Above: Pete Wyma with a now-politically incorrect kiddie suicide cartoon.
Some more SATURDAY EVENING POST (and a few COLLIER'S) cartoons from the 1950s.
Fat jokes are a no-no in today's market, but cartoonist Andy Habbick sold this one no problem. Andy was one of many ex-GIs who studied with veteran gag cartoonist Jack Markow at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School (now known as the School for Visual Arts).
Some of these cartoons are downright hostile toward children in a time when we think of the nuclear family as the center of happiness. Look at the expressions on the childless couple's faces in the above cartoon by Cy Olson.
Above: an early Joseph Farris cartoon. Joe is currently a New Yorker contract cartoonist.
Some nice wash work by Ted Key, who would not only was doing the Hazel panel in the Saturday Evening Post, but would go on to create Peabody & Sherman for the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, and write movies for Disney, including Million Dollar Duck.
Above: a cartoon by Bob Barnes. "Don't Squeeze the Frog" should be on a t-shirt.
Harry mace's clean line can pack so much detail into a cartoon: the living room, the cold snow outside, the kid, in mid-scooter stride and Dad in motion.
Above: a grand example of what to leave out to make it even funnier.
I like Tom Henderson's smooth, bold lines.
A big thanks to Kristin Cawood for passing along a large scrapbook of these gag cartoon treasures from the late 1950s. More to come!
The SATURDAY EVENING POST 1950s gag cartoons blog entries:
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 1
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 2
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 3
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 4
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 5
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 6
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 7
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 8
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 9
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 10
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 11
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 12
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 13
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 14
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 15
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 16
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 17
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 18
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 19
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 20
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 21
- SATURDAY EVENING POST Scrapbook Part 22
You should also note the last cartoon was by Brant Parker. A lot of SEP cartoonists later did successful syndicated strips. As far as taboos are concerned, there was also a lot of ethnic humor in the 50s.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Sam. A lot of these gag cartoonists also became syndicated -- Harry Mace, Gallagher, Barnes, Ted Key, Cy Olson, Andy Habbick, and many others.
ReplyDeleteThere was some ethnic humor after the war, but not as much as in 1930s mags for sure.
All are great cartoon picks, but every time I look at the Joseph Farris cartoon "what are you doing, mom?", makes me laugh out loud. Love it.
ReplyDeleteTed Key created Sherman & Peabody??!
ReplyDelete