From the Dick Buchanan Files: Favorite 1940s Gag Cartoons

Wow! Some more great gag cartoons culled from Dick Buchanan's amazing collection.

Here are some of Dick's favorite cartoons from the decade of his birth.

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1940’s GAG CARTOONS

1940 – 1949



The 1940’s were a decade of war and peace. As World War raged, those on the home front dealt with shortages--of meat, sugar, gasoline, rubber, nylons and men. Women went to work in factories and kids donated their precious comic books to paper drives.

Post War America meant a shortage of housing and an abundance of children. The baby-sitting industry flourished. Through it all cartoonists continued to ply their trade. Many cartoonists spent time in the military, but managed to continue cartooning from afar, by mailing their contributions back home.

Here is a sampling of gag cartoons from the 1940’s, culled from the Gag Cartoon Clip File in order to provide a glimpse into that tumultuous decade.


1. CHON DAY. The Saturday Evening Post August 10, 1940.

2. PERRY BARLOW. The Saturday Evening Post December 8, 1940.

3. RICHARD TAYLOR. Collier’s October 25, 1941.

4. BUFORD TUNE. American Magazine March 1942.

5. WILLIAM von RIEGEN. American Magazine March 1942.

6. BARBARA SHERMUND. Collier’s October 23, 1943.

7. AL ROSS. The Saturday Evening Post November 3, 1943.

8. CARL ROSE. Collier’s May 27, 1944.

9. BARNEY TOBEY. Collier’s June 16, 1945.

10. GARDNER REA. True Magazine October 1945.

11. SYD HOFF. The Saturday Evening Post June 2, 1945.

12. HANK KETCHAM. Collier’s January 5, 1946.

13. CHARLES ADDAMS. True Magazine July 1947.

14. OTTO SOGLOW. Collier’s October 11, 1947.

15. CHARLES E. MARTIN. Collier’s September 11, 1948.

16. ANATOL KOVARSKY. Collier’s August 14, 1948.

17. VIRGIL PARTCH. Collier’s November 11, 1948.

18. MISCHA RICHTER. Collier’s May 7, 1949.

Tizzy by Kate Osann

Kate Osann was, like a lot of New Yorkers, a Midwestern transplant. Born in St. Louis, MO, she would graduate from Hunter College. She did advertising illustration for the Saturday Evening Post and Colliers. It was in the 1950s that she created Tizzy, a panel cartoon that appeared exclusively in Collier's Weekly until that magazine's demise in 1957. The same year, Newspaper Enterprise Association picked up her panel for syndication. The feature, which was about an typical teenage girl, would run until 1970.

Three books of collected panels were published, reprinting the strip: Tizzy: That Loveable, Laughable Teen-Ager (Berkeley, 1958), More Tizzy (Berkeley, 1958), and Tizzy (Scholastic Book Services 1967).

She married William O. Chessman and would live in Bronxville, NY and then move to Orlando, FL. They had "two large and vocal children," William and Kathy. At Syracuse University, seven boxes of her originals are deposited.

Here are some of her panels from the 1967 Tizzy collection.  It's copyright that year by NEA.

For the First Time in Her 85 Years, "Nancy" Will Be Drawn By a Woman

The new NANCY comic strip debuts today. It's new cartoonist is Olivia Jaimes.

Michael Cavna has more here.

On Monday, Andrews McMeel Syndication will announce that the cartoonist Olivia Jaimes has inherited the iconic strip and will provide a “21st-century female perspective,” says John Glynn, Andrews McMeel’s president and editorial director. 

The first strip by Jaimes — the female cartoonist’s “nom de toon” — runs Monday. 

“Nancy has been my favorite sassy grouch for a long time,” Jaimes says in a syndicate statement. “I’m excited to be sassy and grouchy through her voice instead of just mine, and I can complain to the whole world about things that bother me instead of just my friends and family.” 

Andrews McMeel did not reveal professional details about Jaimes, though Glynn shared that he had seen webcomics by her, was impressed and learned that she was a definite fan of “Nancy.”

