Tuesday, January 31, 2023

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Gag Cartoons by Comic Strip Cartoonists 1951 - 1964

Here is Professor Dick Buchanan with a spotlight on four syndicated newspaper cartoonists who began in the business by selling gag cartoons.

Drawing gag cartoons is haphazard way to live to say the least. You really live by your wits. Syndication, with its steady income and its syndicate salespeople doing the flogging of your comics on your behalf -- now THAT'S where it is. A syndicated cartoonist could make a good, steady living -- as long as their comic strip connected with readers, natch! Same with getting a contract with a comic book company. If you look at old magazine cartoons, you'll see some names that may be better known from their work in comic books and newspaper comic strips.

Of course, nowadays, with the decline of newspapers and editors cutting content, syndication is not as lucrative or as stable as it once was.

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GAG CARTOONS
by COMIC STRIP CARTOONISTS
(1951-1964)


Today we dip into the Cartoon Clip File and look at the magazine cartoons by four cartoonists who began their careers as magazine gag cartoonist but eventually became most successful as the creators of some of the funniest comic strips of the last half of the 20th century -- Johnny Hart, Frank Ridgeway, Ralston Jones, and Frank O’Neal. Their work appeared in all the national magazines—Collier’s, The Saturday Evening Post, Look, This Week, and True.

As always, these cartoons are in the same vein, subject wise, as most of the cartoons appearing in the national general interest magazines at the time. In other words, they were in every-which-way politically incorrect. Nonetheless, the wit and verve of these cartoonists is apparent.


JOHNNY HART ("B.C." and "The Wizard of Id”)

Hart was a Korean War veteran whose first cartoons appeared in Stars and Stripes. Upon separation in 1953, he began pursuing a freelance gag cartooning career. His comic strip, B.C. debuted February 17, 1958. B.C. was awarded the National Cartoonists Society Best Humor Strip in 1967. In 1960, Hart developed a new strip, “The Wizard of Id”, working with the cartoonist Brandt Parker. In 1968 he received the Society’s Reuben Award as the Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. Hart worked on his 'B.C.' comic strip up until the day he died in April 2007. The strip has continued, produced by a quartet of family members.

1. JOHNNY HART. Collier’s October 29, 1954.




2. JOHNNY HART. The Saturday Evening Post June 14, 1956.




3. JOHNNY HART. American Legion Magazine June, 1956.




4. JOHNNY HART. For Laughing Out Loud October - December, 1956.




 5. JOHNNY HART. American Legion Magazine July, 1958.





RALSTON “BUD” JONES. ("Mr. Abernathy")

Jones signed his gag cartoons Ralston. Together with fellow cartoonist Frank Ridgeway, he created the long running comic strip Mr. Abernathy, syndicated by King Features beginning October 14, 1957. A Sunday strip was added from 1959 to 1986. Jones drew the strip and Frank Ridgeway wrote the gags until 1980, when Jones retired and Ridgeway took over both chores

1. RALSTON JONES. 1000 Jokes Magazine December, 1955 - February, 1956.



 2. RALSTON JONES. 1000 Jokes Magazine June-August, 1959.




3. RALSTON JONES. The Saturday Evening Post April 6, 1957.




4. RALSTON JONES. The Saturday Evening Post August 17, 1957.


5. RALSTON JONES. 1000 Jokes Magazine December, 1955 – February, 1956. 





FRANK RIDGEWAY. ("Mr. Abernathy")

Frank Ridgeway studied at the Art Students League and the School of Visual Arts, in New York. He created the newspaper strip about multimillionaire 'Mr. Abernathy' with Ralston Jones in 1957. Ridgeway was the writer and Jones drew the strip. When Jones resigned in 1980 Ridgeway continued, writing and drawing the strip until his death in 1994. Ridgeway had also scripted the 'Lancelot' daily for artist Paul Coker, Jr. He was a teacher at the Famous Artists' School.

1. FRANK RIDGEWAY. The Saturday Evening Post February 20, 1954.


2. FRANK RIDGEWAY. True Magazine May, 1955.



3. FRANK RIDGEWAY. The Saturday Evening Post April 13, 1957.


4. FRANK RIDGEWAY. The Saturday Evening Post May 4, 1957.


5. FRANK RIDGEWAY. 1000 Jokes Magazine. June – August, 1964. 








FRANK O’NEAL. ("Short Ribs")

Frank O’Neal studied at the Jefferson Machamer School of Art, in Santa Monica, California. He sold his first magazine cartoon to The Saturday Evening Post in 1950. O’Neal’s Short Ribs, a gag-a day strip with a selection of characters, first appeared November 17, 1958. A Sunday strip was added in 1959. In 1964 O’Neal won National Cartoonists Society’s Division Award for Newspaper Strips: Humor. O’Neal drew the strip until 1973 when he handed the strip over to his assistant, Frank Hill.

1. FRANK O’NEAL. Collier’s May 26, 1951.



2. FRANK O’NEAL. Here! November, 1951.


3. FRANK O’NEAL. American Legion Magazine December, 1952.


4. FRANK O’NEAL. The Saturday Evening Post May 18, 1957.




5. FRANK O’NEAL. The Saturday Evening Post May 24, 1957. 



- Edited from an original blog entry of January 29, 2020.

Monday, January 30, 2023

Jon Claytor: A Comic About the Opioid Epidemic In my Small Town (Part One)


Sackville, New Brunswick artist John Claytor has been doing a series of true life comics about the impact of drugs on his small town in Canada. Informative, off the cuff and heart rending, these are all available at his Instagram. Here's his first one.

