Jack Markow (1905-1983) was the go-to cartoonist for a lot of people who wanted to cartoon. He was born in the UK, but moved to NYC when he was just two years old. He was, like so many of us, known as "the kid who draws" at Louis D. Brandeis High School. He got a job doing layouts and art at the Fleishmann Yeast Company, and attended the Art Students League.
He was known for his gag cartoons in the Saturday Evening Post and New Yorker and many other markets. He was a columnist for Writer's Digest and Cartoonist Profiles magazine. He was one of the first members of the faculty of the School of Visual Arts. He taught magazine cartooning there.
He was also a painter and a graphic artist. He was part of group shows at NYC museums and had three one-man shows. His lithographs are in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum, the New Jersey State Museum, the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, and others.
In 1972, he was awarded a prize at Montreal's International Cartoon Show, and in 1979 he won the Gag Cartoon Division Award from the National Cartoonists Society.
Jack Markow also churned out many how-to-cartoon books. I got one when I was a kid, and read it over and over. Many have read his books and he is still well known to a lot of cartoonists.
Here's a small selection of his originals.
"It's got everything you could ask for in a car -- steering wheel, tires, clutch, brake, headlights --."
"Every time he tries to eat those tiny sandwiches, he bites his fingers."
"I'll just have a hamburger. Tell them to grind up a filet mignon!"
"And, oh yes -- the cigarette lighter hasn't been working properly."
"The doctor told Charlie he simply has to slow down."
"The crook had blond hair, blue eyee, a bulbous nose, a wart on his .... [the rest of this is cut off]"
A few ink sketches:
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