Friday, December 02, 2011

May 23, 1964 SATURDAY EVENING POST Cartoons



I went to an antique store in Kittery, Maine on November 20th, where three old SATURDAY EVENING POSTs and maybe a half dozen old-timey 1950s Christmas tree ornaments were purchased. Next to the register was a 16" x 20" framed cartoon on the wall. It was a wordless cartoon depicting a middle-aged housewife running down a grocery store aisle. (If I remember  it prpoerly, curlers in her hair were flying out , she was running so swiftly.) Her pursuer: a middle-aged clerk, closly behind her, madly waving a price gun and yelling at her. There was no gag line. I liked the cartoon and said it sure looked like George Price drew it. The woman behind the register, who had been silent until now, brightened up and told me the whole history and conjecture of the item. My guess: it was a promotional print. His name had been scrubbed from the illustration, which is typical of any work done for adverting back then. I was thinking the piece was from the 1970s "Whip Inflation Now" period. I gave her my business card and asked her to send on a photo so I could post it. Sorry to say I am still waiting.

While we wait, let's look at one of the POSTs, okay? Let's bypass the articles by John Updike and S.J Perelman and go right to the cartoons from the May 23, 1964 issue of the SATURDAY EVENING POST:

Below: the header for the cartoon section by Henry Syverson:



And here's John Gallagher with one of his typically outlandish gags:





Below: A terrific gag by the prolific Bill Hoest that works maybe even better in this post 9/11 world, huh?





Below: Brian Savage nails how things work back in 1964 ... and, sadly, today:









Below: Donald Reilly's cartoon made me think of the 99% movement"



Below: Dick Oldden's cartoon is great, isn't it? It would be just as fresh if it was published today.














More POST cartoons here:


June 30-July 7, 1962 SATURDAY EVENING POST 

July 14-July 21, 1962 SATURDAY EVENING POST

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