From the Dick Buchanan Files: Virgil Partch Part Four: VIP 1943-1944

When you think of the top gag cartoonists of the 20th century, one name that keeps coming up is VIP or Virgil Partch. Dick Buchanan has been profiling VIP for a while. This is the fourth part. Links to the first three are here:


From the Dick Buchanan Files: Virgil Parch Part One; VIP in the 1940s

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Virgil Parch Part Two; VIP in the 1950s

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Virgil Partch Part Three: VIP 1943 - 1959


Here are some rare Partch gag cartoons courtesy of Dick Buchanan's great collection of vintage magazine cartoons. Take it away, Dick -- and thanks:

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VIRGIL PARTCH: VINTAGE VIP
Part Four (1943-1944)

In these days of superlatives there are many comic geniuses but Virgil Partch was the genuine article.
His first published gag cartoon appeared in Collier’s January 30, 1942 and he quickly became a national sensation. His cartoons, zany, maniacal and sometimes surreal, were unlike anything seen before and the public couldn’t get enough. Collier’s published one of his cartoons every week—often two, sometimes three. His work began appearing in Liberty Magazine, PM Newspaper, This Week, The Saturday Evening Post and even The New Yorker. Time and Newsweek magazines reported on his meteoric rise to national prominence. Madison Avenue took notice and Partch signed on to create cartoons for a host of products. Wheaties cereal, Smith Brother’s Cough Drops, Squirt and Gem razor blades were but a few advertisements featuring his drawings. It’s Hot in Here, first collection of cartoons was published in 1944. In the coming years he would produce 18 more books and illustrated many others.

Here is a small sampling of his earliest and best work . . .



1. VIRGIL PARTCH. November 27, 1943.

2. VIRGIL PARTCH. Collier’s December 25, 1943.

3. VIRGIL PARTCH. Liberty Magazine January 8, 1944.

4. VIRGIL PARTCH. Collier’s January 15, 1944.

\5. VIRGIL PARTCH. Collier’s February 19, 1944.

6. VIRGIL PARTCH. Collier’s February 19, 1944.

7. VIRGIL PARTCH. Collier’s February 26, 1944.

 8. VIRGIL PARTCH. Collier’s February 26, 1944.

9. VIRGIL PARTCH. Liberty Magazine March 4, 1944.

10. VIRGIL PARTCH. Collier’s March 18, 1944.

11. VIRGIL PARTCH. Collier’s March 18, 1944.

 12. VIRGIL PARTCH. Collier’s March 25, 1944.

 13. VIRGIL PARTCH. Liberty Magazine April 15, 1944.

 14. VIRGIL PARTCH. Liberty September 2, 1944.