Vic and Nat'ly First Appear

January 3, 1982

In 1966, T.H. Harris Junior High ninth-grader Will Bunn Matthews III was told by the principal that he could either cut his Beatles mop-top hair or wear a bow in it for his yearbook photograph – he opted for the bow. Growing up in Airline Park, he went on the East Jefferson High where, in 1967, his first big-time interview with Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders was printed in the school paper of which he was a writer, cartoonist, and editor.

After a stint at LSUNO he began writing for Figaro, the predecessor of Gambit news, where his cartoons were first published professionally under the title F'sure!: Actual Dialogue Heard on the Streets of New Orleans. “I would go out and eavesdrop on people's conversations, so I'd hear stuff like, at Schwegmann's, and that would be the cartoon”, he said. This would be lead him to an interest in local dialect which culminated in “Vic and Nat'ly” – a Ninth Ward couple who owned a neighborhood bar and restaurant frequented by local characters, roaches, and a chihuahua. They premiered on January 3, 1982 in the Dixie Roto section of the Times-Picayune (Matthew's was paid $75 per cartoon) with Nat'ly handing a bowl of used king cake babies to Vic, instructing him to “Wrench dem off in da' zinc”. Vic and Nat’ly became so popular that “they” eventually opened an actual restaurant in Covington.

The kid from Metairie who was voted “most intelligent” by his classmates in 1964 has also published music reviews and cartoons in Offbeat, was the the Times-Picayune's music critic during the early 1980s, and came to know and befriend Professor Longhair, James Booker and the Neville brothers. He taught art at St. Scholastica, was in league with the creators of Tipitina's (he's also a musician) and drew promotional posters for the venue as well as for The Warehouse. His art-work was featured at the 1984 Louisiana World's Exposition and is included in the Audubon Institute Insectarium , the Historic New Orleans Collection, the Louisiana State Museum, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. (Photo Courtesy of Aaron S. Duplantier.)

Vic and Nat'ly

Matthews has said that he modeled Vic on former mayor Victor Schiro – as regular a guy as anyone could meet. Nat'ly first appeared sloppy and obese but “became a bombshell...because I thought, if I have to draw this picture for the rest of my life, I want it to be attractive and good looking”. They appear here in a 2012 drawing done for Harkins, the Florist on Magazine Street.

Nin't Wardica

One of Matthew's most recent works is the huge “Nin’t Wardica, modeled after Picasso's Guernica.  It is his response to the tragedies resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and life in the Ninth Ward. It was featured at The Arthur Roger Gallery in the exhibit “Black and White” in 2010 along with other Matthew's paintings and drawings (including Vic and Nat’ly).

Photos and text from Legendary Locals of Metairie by Catherine Campanella.