Bud Blake Drawings for The NewsTime Fun Time Book (1964)

 

Bud Blake may be best known for his long-running Tiger comic strip. Before then he was a freelance illustrator and cartoonist, and before that he had a 17 year stint (working his way up the paste-up department to Executive Art Editor) at an advertising firm. He had a long and great career. Here are some rarely seen spot illustrations for The NewsTime Fun Time Book from Scholastic. It was edited by Elvira Donahue and is copyright 1964. There is a note on the indicia page:

"The contents of this book are based on the Stunt Club page from NewsTime, Scholastic's classroom magazine for grades 5 and 6."

Basically, a collection of corny jokes from My Weekly Reader, with some really fun illustrations that I had never seen before -- all drawn in Bud Blake's fun style. This is the third edition, which tells me that -- corny or not -- this was a popular book!

 

 

And here are some page spreads. Obviously, click to embiggen. 

 

 

More Bud Blake:

Early Bud Blake Cartoons

Ever Happen To You?

Sunday Pictorial Review Covers

Bud Blake:Saturday Evening Post Cover Artist?

 

From David Campiti's Glass House Graphics: 2024 Professional Comic Book Page Rates

 

 Comics rep David Campiti has written this on his Glass House Graphics page:

"Folks have been asking us about professional comic book page rates in 2024.

"While there is no standard, there are A, B, and C level companies whose rates are what you'd expect.

"Marvel/DC, sometimes Dark Horse, and a few others pay mainstream rates of $80.00 - $200.00/pg for full scripts; $180 - $350/pg for pencils; $80 to $160 for inks; $25 or better for letters; $80 - $160 for colors. Covers rate-and-a-half plus $50. (Top-line artists earn more for covers and interiors.).

"B-level publishers will pay perhaps half of that.

"C-level publishers will pay bargain basement rates that won't earn anyone a living.

"Sadly, rates overall have NOT INCREASED in 30 years and, in fact, factoring in inflation it's paying maybe 50% of what the earning power could buy in, say, 1995. What's more, a few years back Marvel LOWERED its rates on some artists by as much as 30%.

"(One real example: A penciller I know who started at Marvel in 1995 at $190/pg has a current rate there at $180/pg.) Even worse, if they had just paid cost-of-living adjustments on his $190/pg rate, he should be at roughly $390/pg now. Instead, lowering it to $180 in current dollars is like paying him less than 90 bucks a page in '95 dollars.)

"Yes, the market was in far better shape three decades ago. But we had 12 distributors and more than 8,000 comic shops then. We now have two or three distributors and roughly 1,200 comics shops. Sales/publishing profits have similarly deflated.

"I've been repping artists for more than 30 years, so I'm familiar with the numbers."

Video: Mike Post Discusses the Making of "Dun Dun" | NBC’s Law & Order

I guess the most played piece of music is the notes that sound when you turn on a Windows computer. How many computers a day turn on and make that bit of music? Anyway, it's gotta be up there with "music that everybody knows;" like the opening notes to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, the Happy Birthday song, a couple of Christmas carols .... But right up there is the music from the long-running Law and Order TV series. But not that catchy theme music by the great Mike Post. No. Not that. It's the DUN-DUN sound as the show moves from one scene to another. That was composed by Post and it heard something like eight, ten, twelve times in each episode? And then there are spin-offs. I mean, here's a list of the original series and its spin-offs:

LAW AND ORDER 1990 - 2010; 2022 - present - 501 episodes

LAW AND ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT 1999 - present - 551 episodes

LAW AND ORDER: ORGANIZED CRIME 2021 - present - 65 episodes

LAW AND ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT 2001 - 2011 - 195 episodes

LAW AND ORDER: TRIAL BY JURY 2005 - 2006 - 13 episodes

LAW AND ORDER: LA 2010 - 2011 - 22 episodes

LAW AND ORDER: TRUE CRIME 2017 - 8 episodes

So, I would put forward that Mike Post's DUN-DUN music may be, by now that the series has been on over thirty years, one of the most recognizable compositions of music out there since John William's JAWS theme. Here's Mike Post himself talking about the origin of the theme and the DUN-DUN!

"Everybody Loves The Comics" 1970s Display

Cleaning out my studio …

Here’s a promotional display package for comic strips in The Courier-Journal and The Louisville Times. It’s from about 1973 and features a strip and bio on each of its 16 pages. Strips include B.C., The Wizard of Id, Nancy, Beetle Bailey, Mary Worth, Gil Thorp, Wee Pals, Family Circus and others. Message me if interested. I have too much stuff in my studio!

 

Score Reduction: Flight From Peru - Raiders of the Lost Ark

Here's an interesting YouTube channel -- and even twice as interesting if you can read music -- an analysis of some famous film scores. This time it's the "Escape from Peru" sequence by John Williams from the first Raiders of the Lost Ark movie. If you're like me, you've seen the movie and know the music. Here, the music is at the forefront, with the dialogue track diminished and a visual showing the notes as we watch the scene. Just gives you an idea of the amount of work it takes to get a motion picture made. And, of course, it makes me want to watch the movie again. 

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Magazine Gag Cartoons 1947 - 1965

Crazy politics, crazy weather, crazy airplanes not flying because of a computer update -- you know how it goes. The list goes on and on. It's too much and you need a respite. Here's the Cartoon Clip File Curator Dick Buchanan with an excellent diversion: twenty-two midcentury magazine cartoons. We need it! Thanks and take it away, Dick!

----


DICK BUCHANAN’S CARTOON CLIP FILE
(Magazine Gag Cartoons 1947 - 1965)


GAHAN WILSON. For Laughing Out Loud April – June, 1963.

 

GARDNER REA. For Laughing Out Loud July – September, 1964.

 

ERNEST MARQUEZ. Here! March, 1952.

 

JACK TIPPIT. The Saturday Evening Post August 2, 1964.

 

GEORGE WOLFE. 1000 Jokes Magazine Summer, 1951.

 

MORT WALKER. The Saturday Evening Post January 8, 1949.

 

VIRGIL PARTCH. True Magazine. October, 1958.

 

GEORGE SMITH. American Legion Magazine November, 1950.

 

TOM HUDSON. This Week Magazine August 14, 1949.

 

L.H. SIGGS. Punch, July 16, 1958.

 

DON OREHEK. For Laughing Out Loud January – March, 1965.

 

DICK CAVALLI. The Saturday Evening Post February 26, 1955.

 

GEORGE RECKAS. Collier’s April 18, 1953.

 

PHIL INTERLANDI. JUDGE June, 1946.

 

ERIC BURGIN. Punch April 28, 1954.

 

SALO ROTH. The Saturday Evening Post July 25, 1953.

 

DANA FRADON. 1000 Jokes Magazine December – February, 1956.

 

MELL LAZARUS. Here! November, 1951.

 

BOB SCHROETER. Collier’s November 7, 1953.

 

CHARLES PEARSON. True Magazine July, 1947.

 

SMILBY. Punch February 4, 1953.

 

SIDNEY HARRIS. For Laughing Out Loud January – March, 1965.