Taft death recalls cartoonist weatherman P.J. Hoff

Tributes abound for longtime Chicago weatherperson Jerry Taft who died Thursday at 77. Tho not a big fan of weather reports which drone on endlessly with overwhelming high tech graphics, I did avidly follow Chicago's first weather superstar P.J. Hoff, who gave us the weather straight with whimsical humor during the Golden Age of Television. Hoff was primarily a cartoonist who peppered his five minute reports (that's all anyone needs) with hilarious cartoons. When it came to next day's weather, Hoff drew his alter ego, the Vice President In Charge of Looking Out The Window (below left). If the VPICOLOTW eyeballed raindrops, one knew to to pack an umbrella tomorrow. Upset by bad weather? Hoff congered up another foil, Mr. Yell-and-Cuss to vent our frustration. I'm up for the wonders of technology half way thru my eighth decade. But for weather I all ever needed was P.J. Hoff and his daffy drawings.