Ever Happen To You? by Bud Blake

 

Bud Blake (1918 - 2005) dropped out of high school, sold some cartoons to Judge Magazine and enrolled in the National Academy of Design. He worked his way up from paste-up boy, a job he acquired at the age of 18, to Executive Art Director at New York City's Kudner Advertising Agency.

"Even though he was surrounded by what he called 'good men and good pay,' Blake realized that all the time he spent commuting and traveling meant less and less time at the drawing board, where he was happiest. 

"After a three-month sojourn to Spain, Blake returned to his drawing board as a freelance cartoonist for a variety of advertising clients and magazines, such as Business Week and Family Circle. He created a series of one-panel cartoons, which he brought to King Features Syndicate. The syndicate signed him to do a daily panel called, 'Ever Happen to You?'" - King Features

Best known for his long-running Tiger comic strip (1965 - 2003), this panel is its predecessor.

Here are some cartoons from Bud Blake's (1918 - 2005) Ever Happen To You? newspaper comic panel.

"King Features was looking for a cartoonist to do a cartoon similar to H. T. Webster's panel series, as Webster had recently died. Blake was hired to draw this series, which ran from 1954 to 1965 under a variety of titles ('Home Sweet Home,' 'Growing Pains,' 'Ever Happen to You?''). - Wikipedia

These are copyright 1958 - 1963 by King Features.

Sure, these are some typical-of-its-time upper-middle-class sitcom-style jokes about white suburbanites. Take a look at the cartooning -- the master line work: full of energy, yet controlled. The black spotting that draws your eye to the element that's essential to see to get the gag. And by looking at the over, you can see how his panels took reduction well. More than well! 

 

Related:

Ger Apeldoorn has a huge trove of Bud Blake's work here.