'Calla & Lucy Go West' (1981).
Loesje Raymakers is an Amsterdam-based storyteller, actor, painter, poet and comic artist. In 1981, she was illustrator, co-scriptwriter and one of the photo characters in the obscure comic book 'Calla & Lucy Go West' of the feminist publishing house Sara.
Early life and work
Born in the early 1950s (she was 22 in 1974), Loesje Raymakers was trained as a dancer. After singing and dancing in 'My Fair Lady', she joined the Amsterdam theater group Het Proeftheater. Founded in August 1973, the group consisted of eight actors, and initially focused on a new format of children's theater. Under the guidance of director and composer Frans Icke, the group wrote and performed their own fairy tale plays, which had recurring characters, all with the aim to introduce children to theater as a form of expression. In the second half of 1974, the group toured with an adaptation of Harald Müller's 'Grote Wolf', which told the story of children as victims of war.
Loesje Raymakers performing with Proeftheater. From left to right: Marja Vis, Frans Spek, Loesje Raymakers and Ton de Groot (Tubantia, 30 January 1974).
Calla & Lucy Go West
By 1980, Raymakers was also active as a writer and comic artist. Together with co-scriptwriter Carla Schrama, she wrote the comic book 'Calla & Lucy Go West' (1981), for which she also made the illustrations. A mix of illustrations and photographs, Raymakers also performed one of the two main characters. The other was played by Margriet Onland. The one-shot comic book told the story of two cowgirls, who go on a mission to hand the Queen a petition against Dollar City's attempt to annex Sovereign City for their urbanization plans. Published by the feminist publishing house Sara in Amsterdam, the release on 1 March 1981 coincided with a festive Wild West party in the women's cafe Saarein, for which the bar was transformed into a saloon with cowboys, showgirls and bales of hay, and even a real horse.
'Calla & Lucy Go West' (1981).
While nowadays obscure, 'Calla & Lucy Go West' was in many ways a remarkable comic book. The story was told through two lead characters who, along with their horses, were cut-out from photographs, while the settings and secondary characters were drawn. The booklet had a powerful feminist tone. Most of the characters were strong and independent women, and the two leads Calla and Lucy were romantically involved with each other. Among the drawn characters were guest appearances of several popular women from comic books, including Willy Vandersteen's Wiske and Aunt Sidonia, E.C. Segar's Olive Oil, Peyo's Lady Adolphine (from the 'Benoît Brisefer' comic) and Walt Disney's Grandma Duck, while the settings and additional characters reveal inspiration from Morris and Goscinny's 'Lucky Luke' comics. Besides a feminist stance, the book playfully satirized Amsterdam's housing crisis of the 1980s and its treatment of old working-class neighborhoods, while not shying away from anachronisms: the characters have their adventure in an American Far West setting, but offer their petition to a monarch like the Netherlands has.
Later years
Loesje Raymakers, later going through life as Loes Raymakers, moved on to painting, writing socially conscious poetry and short stories, appearing on stage as a storyteller and organizing reading sessions for people with intellectual disabilities. Carla Schrama, co-scriptwriter of 'Calla & Lucy Go West' spent her years in Amsterdam working at youth centers, pop venues and the women's café, before returning to her hometown on the island of Texel, where she was a team assistant at a high school. The other star of the photo comic, Margriet Onland, worked as a career advisor at the UWV and was later a volunteer driver for the medical organization Dokters van de Wereld. She also manages and safeguards the legacy of her late wife, the Amsterdam photographer Jenny Wesly (1948-2016).
'Calla & Lucy Go West' (1981).