I grew up with the newspaper panel GRIN AND BEAR IT. It's been ongoing since 1932, with newspaper cartoonist George "Lichty" Lichtenstein supplying his trademark flowing, loose cartoony lines until the 1980s. It was syndicated nationally in 1940, by Field Enterprises. 46 years later, the property was sold to King Features.
The panel is incongruous. Simultaneously sketchy and illustrative, the feature poked fun at the middle class, its language, laziness and hypocrisy.
Take a look at the first panel below. Look at the looseness of the line -- and the mean perspective on the stove front and the ironing board, all creating a dynamic line to the husband. The fellow's black waistcoat emphasizes that he is the character to linger on.
More Lichty GRIN AND BEAR IT panels from the 1960s here. Although he would loose the crayon shading (perhaps a nod to decreasing panel sizes), his style was remarkably steadfast.
Go look at Animation Resources big Lichty page here.
One of my favorite Lichty cartoon dates from the first moon landing. Two guys are sitting alone in a bar and one asks the other: "Does life, as we know it, exist in other bars?"
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these. I'd heard of Lichty (there's an interesting story in Mauldin's THE BRASS RING) but hadn't seen any of his work.
ReplyDeleteI grew up reading "Grin," so thanks for these! When I was little, I thought these panels were messy, and the older I got, the more I admired them.
ReplyDeleteI used to love this cartoon as a child. I still remember some of the punchlines.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting. As a child, my Daddy used to read me the ones I understood after church every Sunday. The fave I recall is two guys looking down at a small foot tall pyramid shape in the dirt. The main guy told his companion, “Higby, if this is what I think it is, we have one heck of a digging job to do!” ��
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