Conventional wisdom

• Laughter is the best medicine
• It takes less nerves to smile than to frown
• A cartoon a day keeps the blues away
• Cartoons have no age boundaries

RIT Cartoon Box

• Started by Ko Myint Pe (M72) and team with the Patronage of Saya U Khin Maung Phone Ko (“Phone Ko”, C65) and Saya U Aung Myint (“Kyant Ba Hone”, Pet69)
• “Phone Ko” was known for his “Vietnam cartoon”
• “Kyant Ba Hone” superficially looked like “Nick Kelly”, but the contents are different.
• Maintained by three (or more) generations of Cartoon Boxers
• Cartoon Box was “ordered close” after 1988
• History is published in the Commemorative Issue of Swel Daw Yeik Magazine for SPZP-2012
• Collection of RIT Cartoons published in time for SPZP-2012
• Pamphlet of RIT Cartoons distributed at Shwe YaDu and SPZP-2016
• Some (e.g. “Aw Pi Kye”) became professional cartoonists
  Exhibited in Myanmar and beyond (e.g. Asian Cartoon Exhibition)

Early Cartoonists

• Shwe Ta Lay
• U Ba Gyan
• U Heng Soon
• U Aung Shein
• U Pe Thein
• U Than Kywe
• U Ba Htwe
• U Kyaw San (“Ka Sa”)

Published in Burmese and English newspapers, magazines and books.

The “Cartoon Festival” was held in U Ba Gyan Street (around Tazaung Daing).

Comics

During our times, we read

• Beano
• Dandy
• Topper
• Beezer
• Film Fun
• Joke and Humor books
  D. S. Saluja collected 200 books including Annual / Special Issues

U Myo Myint (M73)

• Designed covers for the RIT Annual Magazines and the commemorative Swel Daw Yeik Magazines.
• Expert in “Pon Tu” (Portrait) and “Oil Paintings”.
• Also draw cartoons. U Myint Pe (M72) has posted some of them.
• They remind me of three female friends who were fondly known as Half Size, Full Size and Double Size.

Miscellaneous

• Ko Win Thein (M67, GBNF) suggested to name RIT Main Gate as “U Lu Paw Gate”.
• Ko Myint Soe (C68, GBNF) and Ko Myint Thein (M69, GBNF) are fondly called Maung Kabar (or Kabar for short)
• About a decade ago, my spouse paid K10,000 for a copy of “old” cartoons published in the Rangoon Times.
  Some are political satire.
• In 1958, there was a rift between the two factions of AFPFL.
  Some cartoonists took sides and a “price war” started.
  The cartoons, which sold for 60 pyas, were then given away at bargain prices (any where between 10 and 50 pyas).
• We have seen private shops like Smart & Mookerdam gave way to the government owned stationery and book stores.