Honorary Bullpenner: Cindy Cavanaugh

I have spoken of the two floors that Marvel always seemed to have—between the 575 Madison Ave and 387 Park Ave South offices—The “Upstairs” opposed to “Downstairs” aspect to it all. The Executives seemed to prefer their open, well-lit, neatly ordered, bookshelf-filled-with-actual-books sort of show-room style offices. We, down below, in the gloom and wonderful dank of our comic-book filled creative raptures, preferred the messy life. Y’know, where the work got done.

On the rarest of occasions, one of the fabulous execs would stroll about downstairs, no doubt looking for the exit [why, I once saw world-renowned Comptroller Barry Kaplan down on 6, showing off the mold and mildew to some visitor and who asked me to put his name in the Indicia of a B&W Mag—“Done, Sir!” Brown]. I vividly remember being approached by blond spectacle Ronnie Pollack, actually looking for me, though I believe she held a map to direct her to “terra incognito” (which I think means beard). She needed a line of type photo-stated for her boss. So unusual, it still stands out in memory. And then there was Cindy. Here’s Cindy

Cindy visiting Mark Rogan, my former stat-colleague, apparently rueing the day he was born. Of interest, possibly only to me, is this demonstrates the “copy table” in its ready-to-open position. You might be able to see a handle about where the frame support is, that was very well designed for quick opening. You can see the glass holding down a piece of artwork. The little black opening in the middle of the machine is where the lens is. The light of those four mighty bulbs are bounced off of a front-surface mirror mounted under Mark’s head. Just above it, also under Mark’s head, is a neat little bit of gim-crackery that opens just enough to allow a piece of light-sensitive paper to be slid in place. Easy queasy!

Brooklyn born, well-educated and very secretarial, Cindy temped at and soon found herself hired by Pizzazz Magazine. What–? Never heard of Pizzazz? Every once in a while, Marvel does something wildly different [I’m not talking about Limited Series or front cover advertising—Business Brown]. You think Marvel Comics are for kids, right? Mmm, debatable, but Pizzazz was made expressly with kids in mind. Right, only for kids. It was a giant experiment by Marvel and Stan—who, fairly enough, did believe comics could do anything. Even market to kids. Going so far as to hire education professionals to advise as to content. And Cindy too!

Pizzazz still has fans… it continued Star Wars story lines and introduced this young whipper-snapper, Howard Chaykin… Plus interviews with Donnie & Marie Osmond and other luminaries of the day…

© Marvel/Disney Pizzazz #4, Jan, 1978. Cover by Julian Allen. That’s right; cover not by Bob Larkin, who did a bunch more after this. And friends, when it comes to finding anything comics, make sure to get yourself to mycomicshop.com where bargains and pro grading are their watchwords!

Cindy worked with the Advertising Manager, Don Miller. How that jibed with my long-held belief that the ad agency I keep harping on (KQ&R) didn’t handle that account is going to have to remain “one of those things.” One thing stands out in my quickie research was that the Editor in Chief of the mag was an out-of-towner, Bobby Miller (a female person; relationship to above uncertain!). Her offices were in Massachusetts, of all places. That meant, whatever else was going on, there was a lot of correspondence. And that meant Cindy was often down on 6 rattling the Mail Room gate!

Here’s Cindy holding up the wall just down the hall from the rear mail room gate.

Cindy managed to find her way back to the quiet, out of the way part of Marvel’s own madness. To quote Cindy, she was always “attracted to crazies.” Well, we had that fairly well covered. What set Cindy apart was her ever-upward outlook. She never had a bad word to say – not in my presence! She was easy to welcome into the crazies cave!

Here’s a fine cast of “crazies.” Then Letterer Par Excellance Mike Higgins and my post-Rogan stat-colleague, the late Robbie Carosella. Robbie liked a bit more room and turned his stat machine around – from the position when Rogan had it. Yes, it was on wheels.

Yes, I summoned the gumption to shoot some portraits.

A dreadful composition of two poor negatives. But—L-R: Mike Higgins, (a rare meal time with) Ron Zalme, Mark Gruenwald, Rick Marschall, Ralph Macchio, Elaine Heinl, Mark Rogan, Cindy Cavanaugh. Perhaps once a month we would see if our pockets had an excess of currency and seek to get rid of it as food-involved as we could! c. 1980!

Line-up at the Friars Club! Site of Marvel’s Office Christmas Party, 1979 (held in 1980, those cheap–). The usual suspects, Robbie Carosella, Mark Rogan, Cindy Cavanaugh, Lynn Graeme, Mike Higgins.

Cindy dressed up for some materiel delivery. As time marched on—Pizzazz only lasted 16 issues–Cindy worked for Vincent Karp, who was in the new, dispense with KQ&R, advertising department. She lamented sending out several tons of checking copies. But often having to deliver concept material or mock-ups to various advertisers.

This is the Cindy I remember best—with a cool and laid-back dress style.

Alas, Cindy did not make it to the new “downtown” offices. She labored mightily in the Karp Enclave for a couple of years… but health challenges had her take off too much time. And she had to make the hard decision to leave Marvel. But leave she did.

Being a sensible sort, she invested in a delicatessen with friends. We’ve all got to eat. Turns out she’s been in the food biz in one form or another for the past 30 years! Even buying a Wise potato chip delivery route (an essentially guaranteed income, you’re buying a pre-established route)! Like any business owner, Cindy has had to do many things to keep things rolling. Waitressing and being a chef. I do believe she prefers the latter. It is no surprise to me that the simplest meal would be something artistic in her hands.