Mike Lynch Cartoon in the 2018 Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival Exhibit April 4 - May 27, 2018

From the Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival Facebook page:

Putting the 'International' back into the festival exhibition with their wonderful contributions will be our American colleagues:

Adrian Sinnott
Bob Eckstein
Bunny Hoes
David Borchart
Felipe Galindo
Charlie Hankin
Hilary Price
Isabella Bannerman
Ken Krimstein
Kim Warp
Liza Donnelly
Maria Scrivan
Michael Shaw
Mick Stevens
Mike Lynch
Nick Downes
Peter Kuper
Ray Alma
Sam Gross
Teresa Burns Parkhurst

I'm honored to be one of the great American cartoonists showcased in the "Shipped From Abroad" cartoon art exhibit in Shrewsbury, UK. It runs from April 4 to May 27, 2018 and is just one part of the upcoming Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. The Shrewsbury Festival is unique. Cartoonists essentially take over this small town, and there are drawing exhibitions, panel talks, live drawing shows and other events all over the place. Although I will not be there this year, I hope to be invited to come in 2019. It sounds like a blast.

My thanks to The Surreal McCoy for this. You are terrific! 

Dick Buchanan: "Can Cartoonists Predict the Future?" Gag Cartoons 1948 - 1959

Well, here is something really interesting that Dick Buchanan put together for all of us fans of the golden age of cartooning: Can cartoonists predict the future? Are they creative visionaries? Can they predict things like tech support, selfies, identity theft, the rise of Hooter's??? What did they think the future might look like from their view in post-war America? Walt Kelly phrased it as "the will be that was," which is more poetic than "retro-future." Well, take a look below and you'll see how gag cartoonists fared.

Take it away, Dick -- and thanks!!!

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THE FUTURE LIES AHEAD


GAG CARTOONS 1948 - 1959


There was a fascinating symposium at last summer’s annual Crackpot Convention that dealt with a subject of particular interest to gag cartoonists and readers alike. The subject was “Visionary Cartooning . . . can cartoonists predict the future?” As expected, it was a lively session but in the end the subject never came up.

Returning to my Greenwich Village inner sanctum, undaunted, I delved into the Cartoon Clip File and much to my surprise I learned that several mid-century cartoonists did provide readers with a glimpse into the future.

Here are a few examples of cartoons that demonstrate ability of prognostication. In the interest of full disclosure, cartoonists weren’t infallible.



1. THE BABY MONITOR -- IRWIN CAPLAN --The Saturday Evening Post August 7, 1948.

2. ARTISAN BAKING -- GEORGE RECKAS. Liberty Magazine June 1948.

3. THE CONFERENCE CALL -- ROY L. FOX. The Saturday Evening Post April 18, 1953.

4. THE FOOD TRUCK -- CLYDE LAMB. True Magazine, May 1955

5. THE “SELFIE” -- HARRY MACE. The Saturday Evening Post October 29, 1955.

6. THE “ADULT ENTERTAINMENT” BAR -- CHARLES PEARSON. Collier’s September 11, 1948. It was the decline of burlesque rather than the advent of home television but nonetheless Pearson foresaw the coming of the “Adult Entertainment” bar.

7. COMPUTERS -- BOB SCHROETER. For Laughing Out Loud January-March, 1958. In the 1950’s, most folks had a tough time understanding computers purpose. Bob Schroeter got it right.

8. COMPUTERS -- BOB BARNES. Look Magazine March 17, 1959. Not everyone got it. Bob Barnes was one of many who missed the mark.

9. CREDIT CARDS -- BOB SCHROETER. For Laughing Out Loud September-November, 1954. Believe it or not, when credit cards appeared in the 1950’s many cartoonists assumed they were not worth stealing. Most Cartoon Editors agreed, publishing many variations of this gag.

10. CREDIT CARDS -- JOHN DEMPSEY. Look Magazine February 3, 1959. Wrong again. Many readers wrote to the Look Letters Dept. pointing out that credit cards were better than cash. But Dempsey’s holdup man was different . . . see why below.

