Happy Birthday, Orlando Busino!

Today is the birthday of the one and only Orlando Busino born this day in 1926.

He grew up in "cow country," in Binghamton, New York. He developed an interest in cartooning at the age of nine, and sold his first cartoon to the New York Mirror at the age of 14. "Bulldog, with Central, the Wonder Dog" was the name of the comic strip he created for his high school paper. Look at an old copy of the magazine Open Road for Boys, and you will see Orlando's cartoons winning many of their contests. Orlando was drafted into the army and served in Panama from 1945 to 1947. He drew cartoons for the army unit newspaper there. Returning home, he attended Binghamton State, and then the University of Iowa, drawing cartoons for their school papers.

My friend Dick Buchanan picks up the story, and shares some of Orlando's great gag cartoons:


ORLANDO BUSINO

GAG CARTOONS 1957 TO 1968


After graduating in 1952, he moved to New York City. He worked in the ad department of the Macmillan Publishing Company. At night he attended the Cartoonists and Illustrators School. A year later he sold his first cartoon to The Saturday Evening Post, launching his career as a freelance cartoonist.

Busino also worked for Archie Comics in the 1960s, doing covers, illustrations, and stories for "Tales Calculated To Drive You Bats." This work was later reprinted in Archie's Madhouse.

Orlando Busino’s created “Gus,” the antics of a large white dog, which first appeared in Boys' Life in January 1970. It took over the honor spot on the "Think & Grin" page (the spot headed for nearly 20 years by Clyde Lamb “Millicent” and briefly by John Gallagher’s “Cartoon Bug”). Gus appeared on the cover of Boys' Life in December 1981.

Orlando Busino received the National Cartoonist Society Gag Cartoon Award for 1965, 1967, and 1968. This selection pf a few of his gag cartoons chronicles his fine work from 1957 through the 1968.




1. ORLANDO BUSINO. The Saturday Evening Post June 29, 1957.

2. ORLANDO BUSINO. The Saturday Evening Post July 27, 1957.

3. ORLANDO BUSINO. True Magazine October 1958.

4. ORLANDO BUSINO. The Saturday Evening Post January 25, 1958.

5. ORLANDO BUSINO. American Legion Magazine November, 1960.

6. ORLANDO BUSINO. For Laughing Out Loud April-June, 1961.

7. ORLANDO BUSINO. The Saturday Evening Post December 22-29, 1962.

8. ORLANDO BUSINO. The Saturday Evening Post March 10, 1962.

9. ORLANDO BUSINO. True Magazine August, 1962.

10. ORLANDO BUSINO. The Saturday Evening Post February 22, 1964.

11. ORLANDO BUSINO. 1000 Jokes Magazine December, 1963 - February, 1964.

12. ORLANDO BUSINO. The Saturday Evening Post May 21, 1966.

13. ORLANDO BUSINO. The Saturday Evening Post May 21, 1966.

14. ORLANDO BUSINO. Boys’ Life March, 1967.

15. ORLANDO BUSINO. Boys’ Life May, 1968.

16. ORLANDO BUSINO. Boys’ Life October, 1968.