"This comic about Naloxone is the first of a series of comics about the opioid epidemic and it’s effect on the small town I live in. I am working with the guidance of Ashley Legere, a Sackville, New Brunswick resident and Wellness Navagator with Ensemble (a harm reduction centre in Moncton). We will be talking to people who have experienced overdose and lived, and with the families of those who didn’t and making short comics about those conversations. The sole purpose is to try and raise awareness and encourage compassion for a problem that effects people in all walks of life and in all communities.

"Please feel free to share - there’s a link to the files in my bio. Feel free to print or share with anyone."













Friday, January 27, 2023

From the Dick Buchanan Files: The Art of Clyde Lamb: Brown & Bigelow Oil Paintings 1961 - 1966

Dick Buchanan has a wonderful profile of prolific midcentury gag cartoonist Clyde Lamb for us today. As ever, I am thankful and happy that he is sharing his sharp research, as well as his grand collection of comic art with us. Many thanks and, take it away, my friend!

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THE ART OF LAMB.
Brown & Bigelow Oils
1961 – 1966





Clyde Lamb. What’s Funny About That? E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc. New York, New York, 1954 .

Clyde Lamb was serving two consecutive 25 years in the Indiana State Penitentiary when he began painting and drawing cartoons for the amusement of his fellow inmates. Encouraged to submit his drawings to magazines, Lamb gave it a shot and soon his work appeared in Judge. Collier’s, The Saturday Evening Post and This Week Magazine soon followed. Paroled in 1947, he returned to his Montana birthplace, re-married the wife he divorced while in prison and enjoyed a successful career as free-lance gag cartoonist. He also continued to paint. 

In the late 1950’s Lamb found a home for his oils with Brown & Bigelow, a company which provided a variety of promotional materials for small businesses. Founded in 1896 and still operating today, Brown & Bigelow was at one time the largest calendar manufacturers in the world. The calendar artwork also appeared notepads and blotters. Brown and Bigelow published many fine artists over years, including Maxfield Parrish, Norman Rockwell, Gil Elvgren, and Cassuius Marcellus Coolidge, among others. One of the others was Clyde Lamb. 


Clyde Lamb was no Rembrandt. On the other hand, Rembrandt was no Clyde Lamb, either. Hardly any of his paintings are funny. So, while Lamb was not the best draftsman he did have the most important asset any cartoonist could have--he drew funny. That, combined with an array of quirky gags, made his drawings comical marvels. 


The oils Lamb created for Brown & Bigelow fell into two categories. The first was Call of the Wild, cartoons about inept sportsmen and their hapless companions. The other category was Out of this World, a series cartoons in a science fiction vein, featuring Lamb’s bumbling spacemen encountering an array of colorful aliens.


This is a sampling of Clyde Lamb’s oils published by Brown & Bigelow, taken from their blotters and calendars. Also included are two original oils, found in les Arts Médiocres, a quaint little gallery near the Old Joke Cemetery, somewhere in New York’s scenic Greenwich Village. Take a look . . .


 #1 “CIRCLE BACK – I THOUGHT I SAW A MOUNTAIN GOAT!”

   

  #2 “QUICK ELMER – SNAP THE PICTURE BEFORE HE GETS AWAY!”

 

   #3 “DID YOU SEE A RABBIT BOARD THE 438 TO ALASKA?”

 

#4 “THIS MUST BE WHERE WE PORTAGE, ED!”

 

#5 “GOOD HEAVENS . . . WE FORGOT TO BRING COLOR FILM!”


  

 #6
 “SCHOOL’S OUT!”


 

#7 
“WELL, WHAT IS IT THIS TIME?”


 

#8 
“NOW WHAT?”


 

#9 “AROUND THE CAMPFIRE, YOU’’LL BE GLAD I BROUGHT IT ALONG!”

 

#10 “THERE’S NOTHING TO BE AFRAID OF MEN . . . I PULLED A THORN OUT OF HIS FOOT!”

 
#11 “I SUPPOSE THOSE LITTLE ONES WILL GROW UP TO LOOK LIKE HIM!”
 
 

#12 “I STILL SAY IT’S TOO COLD TO GO DUCK HUNTING THIS MORNING!”

 

#13 “ACT NONCHALANT!”

 

#14 “I DON’T KNOW—I’M LOOKING FOR A RIVER MYSELF!”

 

#15 “THOSE DECOYS COST MORE, BUT THEY’RE WORTH IT!”

 

#16 “HENRY!  LET HIM GO THIS INSTANT!”

#17 “OF COURSE, I RESEMBLE A HUMAN, YOU IDIOT . . . I’M FROM TOPEKA, KANSAS!”

 

 

 

#18 “QUICK—MY FISHING LICENSE!”



CLYDE LAMB.  #9661-I. Brown & Bigelow calendar art.  Oil on 14” x 19”  Crescent Heavy Illustration board. Dated September, no year noted.

#19 “STUPID OF US NOT TO BRING A CAN OPENER!”


CLYDE LAMB.  #9425-I. Brown & Bigelow calendar art. Oil on canvas wrapped on 14” x 19” Lechertier Barbe Illustration board. Dated September, 1963.

#20 “DON’T BLAME ME—I JUST WORK HERE!”

 

Related:

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Clyde Lamb's "Millicent" 1950 - 1961

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Clyde Lamb Gag Cartoons 1946 - 1965

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Clyde Lamb Roughs 1946 - 1965