From the Dick Buchanan Files: Certified Vintage Gag Cartoons 1946 - 1965

There was a time when pretty much every major magazine had gag cartoons, and hundreds were being published every month. That was called the Golden Age of Gag Cartooning. The height of the Age was post-WWII, and it began to decline in the 1950s as TV became more popular than reading that Saturday Evening Post on Saturday evening.

There were still cartoons in magazines, but not as many. And soon, a lot of those general interest national magazines weren't as many too. Collier's stopped publishing in 1957. This Week, a Sunday supplement to the newspapers, hung on until 1969. Look magazine eked it out until 1971. But here, on this blog, courtesy of cartoon clipper extraordinaire Dick Buchanan, we can visit that Golden Age. Thank you, and take it away, Dick.

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CERTIFIED VINTAGE GAG CARTOONS
(1946 – 1965)

Here are a few of the mid-century gag cartoons which have achieved Certified Vintage status . . .

1. TOM HENDERSON. This Week Magazine March 3, 1946.

2. GARDNER REA. Collier’s February 25, 1951.

3. GLENN BERNHARDT. The Saturday Evening Post October 16, 1954.

4. PHIL INTERLANDI. The Saturday Evening Post October 3, 1953.

5. DAVE LETTICK. Lettick drew the comic strip Little Orphan Annie for 3 months in 1974 after which the strip began running Harold Gray reprints. True Magazine December, 1969.

6. BOB WEBER. American Legion Magazine October, 1963.

7. CLYDE LAMB. 1000 Jokes Magazine Winter, 1954.

8. GEORGE SMITH. The Saturday Evening Post May 15, 1948.

9. SYDNEY HOFF. Collier’s November 24, 1951.

10. ORLANDO BUSINO. American Legion Magazine April, 1959.

11. SLIM. Cartoonist Robert Johnson signed his work Slim. Argosy Magazine September, 1965.

12. JEFFREY MONAHAN. 1000 Jokes Magazine September – November, 1961.

13. IRWIN CAPLAN. This Week Magazine March 17, 1946.

14. FRANK BAGINSKI. Baginski drew the comic strip Splitsville. American Legion Magazine May, 1965.

15. SAM GROSS. Argosy Magazine July, 1965.