- Cleven "Goodie" Goudeau
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Cleven "Goodie" Goudeau has been an award winning Art Director, Published Cartoonist and is credited with being the Originator of the first line of African American "Contemporary Black Greeting Cards".
His company named "Goodie Cards" was in operation both in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York from 1962 to 1974. This company bought Onyx Publishing in 1963 and then released these cards across the country. His cards were available in most stores where people of color shopped at that time.
He was the writer of Soul folks and Fish Tales Cartoons. He worked for the Oakleaf News Paper in Oakland and had published works in U.S. Navy publications from age 19. His artistic talent was first noticed when at 19 he was caught drawing on boxes in the back room when he was sweeping up as a shop keeper. The manager had the foresight to exploit this talent and called on Goodie to make some cartoons for the Naval Supply Shop. Soon after he was invited to Morrie Turners' (of Wee Pals fame) house by his brother and after looking at his pay stubs he realized that he could also earn a living as an artist. He credits Morrie Turner with opening his eyes to this saying, "Morrie was ten years my senior and I didn't know you could make money on cartooning until I met him".
His Clio Award was for his "Thirst Busters" campaign for the Coca Cola Company when he was working as an Art Director at the Ad Agency McCann-Erickson in the 1980s. He was a member of the now defunct Northern California Cartoon Artists & Humor Association, along with Charles Schulz (Peanuts) and Morrie Turner (Wee Pals). He also was a member of the Society of Illustrators [1].
Since then a documentary film maker named T.J. Walkup (Last Page Noe Valley Voice) [2] ) has been working on a picture about "Goodie". [3] [4].
He now resides in Vallejo, California with his wife Jeanette, teaches children cartooning and periodically has art shows.
References
Categories:- Living people
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