Happy Birthday, Jack Davis

 

Happy birthday to one of the original "usual group of idiots" at Mad Magazine: Jack Davis, born this day in 1924.

 

Perhaps best known for his work at EC Comics and Mad, Davis was an in-demand illustrator for magazine covers, albums and movie posters. 

Ten years ago, Davis talked to The Wall Street Journal about his early career and his breakthrough with EC:

"I was about ready to give up, go home to Georgia and be either a forest ranger or a farmer. But I went down to Canal Street and Lafayette, up in an old rickety elevator and through a glass door to Entertaining Comics where Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines were putting out horror [comic] books. They looked at my work and it was horrible and they gave me a job right away! Every time you went in to see Bill Gaines, he would write you a check when you brought in a story. You didn't have to put in a bill or anything. I was very, very hungry and I was thinking about getting married. So I kept the road pretty hot between home and Canal Street. I would go in for that almighty check, go home and do the work, bring it in and get another check and pick up another story. [Edit: the actual cross street to Lafayette was Spring Street, not Canal.]" -- Wikipedia

 

Above: "Davis first worked with TV Guide in 1965, which hired him to illustrate an expansive eight-page advertising supplement for NBC's TV lineup, which featured icons such as Johnny Carson, Dean Martin and fictional characters such as Dr. Kildare, Napoleon Solo and Maxwell Smart." -- Wikipedia

 

I met Jack at an NCS Reubens weekend and he was just the nicest fellow. Very tall guy, too. And the room I met him in had low ceilings so he seemed even taller. His wife, Dena, was with him and she was telling me "cartoonist's spouse" stories. A number of these revolved around deadlines and dealing with time management -- or lack thereof. My favorite one was about her driving their sedan into Manhattan, with Jack in the back seat, furiously erasing his pencils from pages of inked originals. 

A few years ago, I was awarded the Jack Davis Cartoonist of the Year by the National Cartoonists Society. I am so honored by my colleagues!