Saturday, August 09, 2008

Happy Birthday, Don Orehek

Above: a recent color original Don sent to me. There's a whole story about the image, but it's Don's story to tell.

Birthday boy Don Orehek is, in the words of one blog commenter:

"Orehek is God! He was the King of Shut Ups in Cracked magazine!"

The above quote is from The Eerie World of Don Orehek, a scan of a 1960's gatefold from the magazine Monster Howls #1. Take a peek at some great, vintage Orehek cartoons courtesy of Karswell's The Horrors of It All blog.

When I was a kid, I read some of the joke books he illustrated, as well as his work in Cracked magazine -- especially those SHUT UPS pages. When I got older, I knew his magazine gag cartoon work.

It was a pleasure to finally meet him at a monthly NCS get together about eight years ago. After a couple of months, he would walk up to me at one of these get togethers, or I would come up to him, and ask, "Where are you sitting?" Whenever we attended, we would always sit together. To think that a great cartoonist who I only knew by his trademark signature as a kid would now be a friend, sitting, right there, next to me! Wow!

It was a pleasure to sit next to him and his wife at the most recent NCS Reubens dinner. Don is a master, award winning cartoonist whose work I admired as a kid, and still admire today.

To Don Orehek: a cartoonist master who I admired as a kid and still love today. Many years of happiness and health and great cartoons, Don!




Above: a St, Patrick's original that he sent in the mail as a surprise, signed "Donnie O'Rehek."

3 comments:

Dan said...

Heck, Orehek was one of the first to catch my eye as a tiny tooner, many moons ago. His stuff was appearing in literally every publication out there back in the 70's. You getting an original in the mail like that? Musta been like scratching a lottery ticket & finding you won something....only better. Keep up your great posts Mike - Dan
http://www.crazygasprice.com

Mr. Karswell said...

Thanks for the plug Mike, stop by anytime... love your blog too.

Mark Anderson said...

Shar and 'tis a happy belated bithday I be sendin' ye, Don!