#SundaySteveWillis – Sebastian Cabot!

On this (American) Labor Day weekend edition of #SundaySteveWillis, we’re lucky enough to have hit Cranium Frenzy #31 – The Sebastian Cabot issue!

Let’s start with the obvious for anyone…younger than me, most likely!

“Who’s Sebastian Cabot”? So glad you asked! Per Wikipedia:

Charles Sebastian Thomas Cabot (6 July 1918 – 23 August 1977) was a British actor. He is best remembered as the gentleman’s gentleman Giles French in the CBS-TV sitcom Family Affair (1966–1971). He was also known for playing the Wazir in the film Kismet (1955) and Dr. Carl Hyatt in the CBS-TV series Checkmate (1960–1962).

Cabot was also a voice performer in several Disney animated films. He made one of his first contributions in The Sword in the Stone (1963), as both the narrator and Lord Ector. He later played Bagheera in The Jungle Book (1967). His longest-standing role came through the Winnie the Pooh series, in which he narrated Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966), Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968), Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974), and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977).

Now let’s put that voice actor stuff aside. It’s his role as Mr. French in Family Affair (which was in reruns on channel 50 in Detroit when I was a little guy) that left a mark. But this clip might jog some animated Disney memories.

Cabot was much more than a prim and proper British butler, though. He was an accomplished actor, one that Steve Willis greatly enjoyed watching. In fact, he appreciated Cabot so much that he put him in Cranium Frenzy in a spot role here and there. This issue, however, gives him the full spotlight…but only in a way that Steve Willis can do.

(And note that it’s always the same image of Cabot. Don’t know why, but it adds to the mirth.)

Issue 31 has three stories, and here’s the second of them. I enjoyed this one because it not only gives us some Cabot, it also shows peak modern Steve Willis cartooning — visually creative, surreal, masterful storytelling. Check it out to see what I mean:

I’m so tickled every time I see Sebastian Cabot. Steve knows this, and it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s why he took an issue to scratch that itch.

It goes further, though. I even made a small run of Sebastian Cabot keychains.

For even more Sebastian Cabot and a ton of additional cartooning genius,  The Collected Cranium Frenzy by Steve Willis Volume 4, available now at Amazon. 277 pages of Steve Willis at your fingertips!

If you like #SundaySteveWillis, you’ll LOVE The Collected Cranium Frenzy by Steve Willis. Get yours here!