BROTHER SEBASTIAN was a regular cartoon created by the master cartoonist Chon Day (1907-2000) in Look Magazine beginning in 1954. Here are some of the cartoons from BROTHER SEBASTIAN CARRIES ON. There are two copyrights in the indicia: © 1959 by Mr. Day and © 1957, 1958, 1959 Cowles Magazines, Inc.
Chon Day is the master of the spare line and the spare black spotting, that draws your eye to what he wants you to see.
These were quiet cartoons about a quiet Monk. He never spoke. And he was rather silly.
The look on Brother Sebastian's face tells you he will win.
Again, making the cat a full inky black forces our eyes at the cause of Brother Sebastian's uncharacteristic laughter.
Maybe the above gag is too subtle for today, but I found it terrific.
Remember back in the 1950s and 60s, there would be those "Think" signs in offices?
Shades of Charles Schulz's Woodstock!
Above: another excellent gag, and the wonderful economy of line.
Above and below: Day can even mine some office gags and apply them to a monk's life.
Above: That's about how cold it's been here. I wonder if today people would write to Look Magazine, complaining about Sebastian's near-nudity.
Above: my favorite gag showing Brother Sebastian as being able to be mischievous and practical at the same time.
When he died in 2000, The Saturday Evening Post wrote:The Post sadly regrets the passing of its longest-running cartoonist. Chon Day has been a regular fixture of the Post since 1948.
He was the master of the to-the-point punch line. We'll miss you, Chon.
"Give me the bad news, Doc. Am I going to live?"
"Oh, love is all right--if you like that sort of thing."
"What have you got against me, besides the fact that I married you?"
"I used to have low self-esteem, but hanging around with losers like you has cured me."
The above from Christopher Wheeler's Chon Day page.
Gosh, I don't get the foot on the rock pop-drinking gag. Maybe I'm too young.
ReplyDeleteIt's not age, it's the proper upbringing.
ReplyDeleteBrother Sebastian's foot is propped up on the bar rail, like a guy who's used to frequenting the local tavern. Damn subtle. Jack, you obviously did not frequent saloons. Good for you!
These are hilarious! Thanks for sharing them!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree, these cartoons are hilarious, but as the youngest son of Chon Day, I'm predjudiced, of course. Life in our home was a hoot and we learned how to laugh at a very early age!
ReplyDeleteSure do miss that man...
I had the honor of knowing Mr. Day and his lovely wife Irene. My ex-husband and one of his sons were good friends. The Days were wonderful people. They were warm and loving. I will never forget them.
ReplyDeleteWow.....I just ran across this blog. Wonderful. Chon was my Uncle and when he visited back in the late
ReplyDelete70's, he was like a magician. He would pull a string out of his pocket and do all sorts of parlor tricks with it and with the ever present magic marker he had in his pocket, he would draw great quantities of cartoons. While I have a number of his books, I never saw this [articular Bro. Sebastian book. Thanks for sharing.
C.Day Getchell
Chon Day and my father-in-law J. Raymond Payne were great friends. I have hilarious memories of "chauffering" the two of them, as the designated driver, to monthly dinners of the Old Bastartds Club!. We have several cherished hand-done Christmas Cards from the time when our girls were small.
ReplyDeleteFather Anthony C. Dinoto
As a youngster in the 1950s, I
ReplyDeleteremember seeing Brother Sebastian in my grandfather's Look magazines.
One in particular is still in memory. It's like the one here of the two desk files, "giveth" and "taketh away". The one I recall all these decades later is we're looking at the monk at his desk from behind him. The two files on his desk are marked,
"temporal" and "eternal". I'd love to have a copy to enlarge and post on my office wall.
As a youngster in the 1950s, I
ReplyDeleteremember seeing Brother Sebastian in my grandfather's Look magazines.
One in particular is still in memory. It's like the one here of the two desk files, "giveth" and "taketh away". The one I recall all these decades later is we're looking at the monk at his desk from behind him. The two files on his desk are marked,
"temporal" and "eternal". I'd love to have a copy to enlarge and post on my office wall.