Filed Under: "interviews"

The above profile of Flora appeared in The Complete Guide to Cartooning (Grosset & Dunlap, 1950), by Gene Byrnes. Byrnes had a long, distinguished career as a syndicated cartoonist (Reg’lar Fellers) from 1915 to 1949. Flora never claimed to be a cartoonist per se, tho his commercial illustrations—in particular the 1940s Columbia album covers featured in the profile—certainly were cartoonish. In his quotes (click the image for enlarged reading), Flora doesn’t address any aspect of…

Absolute good taste edifies absolutely. Cartoonist/animator Gene Deitch, in a 2003 interview with AllAboutJazz.com, about his then-new book, The Cat on a Hot Thin Groove: AAJ: What is your favorite piece of album cover artwork? Deitch: Any by James Flora. Left: detail, Shorty Rogers Courts the Count (1955, RCA Victor)

Google yourself. Discover forgotten incidents from your past—like this 2005 interview by Coury Turczyn for PopCult magazine. The occasion was the publication of The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora, and tho the interview is dotted with Flora iconography, it also touches on outsider music, record collecting, the Langley Schools Music Project, R. Stevie Moore, and Shooby Taylor, the Human Horn. Three years later Cory wrote an incisive cover story about Flora for Knoxville’s Metro Pulse.