Where is Corky Normart?
written by Julie R. Neidlinger 6 comments link this post
Old books have more stories than the ones that are printed inside.
My grandparent's basement is a treasure trove of old books. School books, cook books, old college text books, books that still refer to World War 1 as the "great and final war of wars." It's a fabulous slightly dank place of musty books with cloth covers.
This book has an inscription written inside, in my grandmother's handwriting: Bought at a Flea Market at Fresno, Calif. in Dec. 1972 by Mrs. Glenn Neidlinger
Above her writing is the writing of the student who originally owned the book:
9:00 - 10:00 A.M.
N-14
All Days
The book is the usual late 1940's type of text book that I've seen in my grandparents basement, a text book that kids today would absolutely drown in (no pictures, just chock full of lessons and reading).
What's particularly curious about this 1947-era book, though, is that Corky Normart's parents must have owned a fur store. The book is full of the purple-ink stamp from this store, on pages and covers, perhaps evidence of Corky having gone wild with the stamp:
1230 Fulton St. - Fresno, California
Tucked inside was a little slip of paper, a summons for Corky to go visit a teacher named Don Beauman. I wonder if it was a friendly visit, or if Corky had stamped "Normart's Furs" all over his desk and the walls of the school.
I'll never know.
The real treat (and I'm guessing one of the reasons my grandma might have singled this book out) is what Corky did to the back inside cover. And that's the real reason I'm sharing this find with you: Corky was quite an artist. There are no less than five caricatures of Hitler (remember, this was the late 1940's), and some other funny doodles.
Do you want to see it? Click on the picture of the book and have a look.
Corky Normart, I don't know who you are/were, but I love your work. Thanks for sharing it forward, from school to home to flea market to basement to scanner to blog to the world. Not bad, for 40 years.
UPDATE: Corky has been "found"!
Labels: clippings
Copyright (c) Julie R. Neidlinger 1/03/2008 12:01:00 AM
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6 Comments:
Shame on you for not being nosy! Just a little google turned up this: http://cnormart.com/profile.html
main site: http://cnormart.com/index.html
Quite an artist, indeed.
How many Corky Normarts could there be who hail from Fresno?
Love your art and writing,
Les -- brickmoon.com
By 
, at
3/1/08 12:56
Duly admonished.
'Twas midnight, and I was too lazy to Google.
You're right -- he is a fabulous artist. Seeing his site and all that he's done makes this book all that much more of a little treasure.
Kind of cool.
Here he is: Ara F. Normart, Jr., a.k.a. Corky Normart.
By 
Julie R. Neidlinger, at
3/1/08 13:43
"Old books have more stories than the ones that are printed inside."
cool thought!
just found your blog a few days ago(i think i did a technorati search on 'hymns')
By Terry, at
3/1/08 15:50
I don't know if your grandparents want to sell it, but I'd love to have that book. (And not just because of Corky's embellishments.) If that's even a remote possibility, you can find my contact info on my site.
On the other hand, I wonder if Corky would enjoy getting it back.
By Roy Jacobsen, at
7/1/08 10:00
Corky is my cousin. He indeed lives in Fresno and my dad just called him and told him about this site.
By Chris, at
25/3/08 22:25
I'm Corky's grandaughter and the second I laid eyes on the drawings I cracked up! All of htose pictures ane totally something he would do. I admire the creativity and passion he uses in all of his work and love my grandpa so, so much.
By , at
26/3/08 21:11
