1938 Book "Hidden Things" Published by Saalfield Publishing Company

Here is Hidden Things, a 20 page staple-bound booklet published by Saalfield Publishing Co. in 1938. The cover is credited to "D + D Downs." Every has a drawing with a verse, cluing the reader in on hidden items that may be found in the drawing.

"The Saalfield Company published children's books and other products from 1899 to 1977 and was, at one time, one of the largest publishers of children's materials in the world."-  Kent State University library (where the Saalfield archives are held).

This was an inexpensive, mass-produced item. Maybe it was something that Dad would buy at the newsstand on the way home to occupy the child. Admission: I was not entirely successful at solving all of these hidden pictures. Take a look.

 

The National Cartoonists Society: " Racism has no place in our organization or the world of cartooning."

Via The Daily Cartoonist:

 

The National Cartoonists Society has also made a statement regarding the situation:

The National Cartoonists Society condemns all forms of racism and discrimination.

We choose to support and celebrate diversity, equity, and inclusion for all. While cartooning as an art form needs to embrace and support the right to free speech, when that speech turns to hate and the marginalization or degradation of other human beings because of their race, faith, sexual orientation, nationality or other conditions it is the responsibility of all conscientious people to condemn that speech for what it is.

 Racism has no place in our organization or the world of cartooning.

Andrews McMeel Universal Severs Relationship with "Dilbert" Creator Scott Adams

This was posted last night to Andrews McMeel's Instagram.

Newspapers Drop "Dilbert" Comic After Creator’s Racist Rants on Live YouTube Stream

Scott Adams remarked that white people should “get the hell away from Black people,” and newspapers are dropping the syndicated cartoonist's "Dilbert" comic strip. 

 

From The New York Times:

"Hundreds of newspapers across the country will stop running the 'Dilbert' comic strip after its creator said on a YouTube livestream that Black people were “a hate group” and that white people should 'just get the hell away' from them.

"The creator, Scott Adams, who was behind the widely syndicated comic strip that mocks office culture, was widely rebuked for his comments by newspapers that had printed his work for years.

"The USA Today Network, which publishes more than 200 newspapers, said it 'will no longer publish the ‘Dilbert’ comic due to the recent discriminatory comments by its creator.'

"The Los Angeles Times said on Saturday that it would end publication of the comic strip because of his racist comments. And the editor of The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Chris Quinn, said that Mr. Adams went on a 'racist rant' that had prompted the newspaper to also drop 'Dilbert.'"

I first heard about it in The Oregonian in an op ed by Therese Bottomly, editor and vice president of content for The Oregonian/OregonLive:

"The Oregonian will no longer publish the long-running 'Dilbert' comic strip after its creator Scott Adams broadcast a racist rant on social media.

"I made the decision after watching Adams’ nearly hourlong diatribe on his YouTube show 'Real Coffee with Scott Adams,' which included such exhortations as, 'I would say, based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people.'

"Typically, I like to fully explain our decisions to readers but much of what he said is too patently offensive. I won’t repeat his comments here.

"Because some sections are printed in advance, 'Dilbert' will appear a few more times in The Oregonian. The strip 'Frazz' will take its place as soon as possible."

Late today (Sunday afternoon), Andrews McMeel posted this on their Instagram:

Andrew Farago of The Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco posted this prescient 1988 interview excerpt from The Comics Journal with Berke Breathed. A year later, Scott Adams signed his syndicate deal. (Go to the larger text image for a blow up.)

There is no place for racism in this country. America is about inclusion and how we are more alike than different. What is going on is maddening. And the fact that people are making money off of the hatred is part of it too. I'm glad USA Today and Andrews McMeel have said that this is too much -- and they took steps quickly.

 

ONE MOMENT, SIR!

 

Here's a selection of cartoons from ONE MOMENT , SIR!, a hardcover collection of Saturday Evening Post cartoons edited by Marione R. Nickles and copyright 1957 by E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc.



The above cartoon by prolific gag cartoonist Tom Henderson is just as fresh as it was 51 years ago (no pun intended).

Jim Whiting with a funny take on marriage.


Don Tobin, with a gag on the then-small sportscar craze, provides the title cartoon. You could make the same gag today with those Cooper minis.


Above: Herb Green with a study in juxtaposition between the little girls simple smile and the tired, rapidly aging parent.

Yes, there was an Ed Sullivan who drew gag cartoons but it's not the "really big shoe" Ed Sullivan.


Joe Zeis reminds us all that when making a sale, consider your audience. Look buddy, floozies don't need to know this kinda thing.


Above is a wonderful switch of expectations from Bill Harrison.


Chon Day, one of the best, with his simple line & wash technique, coupled with a killer, hostile, funny line. I like how just the suggestion of the 2 car windows and the handle tell us that we're in the limo, post-ceremony.



The above cartoon by Frank Ridgeway is a successful puzzle. The puzzle begins with the drawing, and trying to understand why this slob of a guy is wearing mouse ears. The gag line, citing the then-phenomenal popularity of the Mickey Mouse Club, solves the puzzle.

Roy L. Fox with a reminder of that time when those ranchers were getting rich off of that Texas tea that was found on their land.

