'Mixed Blessings'. Dutch-language version. Translation: "My parents want to move." - "Gee, what a pity!" - "They're thinking of buying the house next to yours." - "WOW! THAT'S GREAT!!" It will increase the value of OUR house significantly!".
Manny Curtis was a British comic artist, known for creating the first mainstream black cartoon character in Britain. Born in London, he was drafted into the British Army in 1942, and he fought in the Far East until the end of the Second World War in 1945. He took up cartooning after the war, and worked for most British newspapers, and for magazines like Playboy, Mad Magazine and The Jordan Times.
He had features called 'Hard Hit Harry' and 'Algie & Fred' in magazine Titbits in the 1960s and 1970s. The latter was the first British comic strip to regularly feature black characters. He then became a cartoonist with the Daily Sun. He created a strip about a TV-addicted little girl before creating 'Mixed Blessings', a continuitation of 'Algie & Fred', in which he dealt with racial prejudice and intolerance.
Curtis has also written for British humorous TV shows like 'Two Ronnies', 'Dave Allen', 'Harry Secombe', 'Tommy Cooper', 'Not the Nine O'Clock News' and 'Don't Ask Us'. He passed away in October 2007.
Manny Curtis should not be confused with U.S. songwriter Manny Curtis (1911-1984).
'Mixed Blessings'. Dutch-language version. Translation: "Sorry, Sue, but you get nothing from me!" - "Are you discriminating me for my skin color or the fact that I'm a female?" - "That has nothing to do with it!" - "Why don't I get anything, then?" - "You don't have any money!!?" - "Oh, you're prejudiced against POOR people!".