy life for the Skitzafroids once Mr. Skitzafroid envisions a way to make a living combining his business background and his artistic skills.

Impact

At the time of its original publication in 1955, Skitzy was an overlooked wordless graphic novel. It would have remained out of print if not for the growing number of wordless comics published in the 2000’s, which has encouraged an interest in past works of this genre. Publishers such as Drawn and Quarterly, Fantagraphics Books, and Dover Publications have republished largely forgotten wordless graphic novels.

Freeman also published an illustrated book in 1945 called It Shouldn’t Happen that parodies the life of a soldier in the guise of a dog. This illustrated book with limited text was an early example of Freeman’s skillful use of pen and ink and white space that he developed further in Skitzy.

Further Reading

Gropper, William. Alay-oop (1930).

Gross, Milt. He Done Her Wrong: The Great American Novel and Not a Word in It—No Music, Too (1930).

Waldman, Myron. Eve (1943).

Bibliography

Clough, Rob. “Art and Commerce: Skitzy.” Review of Skitzy, by Don Freeman. High-Low (December 25, 2008). http://highlowcomics.blogspot.com/2008/12/art-and-commerce-skitzy.html

Freeman, Don. Come One, Come All! New York: Rinehart, 1949.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. “Oral History Interview with Don Freeman, 1965 June 4.” Interview by Betty Hoag. Smithsonian Archives of American Art. http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-don-freeman-12155.