11. Letters Dept. Look Magazine March 17, 1959

Mike Lynch Original in the Sordoni Collection of American Illustration and Comic Art Gallery Show

Above: art by John Gannam, “Gone Girl,” advertisement for Balanced Pacific Sheets, 1948.



Wow. I am honored that one of my originals is in the Sordoni Collection of American Illustration and Comic Art gallery show at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, PA from April 7th to May 20th.

Steven Brower writes for Print Magazine:

"In the early part of the twentieth century, illustration came into its own. Simultaneously over on the newsprint pages of national newspapers, comic strips did as well. These were joined later in the decade by art for both pulp magazines and comic books. This golden age of editorial illustration and cartooning is currently on display in the exhibit “American Illustration & Comic Art” at the Sordoni Gallery, Wilkes University in Wilkes Barre, PA. The exhibition features 135 original artworks by more than 100 artists—N.C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish, Frank Schoonover, Norman Rockwell, J.C. Leyendecker, George Herriman, Harold Foster, Jack Cole, Milton Caniff, Norman Saunders, Harold Gray, Al Hirschfeld, Al Capp, Walt Kelly, Charles Schulz and many others. Wilkes Barre native son Ham Fisher, creator of Joe Palooka, is represented as well. While focusing on the golden age of illustration, contemporary artists, such as Anita Kunz, C.F. Payne, Robert Eckstein, Thomas J. Fluharty, Mike Lynch and Paul Davis, also have their place in the exhibit."

Sorry to say I will not be able to attend the opening on Saturday. It's a real regret. My thanks to Andrew Sordoni III and Professor Stanley Grand for including me in the illustrious pantheon of American comic artists. I am honored.

There are a number of events that are open to the public, beginning with a reception this Saturday.

Above: the printed, color version of my cartoon that was originally published in Reader's Digest, and is now part of the Sordoni show.

Lee Holley 1932 - 2018

Lee Holley circa 1960, from the King Features archives.




Cartoonist Lee Holley was tragically killed when the single-engine plane he was piloting crashed and burned shortly after take off on March 26th at the Marina Municipal Airport in California.

Holley was born in Phoenix, AZ and attended the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. At 15, he had sold his first cartoons and by 22 he was hired as an animator/production artists at Warner Brothers. He worked on Bugs Bunny and Road Runner cartoons. By 1957, he ghosted Hank Ketcham's Dennis the Menace Sunday comics, as well as Dennis merchandise such as Dennis the Menace and Ruff (Golden Books, 1959) and The Dennis the Menace Storybook (Random House, 1960).

In 1960, he had sold some cartoon panels to Teen Magazine about a teen girl named Ponytail. The comic panel Ponytail was syndicated later that year. Lee Holley left the Ketcham studio, and would draw Ponytail for 28 years.

Through the decades, he drew a series of licensed comic books for Western Publishing and, later, CHarlton. The comic books include his own Ponytail, as well as The Jetsons, Bugs Bunny, Tweety and Sylvester and others. With Frank Hill, Holley took over the Bugs Bunny comic strip from 1980-88.

In later years, he taught cartoon classes at local schools and attended comics conventions.

From Don Markstein's Toonopedia:

"His advice to young cartoonists is to be ready at any time to move into another field, because things are changing too fast to count on this one"

 
Related:
Video: Lee Holley Draws Ponytail
Lambiek Lee Holley bio
Mark Evanier on Lee Holley
CartoonSnap's Lee Holley Trove of Comic Book Work

YOU'VE GOT ME – AND HOW! Part Seven

This is the seventh and final selection of gag cartoons from the book YOU'VE GOT ME – AND HOW!, edited by Lawrence Lariar and published by Dodd, Mead and Company. It's copyright 1955 by Mr. Lariar.




























Frank O'Neal's HONEY, I'M HOME cartoon became the title of a collection of Saturday Evening Post cartoons. I wrote about that collection here.


Here are links to all of YOU'VE GOT ME – AND HOW!

• Part one
• Part two
• Part three
• Part four
• Part five
• Part six
• Part seven