Happy Birthday, Don Orehek

Above: a recent color original Don sent to me. There's a whole story about the image, but it's Don's story to tell.

Birthday boy Don Orehek is, in the words of one blog commenter:

"Orehek is God! He was the King of Shut Ups in Cracked magazine!"

The above quote is from The Eerie World of Don Orehek, a scan of a 1960's gatefold from the magazine Monster Howls #1. Take a peek at some great, vintage Orehek cartoons courtesy of Karswell's The Horrors of It All blog.

When I was a kid, I read some of the joke books he illustrated, as well as his work in Cracked magazine -- especially those SHUT UPS pages. When I got older, I knew his magazine gag cartoon work.

It was a pleasure to finally meet him at a monthly NCS get together about eight years ago. After a couple of months, he would walk up to me at one of these get togethers, or I would come up to him, and ask, "Where are you sitting?" Whenever we attended, we would always sit together. To think that a great cartoonist who I only knew by his trademark signature as a kid would now be a friend, sitting, right there, next to me! Wow!

It was a pleasure to sit next to him and his wife at the most recent NCS Reubens dinner. Don is a master, award winning cartoonist whose work I admired as a kid, and still admire today.

To Don Orehek: a cartoonist master who I admired as a kid and still love today. Many years of happiness and health and great cartoons, Don!




Above: a St, Patrick's original that he sent in the mail as a surprise, signed "Donnie O'Rehek."