From the Dick Buchanan Files: Summer Fun Gag Cartoons 1939 - 1964

We got up to 91 degrees yesterday afternoon way up here in Northern New England, and then the big thunderstorms rolled in, with lots of wind and a bit of rain. This made the garden happy. I filled the tub with water in case of an electrical outage. (There are a lot of trees falling on lines up here.) But nothing happened, so this morning I drained the tub. It's much cooler today, and I suspect that crowds of people will be zooming around the coast and into the Lakes Region this Memorial Day weekend. Everyone is more than ready for summer. 

Dick Buchanan shares some summer-themed magazine cartoons from the golden age of gag cartooning, so we are guaranteed some laughs thanks to his clip file. Thanks very much, Dick, and take it away ...

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SUMMER FUN
  (1939 – 1964)
 

Another summer is on the horizon, prompting your friendly crackpot cartoon clipper to sift through the files to find gag cartoons dealing with summer activities. The result is a selection of gag cartoons in color and glorious black and white which show how some cartoonists portrayed summer back in the days “when the livin’ was easy.” Of course, in reality, while everyone else went to the beach or the ball park, the gag cartoonist spent the summer indoors, chained to the drawing board churning out roughs about autumn and football.

1.  HARRY MACE.  Collier’s  August 5, 1955.

 

2.  STAN FINE.  American Legion Magazine  June, 1954,

 

3.  SALO ROTH.  The Saturday Evening Post  July 17, 1948.

 

4.  DAVID HUFFINE.  Collier’s  June 10, 1939.

 

5.  DON TOBIN.  The Saturday Evening Post  July 8, 1950.

 

6.  ROY FOX.  The Saturday Evening Post  May 21, 1949.

 

7.  BOB BARNES.  Collier’s  July 4, 953.

 

8.  JOHN ALBANO.  The Saturday Evening Post  March 6, 1951.

 

9.  BORIS DRUCKER.  The Saturday Evening Post  July 31, 1948.

 

10.  ORLANDO BUSINO.  Argosy  October, 1964.

 

11.  BILL HARRISON.  Collier’s  October 10, 1953.

 

12.  DAVE GERARD.  The Saturday Evening Post  July 17, 1948.

 

13.  VIRGIL PARTCH.  Collier’s  July 28, 1950.

 

14.  ROWLAND WILSON.  American Legion Magazine  September, 1953.

 

15.  MARTIN GIUFFRE.  Collier’s  June 13, 1953.

 

16.  JOHN GALLAGHER.  American Legion Magazine  July, 1963.

 

17.  WILLIAM von RIEGEN.  Collier’s  July 11, 1953.

 

18.  WALT WETTERBERG.  The Saturday Evening Post  June 15, 1957.

 

19.  BERT GOSHELL.  Liberty Magazine  July 21, 1945.

 

20.  JERRY MARCUS.  The Saturday Evening Post  June 1, 1957.