‘Sudsy Slim Rides Again’ at Glenn Massay Theater Saturday

PALMER— “Sudsy Slim Rides Again,” the second feature-length comedy created by Chad Carpenter, his brother Darin and Nomad Cinematics is set to hit the big screen Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at the Glenn Massey Theater.

Sudsy will be there, “in the desiccated flesh,” ready for photo opportunities his coffin.

“Despite Sudsy’s appearance it’s a family movie. We call ‘PG 10-ish,’” Chad Carpenter said.

Carpenter will have a booth ready to sell movies, books and other merchandise. Anyone can get Carpenter’s signature on any of these items. Carpenter said there also will be door prizes and movie props, “thrown into the audience.”

“Nothing too heavy and sharp,” he said with a laugh.

Carpenter is leaving to Florida in about three weeks. His movie has been entered in the Orlando Film Festival. He said that the trip is also a good excuse to take the kids to Disney World.

“That will be fun,” he said.

He said that he hasn’t been to Florida for several years, and is hoping to return after Christmas to get down to Sarasota, his old stomping grounds. It’s a place where he rubbed elbows with famous cartoonists and developed his signature style. He plans to visit relatives like his uncle Doug Carpenter and famous cartoonists like Mike Peters (creator of the Mother Goose and Grimm comic strip) who helped him get started in the cartooning world.

“I’ve been needing to get back there to my cartooning roots,” Carpenter said.

The Alaska cartoonist’s start came after Carpenter’s uncle invited him to live with him in Sarasota. Carpenter helped his uncle with his 19th century art studio and served as the co-director for about four years. He credited his uncle for creating the opportunity that formed the artist he is today. His uncle is the one who was friends with famous artists and introduced Carpenter to several notable people in the industry while he was a young man. Doug was friends with Dik Browne, creator of the Hägar the Horrible comic strip and the first famous cartoonist Carpenter met and got advice from. Carpenter eventually met Peters, who told him to “draw what you know.”

“That’s where the inspirations for something northern kicked in,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter also got to meet Jim Davis, creator of the Garfield comic strip. Carpenter credited Davis as his earliest inspiration.

Carpenter decided to be a cartoonist shortly after reading the first bound collection of the Monday-hating, lasagna-loving feline. Carpenter met Davis about 10 years later and that encounter put a lot of fuel in his tank, Carpenter said.

“Meeting Jim Davis was huge for me,” he said.

Carpenter still draws what he knows, he said, and has a new Tundra book coming out soon. He said that both of his live-action comedies draw heavy inspiration from his Alaskana, cartoony humor, “from strip transformed into real life.”

He plans on making a third movie and it’s going to be another comedy.

“That’s pretty much all I know how,” he said.

He noted that the third movie will take place in same universe but with a, “totally different plot with a lot and it will be all its own.”

He said that “Sudsy Slim Rides Again” has many Easter eggs and reference to “Moose: The Movie.” For example, Gangrene Gulch, the setting of “Moose: The Movie” is in the same universe in “Sudsy Slim Rides Again” and is 50 miles away from Scratcher Pass, a spoof of Hatcher Pass.

Some of the “Moose: The Movie” references and Easter eggs and are tricky to catch unless you’ve taken a good look at the movie, according to Carpenter.

Carpenter called the Glenn Massey one of the best theaters in the state.

“It’s a beautiful theater. We’re lucky to have it here in the Valley,” Carpenter said.

He said that as a writer, there’s “nothing better” than seeing a crowd of people laugh out loud at the fruits of his team’s labors, laughing at his jokes.

“I get a lot of satisfaction and warm fuzzies when I hear people laughing at something I created,” Carpenter said. “I love making people happy. There’s enough serious stuff going on in the world and we don’t need any more of that. Making people laugh is definitely a good thing.”

Admission is $10 and tickets can be purchased online at glennmasseytheatre.com or at the door. Cast and crew are scheduled to attend the event.