Great cartoonist remembered
Colleagues and PM pay tribute to ‘goofy and generous’ Footrot Flats creator
Cartoonist Murray Ball, who died yesterday aged 78, was a funny, goofy and generous Kiwi, says his long-time collaborator and friend Tom Scott. Ball, creator of Footrot Flats, had been in poor health for the past six years. He died at his home in Gisborne surrounded by family.
Scott and Ball worked together on the 1986 full-length animated Footrot Flats movie.
“He was an unbelievably strong, fit, handsome man all his life, with a full head of hair,” Scott said.
He said Ball was “funny and goofy and generous, and incredibly serious about inequality”.
“He mourned the New Zealand he remembered being fair, and I guess if he had his life over again, Murray would rather have been an editorial cartoonist.”
Scott said he had “left it a bit late” to see Ball before he died, and last saw him six years ago.
“I heard he was so unwell that he wouldn’t know who I was . . . I regret not going when I knew. He deteriorated physically very, very quickly. “I have to forgive myself for that.” Born in Feilding, Ball moved with his family to South Africa, where he grew to loathe apartheid.
After he returned to New Zealand he took an active part in opposition to the 1981 Springbok tour. A gifted athlete, Ball was a talented rugby player in the midfield and won Junior All Black selection in 1959.
Scott said he was terribly sad but also relieved at Ball’s passing.
“He’s no longer suffering and his family are no longer suffering.
“Heroic efforts were required to keep him going.”
Herald cartoonist Rod Emmerson said it had been “a very sad couple of days”.
“There’s two very large holes in the cartoon universe tonight. The Australian’s Bill Leak died on Friday, and now Murray Ball.
“Murray was prolific. His Footrot Flats captured the true essence of NZ farm life. But farm life is virtually the same the world over, hence it quickly became a household icon both here and abroad.
“I can remember sitting with a bunch of cartoonists in the Santa Rosa [California] studio of Peanuts creator Charles Schultz a few years ago.
“Schultz was the master but he had nothing but the highest praise for the ‘Dog from NZ’.
“‘Sheer brilliance’, he said laughing. It was more than that. How lucky are we to have had the pleasure of Murray Ball’s home-grown genius to entertain us when we needed it most.”
Jules Faber, the president of the Australian Cartoonists’ Association, also shared a tribute for Ball.
“It is with great sadness that the ACA received the news of the death of Murray Ball,” he said.
“It is always heartbreaking when a cartoonist of such standing and with such a contribution to popular culture passes away. However, we are left with his enormous legacy to cartooning from his children’s book to his books for adults through to his so well-beloved series for everyone, Footrot Flats.
“Murray was a great influence to many Australian cartoonists and will be long remembered by his friends across the sea here in Australia.
“On behalf of the ACA I extend our deepest sympathies to his wife, Pam, and children.”
Prime Minister Bill English said he was saddened at the news. Ball, he said, was a thoughtful New Zealander “who took our unique sense of humour to the world”.
Ball is survived by his wife Pam, and their three children.