Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Ken Friedman: CARTOON GUIDE OF FLORIDA (1938)



KEN FRIEDMAN's CARTOON GUIDE OF FLORIDA is a 142 page epic travel book, complete with map, all about what to do in Florida. Here are a few of the many drawings that Ken did. It's copyright 1938 by Mr. Friedman and published by JJ Augustin Publisher, New York City.






It was part of a series of "Augustin's Cartoon Guides of America," which included:

ARIZONA  by Reg Manning
NEW YORK CITY by Nils Hogner and James Reed
FLORIDA by Kenneth Friedman

In preparation (as of 1938):

MARYLAND AND DELAWARE by G.T. Maxwell
NEW MEXICO by Nils Hogner and T.M. Pearce
OHIO by A. Shafer
VIRGINIA y Fred O. Seibel
CALIFORNIA by Reg Manning
BOULDER DAM by Reg Manning

I don't know how many actually were finished, but I do know that they are all out of print today.

Ken Friedman (or Kenneth Friedman or Kenneth A. Friedman -- he's credited all those different ways in the book)is one of those skilled illustrators who deserves to be remembered. I don't have to tell you that, you just have to do a scan of ten seconds on these illustrations to see what I mean. Ken had chops!

Here's a page with an illustration:



And here are some more spot illustrations, most of them quite small, and all out of their context here.

Below is an an example of what I mean when I say Ken Friedman had chops:


The cartoony illustration below of a guy in a boat catching a fish that leaps over a passing airplane mesmerizes me. So simply done. Friedman makes it look easy.


Some of these spook me!









So, there are a few of his many drawings. Just some wonderful skills -- and it would be wonderful to resurrect the cartoon guide series, wouldn't it?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Just went to Thrift Store and found - 1939 Reg Manning's Cartoon Guide of Arizona with map for 10 cents and Ken Friedman's Cartoon Guide to Florida with no map, also 10 cents. They are not in the best of shape. Cannot wait to read them and take a peak at that map of Arizona.