Hey, happy December 21st. And here is the first gift of the season: a
batch of holiday-themed cartoons from my friend Dick Buchanan. He's
found them and scanned them and now, here they are: seventeen little gag
cartoon gems that may not have seen the light in decades.
Thanks so much, Dick.
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GEORGE BOOTH. In 1953 Booth did monthly spot illustrations for the
American Legion Magazine’s “Parting Shots” humor page. American Legion
Magazine, December,1953
PHIL INTERLANDI. Look Magazine, December 14, 1963
BEN ROTH. Ben was the elder of the four cartooning Roth brothers--Al Ross,
Irv Roir and Salo Roth. American Magazine, January, 1944
CHARLES PEARSON. The Saturday Evening Post, 1950’s.
DICK ERICSON. American Legion Magazine, December, 1952
ROBERT DAY. American Legion. December, 1953.
JAN & STAN BERENSTAIN. The Saturday Evening Post, 1950’s
VIRGIL PARTCH. True Magazine, December 1949
JEFF KEATE. American Magazine, January,1950.
ELDON DEDINI. Look Magazine, December 24, 1959
CHON DAY. The Saturday Evening Post, 1960’s
TOM HENDERSON. Then as Now Dept: Tom Henderson depicts the fate that
befalls many a traveling relative during the holidays. American Legion
Magazine, March,1953
BARNEY TOBEY. The Saturday Evening Post, 1950’s
FRITZ WILKINSON. The Saturday Evening Post,1950’s
TOM HUDSON. Did Hudson’s artificial snow seller spawn the waif hawking
real snow by Charles Addams? (New Yorker, Jan 1, 1974) From Collier’s,
December 21,1946
BARNEY TOBEY. Mr. Tobey again, confirming many suspicions. Look Magazine, December 24, 1959
JOSEPH MIRACHI. Look Magazine, December 31, 1963
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1 comment:
The city sidewalk vendor is a different genus from the waif. Usually an adult male, he peddles stuff from a tray or a suitcase on legs. In the world of panel cartoons he's frequently selling little windup men who are scurrying around on the sidewalk.
Addams's waif -- and many others -- descend from Hans Christian Anderson's tearjerker The Little Match Girl. The story has the title orphan lighting her last matches to keep from freezing, dreaming of happiness until angels take her to heaven. There have been multiple cartoons and film riffs, some closing with a poor child's dreams coming true ("The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives" and "Somewhere in Dreamland") while others keep Anderson's ending (Disney produced a solemn Russia-set version, meant for "Fantasia 2000"). The Little Match Girl was well known enough to be a recognizable reference, like the three bears or Red Riding Hood.
Addams cheekily makes the pathos absurd with the girl not even having matches to sell. The Mickey Mouse featurette "Prince and the Pauper" later offered a sillier take: Threadbare Goofy peddles snow cones in the depth of winter and wonders why they aren't selling. Eventually Addams had a match girl cursing a little Japanese girl, who undercut her with cheap imported lighters.
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