WOOSTER — It is hard to believe there was a time when cartoons only aired on television on Saturday mornings. Ironically, Saturday was the only day of the week that children of that era woke up early to begin their day.
Today, cartoons are as popular as ever and they air virtually 24 hours per day on one station or another. Marty Gitlin, co-author of the book "Celebration of Animation: The 100 Greatest Cartoon Characters in Television History," has taken up the task of ranking the animated antics of the likes of Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam; he will be visiting two locations in Wayne County to discuss his rankings and book.
"This will be a family oriented show and will last about an hour," Gitlin said of the events. "We will discuss the criteria used to rank the characters, showing cartoon snippets and playing trivia."
Gitlin, who grew up watching Hanna-Barbera cartoons in South Euclid, will be appearing at the Dalton Branch of the Wayne County Public Library on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 6:30 p.m. and at the West Salem Branch on Saturday, Feb. 10 at 12:30 p.m.
Gitlin’s book, is due out mid-February and contains a foreword by Tom Kenny, the voice artist of SpongeBob SquarePants.
"It is kind of hard to think that Homer Simpson is 30 years old and SpongeBob is 20 now," the 61-year old Gitlin said. "Their longevity gets them high marks, there are some (cartoons) that have been around a half century or longer, they are legendary."
Debbie Starcher, branch manager, WCPL West Salem, is looking forward to the Gitlin’s presentation.
"We are pleased to have Marty Gitlin here," She said. "This program will be fun for children and adults alike."
Starcher is familiar with Gitlin from his previous works.
"He previously worked with WCPL in bringing his book, ‘The Great American Cereal Book’ to us and audiences certainly enjoyed that," she said. "So I was glad to learn that he has a new book to talk about; and who doesn't like cartoons? I'm sure there will be something for all of us to enjoy."
Reporter Dan Starcher can be reached at 330-287-1626 or dstarcher@the-daily-record.com. He is @danstarcher on Twitter.