PRO CARTOONIST & GAG WRITER Mid-Feb 1962

Here is the complete PRO CARTOONIST AND GAG WRITER for Mid-February 1962. This pro-zine was put together by the late, great Arnold Wagner. Famous Artists School founder Albert Dorne is caricatured on the cover, and there's an interview with him, conducted by LOOK Magazine cartoon editor Gurney Williams. More highlights:

• Virgil "VIP" Partch launches his syndicated "Big George" panel,
• veteran gag cartoonist Chon Day is interviewed by Arnold Wagner,
• Johnny Hart launches "funny caveman" strip B.C.
• and the many insider features, including ads and "clip and file" market listings to paste into your Rolodex.

PRO CARTOONIST & GAG WRITER Feb 1962

I have scanned in the entire PRO CARTOONIST AND GAG WRITER for February 1962. Above is the cover, by Ding Darling.

This pro-zine, "The Voice of America's Professional Cartoonists," was edited by Joe Pierre and the late, great Arnold Wagner. Highlights in this issue:

• The cover: Ding Darling's last editorial cartoon accompanies an interior tribute to the late Des Moines Register editorial cartoonist written by Arnold Wagner,
• Art Gates starts up Gates Syndicate.
• Virgil "VIP" Partch visits with gag cartoonist Betty Swords,,
• veteran gag cartoonist Chon Day is interviewed by Arnold Wagner (this is the 2nd part of a multi-part interview with this great gag cartoonist),
• and the many other features, including ads and "clip and file" market listings to paste into your Rolodex.

Michael Maslin: "And In This Corner, At 656 Pages and Weighing 9 Pounds, The Complete Cartoons of The New Yorker"

Michael Maslin talks about THE COMPLETE CARTOONS OF THE NEW YORKER book. It's that GIANT hardcover that came out in 2004 that, yes, really weighed 9 pounds. There were also two DVD-ROMs in there that had all of the cartoons to date.

"Picking up a 9 pound book is a commitment — it’s best looked at while it rests on a coffee table or heavy-duty plank of wood. Once anchored, the page-turning experience is highly enjoyable. The large format (11″ X 13″) allows the cartoons a lot of breathing room on the page."

This was followed up by the paperback edition two years later, that had more pages and all of the cartoons now on one DVD-ROM. Michael notes

"... it’s a lot lighter than the hardcover so you can pick it up and sit back with it. No coffee table necessary. The single DVD-Rom adds approximately 1700 cartoons."

There will be a 1,536 page book THE NEW YORKER ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CARTOONS coming out this fall.

More Sketching with Bill Woodman and John Klossner

Went to the mall again this week, to draw people at the food court. The same terrific cartoonists as last week, John Klossner and Bill Woodman, came along as well.

The place was very busy, what with all Maine school kids on spring break this week. And, fortunately, we did not get discovered while we were there, sketching in plain sight. 

Here are a few of my sketches:

Here are a couple by Bill Woodman. He adds the non-sequitur word balloons later. I love these.

Just one page of the many the John Klossner was creating.

My thanks to John and Bill for letting me share their work. You can see my sketches from last week here.

From the Sketchbook: How Is Your Graphic Novel Coming?

Video: Milton Caniff Tours The Museum of Cartoon Art, Rye Brook, NY (1986)

Washington Post Editorial Cartoonist Tom Toles Reads his Hate Mail

THE DENNIS THE MENACE STORYBOOK Illustrated by Lee Holley

Here's THE DENNIS THE MENACE STORYBOOK, which sports some wonderful work by longtime Hank Ketcham assistant Lee Holley. Here's just one of the endpapers:

The name of the book is THE DENNIS THE MENACE STORYBOOK, Based on the character created by Hank Ketcham and adapted by Carl Memling from the television scripts written by William Cowley, Peggy Chantler, George Tibbles, and Phil Leslie. It was published by Random House in 1960 and is copyright that year by the Hall Syndicate, Inc.

Jay North was the child actor who portrayed the mischievous Dennis. CBS had let its LEAVE IT TO BEAVER show go from its network to ABC. They wanted a new "kid show" and DENNIS was greenlit in 1959. It was scheduled in between LASSIE and ED SULLIVAN on Sunday nights. The half-hour comedy show would run until 1963, airing 146 episodes.

I found this book at a second-hand store in Portsmouth, NH. The spine was gone, but it was otherwise in good shape. A lovely bookplate here. Looks like it was illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen.

Lee Holley began working as an assistant to Hank Ketcham in 1957, drawing the Sunday strips.  By 1960, he had sold his own comic strip PONYTAIL and focused on that primarily. PONYTAIL would run until 1989.

Holley's hand-colored art is still vibrant after all these years, with two-tone and full color illustrations alternating throughout the book. Here are a few of his illustrations.