From the Dick Buchanan Files: Cops and Robbers Gag Cartoons 1941 - 1966

The tough guy with the striped shirt and the black mask cracking a safe or threatening a bank teller is a tried and true gag cartoon trope. As of now, the kind of retro iconography has gone the way of bosses chasing secretaries around the desk and other old magazine cartoon imagery. 

But here, we go for retro. Let's join Dick Buchanan as he shows us some old police and perpetrator -- uh -- cops and robbers -- cartoons from the golden, olden age. Thanks and take it away, Dick!

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COPS & ROBBERS
(1941 -1966)

The best day of the week at Cartoon Clip File headquarters is “Cops and Robbers Friday.” That’s the day we dump the folder full of gag cartoons lampooning the wacky world of crime on the Clip File Table and spread them out in order to peruse, dissect and analyze them. The lively discussion that ensues quickly deteriorates into meaningless drivel—which is, of course, is the very best drivel. so we seldom get around to actually looking at any of the cartoons.

That’s why although “Cops and Robbers Friday” is a weekly event it’s often months between Cops and Robbers posts. As it happens, Wally, the Cartoon Clip File intern, is responsible for this selection. It was his job to clean up last week and he failed to return these cartoons to the file.


1. DAN DANGLO. This Week Magazine July 13, 1947.

2. JACK MARKOW. American Legion July, 1959.

3. DICK CAVALLI. The Saturday Evening Post March 13, 1954.

 

4. CHON DAY. American Legion Magazine January, 1948.

5. VAHAN SHIRVANIAN. Argosy Magazine January, 1955.
6. TOM HENDERSON. American Legion April, 1961.

7. JOHN GALLAGHER. American Legion Magazine April, 1961.

8. LARRY HARRIS. 1000 Jokes Magazine Spring, 1954.
9. GUY MONTONE. American Legion Magazine March, 1963.

10. BILL KING. The Saturday Evening Post March 20, 1948.

11. HERB GREEN. Argosy Magazine October, 1964.

 

12. BERNIE WISEMAN. The Saturday Evening Post June 22, 1957.

 

13. ROBERT DAY. Collier’s May 13, 1939.

 

14. FRANK BAGINSKI. True Magazine April, 1964.

 

15. JAY IRVING. Collier’s April 26, 1941.

16. NORMAN HOIFJELD. American Legion Magazine August, 1966.

Yearning for more cops and robbers vintage old gag cartoons?

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Cops and Robbers Gag Cartoons 1939 - 1958

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Even More Cops and Robbers Cartoons 1939 - 1970