Orlando Busino shows us that even cold-blooded bank robbers need to let off a little steam now and then. I like their expressions.


Mary Blanchard with a nice anti-snob surprise gag line. A New Yorker regular, I wonder if she first had the above cartoon rejected by the New Yorker editors before selling it to the Post. Maybe the NYer eds. were too pro-snob to buy it. Hmm.


I wanted to close with another by Chon Day, who makes me laugh. Add Mr. Day to a short list of cartoonists who deserve more recognition.

Marion R. Nickles also edited the collection HONEY I'M HOME! There are selected gag cartoons here and here from the book.

 -- Edited from a Jun 18, 2008 blog entry.

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Martha Blanchard Gag Cartoons 1947 - 1964

Above is a 50 plus year old photo of cartoonists at the Saturday Evening Post's humor editor's office. That's Martha Blanchard, fourth from left. The photo was nicked from gag cartoonist Eli Stein at his Eli Stein Cartoons blog. (From left: Harry Mace, Bill Yates, Gus Lundberg, Martha Blanchard, Herb Green, Jeff Monahan, Jerry Marcus, Saturday Evening Post humor editor Marione Nickles, Jack Tyrrell, John Norment, Dave Hirsch, Mrs. Fritz Wilkinson (wife of cartoonist Wilkinson), Peter Porges, Bob Schroeter, Mort Temes.)

 

 

Today: a profile and many samples of the work of prolific cartoonist and illustrator Martha Blanchard, courtesy of Dick Buchanan.

Martha Blanchard's cartoons appeared in all of the top markets. She was also a book illustrator. A member of the Art Students League and the National Cartoonists Society, she was a fixture in the New York City post-war cartooning circles. In 1970, she had just finished a new collection for Dell titled "Husbands and Lovers," when she passed away suddenly in her studio at 59 Fifth Avenue. The cause was a coronary occlusion. She was 54 years old. 

Dick Buchanan writes about this rare female career cartoonist and shows twenty five of her cartoons below. Thanks and take it away, Dick.

---


MARTHA BLANCHARD
GAG CARTOONS 1947 - 1964



Martha Blanchard. This Week Magazine, November 20, 1949.



Martha Blanchard was one the most successful women gag cartoonist of the 1950’s and 1960’s, an era where the number of women cartoonists would fit in the hand of a baby.

Blanchard studied at the Art Students League. Her studio/home was in New York’s Greenwich Village, just a few blocks north of Washington Square. She sold her first cartoon in 1947. Her work appeared in many of the day’s leading magazines, including Collier’s, American Magazine, Look, Pictorial Review and Punch. She was a prominent contributor to The Saturday Evening Post for two decades. 

Blanchard’s cartoons usually depicted the plight of the young single woman and young marrieds in the 1950’s. Rather than the decidedly misogynist gags about women which pervaded the era,
Blanchard’s drawings often were ones to which women could actually relate. 

Blanchard also illustrated several books, including Jean Kerr’s Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, Dear Rabbi and Husbands & Lovers, a paperback collection of her gag cartoons. In her spare time, she drew caricatures at local veteran’s hospitals.


1. MARTHA BLANCHARD. The Saturday Evening Post December 13, 1947.

 

 2. MARTHA BLANCHARD. The Saturday Evening Post February 21, 1948.

 

 3. MARTHA BLANCHARD. The Saturday Evening Post May 30, 1949.

 

 4. MARTHA BLANCHARD. The Saturday Evening Post August 27, 1949.

 

5. MARTHA BLANCHARD. The Saturday Evening Post June 20, 1950.

 

6. MARTHA BLANCHARD. The Saturday Evening Post July 8, 1950.

 

7. MARTHA BLANCHARD. This Week Magazine November 20, 1949.

 

8. MARTHA BLANCHARD. The Saturday Evening Post January 27, 1951.

 

9. MARTHA BLANCHARD. The Saturday Evening Post November 22, 1952.

 

10. MARTHA BLANCHARD. The Saturday Evening Post September 13, 1952.

 

11. MARTHA BLANCHARD Collier’s August 7, 1953.

 

12. MARTHA BLANCHARD. Pictorial Review June 21, 1953.

 

13. MARTHA BLANCHARD. The Saturday Evening Post July 25, 1954.

 

14. MARTHA BLANCHARD. Collier’s April 29, 1955.

15. MARTHA BLANCHARD. The Saturday Evening Post March 23, 1957.

16. MARTHA BLANCHARD. The Saturday Evening Post April 27, 1957.

17. MARTHA BLANCHARD. Punch August 6, 1958.

18. MARTHA BLANCHARD. Punch August 13, 1958.

19. MARTHA BLANCHARD, Look Magazine January 31, 1961.

20. MARTHA BLANCHARD. 1000 Jokes Magazine June – August, 1959.

21. MARTHA BLANCHARD. 1000 Jokes Magazine August - October, 1962.

22. MARTHA BLANCHARD. For Laughing Out Loud January – March, 1962.

23. MARTHA BLANCHARD. American Legion Magazine October, 1963.

24. MARTHA BLANCHARD. Look Magazine June 16, 1964.

25. MARTHA BLANCHARD. True Magazine April, 1964.