Those relatively new to the Invitational may not realize just how much the contest centered on Chuck Smith's contributions. Chuck not only won the first three years of the Invitational, he monopolized them. He had 88 appearances in the first year, more than the next four contributors combined. By the end of year three he had 242 appearances, a 100 ink lead on his then closest challenger.

Chuck also enjoys a unique reputation among the Losers. Consider the observations of the Loser who knows him best: "Oh, Chuck Smith makes me so mad. He's got it all ... talent, good looks, AND perky nipples. Life is just not fair." (Jennifer Hart, Arlington)

The Style Invitational's ability to generate fame is decidedly limited, but Chuck Smith comes, by far, the closest to celebrity status. His Style exploits have gotten him interviewed by the Post and on local radio. More recently, he has expanded his humor to become a regular in the on-line Top Five List, and a frequent ghost writer of national comic strips.

CS: What else about me is interesting? Premarriage, my reputation as a "60 minute man". Of course, the breakdown was 58 minutes of stretching, one minute of action and one minute of abject apology.

TWW: Your name is probably the one most closely associated with the contest (The Czar is largely anonymous and Staake's name is usually in really fine print). When you are introduced to people, how often do you get the "are you that guy who..." sort of reaction? Have you ever gotten fan mail?

CS: Sometimes people do ask if I'm the guy from the contest. More often someone who knows me from the contest introduces me to someone else who has of course never heard of the contest and then I stand there in embarrassed silence. More common is when an EPA fan of the contest says: "Haven't seen you in the paper lately." Often this is after I've had [recent] multiple entries. When I mention that, they either say that they don't read the SI regularly or just read the winner and runners-up. I once got some strange letter which I guess was supposed to be funny. I did get a call from Paul Sabourin, a member of DaVinci's Notebook and then a SI entrant. Once while I was wearing a Loser shirt in a Woodbridge McDonalds, some high school students asked for my autograph.

TWW: : Are there particular entries of yours that stand out in your mind as really good, but didn't get printed?

CS: I had one that I really liked about: "one Tolkein over the line" but don't remember the contest.

TWW: How do you do your entries? How much polishing?

CS: I used to write entries all during the week, but have drifted to doing entries the next weekend. I hate rhyming, race horse, Congressional bill, double dactyl, T-shirt, and hyphen contests. When I was really keen for the contest, I used to go to the library to look for information, e.g. city names (the Bayonet Point Sucking Chest Wounds), but don't do it as much. In some cases, I have to do research for contests involving movie names, etc. I know I should put my best stuff first in my entries, but don't do it. There is a little polishing as I type the stuff, but not much.

TWW: How many do you typically send in?

CS: Depending on the contest, I submit 20 plus entries each week.

TWW: If you were judging, do you think the results would look a lot like the Czar's (excluding your own entries, of course)?

CS: If I were judging entries I think I would do it a bit differently. I like clever and particularly offbeat entries. I like ones where I say to myself in admiration (not counting the times I similarly talk to myself): "Where did that entry come from?" I would rely less on puns and probably would have Jonathan Paul in every week.

TWW: You have something of a second career ghost writing comic strips, particularly Shoe. What's Shoe's future?

CS: SHOE will continue. Since Jeff's death, I am now one of several writers and my contributions have dropped as I must now please several masters rather than just Jeff. After retirement, I will try to expand my writing. I have two failed attempts at my own strip. I realized later than neither strip had great characters and that the artists were not as good as they should have been. I have a partially completed comic detective novel that I have put in the drawer for the moment.

TWW: For the first three years of the Invitational you basically owned the contest. Since then you have done well, but you haven't dominated it the way you once did. What's changed?

CS: The late lamented Tommy Litz (after consulting a color coded yearly list) told me that I had won in "the easy years". While he perhaps did not put it in the most diplomatic fashion, there was a kernel of truth there. There is a lot more competition out there from some very talented people, and [from] Dudzik.

TWW: Do you think the Czar has a higher, or lower, standard for your efforts, or for the efforts of the other regulars?

CS: I don't think the Czar has a lower or higher stand for my entries. I suspect that for all the regulars, he is willing to cut us a bit of slack in reading all the way down our entries. From the negative comments he gets about us regulars, I think he is sensitive to getting new people into the contest and may have a tendency to lean that way a bit. I do believe that he prints only what he thinks is the funniest, but still it's only one man's opinion. I also don't think new people have the determination or the time to waste to consistently submit in semi-volume week after week.

TWW: What makes for a great contest for you?

CS: I like a contest where I don't need to do a lot of research. I like cartoon contests where you have to think outside the box to differentiate yourself from others. I think that's the kind of stuff the Czar loves to see.