From the Dick Buchanan Files: Single Joke Cartoons 1948 - 1969

Here is Dick Buchanan with a sampling of gag cartoons from Great Britain. Only, they're not called gag cartoons there. Here is Professor Buchanan to explain! Now spit your chewing gum out, sit up straight and pay attention. 

(And thank you, Dick!)

--

SINGLE JOKE CARTOONS
1948 - 1969


The Cartoon Clip File, located somewhere in New York’s Greenwich Village (just around the corner from the Old Joke Cemetery) contains thousands of gag cartoons, clipped from the great American magazines of the mid-20th century. There are also cartoons clipped from British magazines, where they’re called “Single Joke” cartoons. The best of these are found in the Cartoon Clip File folder “Jokes for Blokes.”  Here are just a few cartoons found in that folder.  Take a look . . .

1.  SMILBY.  (Francis Wilford-Smith)  Lilliput  December – January, 1953.

 

 

 

"And stay away from my wife . . . ."

 

 

 

2.  ERIC BURGIN.  Punch July 2, 1958.

 

 

3.  ANTON.  (Antonia Yoeman)  Punch  February 17, 1954.

"Perhaps it's lost."

 

 

4.  PAV.  Francis Minet signed his work PAV. Punch  November 5, 1958.

5.  SEMPE.  Jean-Jacques Sempe, one of the most famous French cartoonists, was best known for the series of children's books he created with René Goscinny, Le petit Nicolas.  Punch  August 11, 1958.

6.  SHEILA DUNN.  Punch  December 16, 1948.

7.  BILL TIDY.  Punch Almanack November 8, 1957.

8.  RUSSELL BROCKBANK.  Punch July 9, 1958.

9.  MICHAEL HEATH. Heath’s cartoons have appeared in all the major magazines.  He has been the cartoon editor of The Spectator since 1991.  Punch June 25, 1969. 

10.  LESLIE STARKE.  Lilliput  October – November, 1953.

"No, those aren't the ones either. Mine are sort

of brown suede with plastic buckles."

 

 

11. SPROD.  George Sprod  Punch  February 24, 1954.

12.  DAVID LANGDON.  Lilliput  October – November, 1952.

13.  IONICUS.  Joshua Armitage, one of the last “realistic” artistic-cartoonists, was a Punch contributor for over 40 years. Punch  April 7, 1954.

 

"Now, squeeze -- don't pull."

 

14.  HOFFNUNG.  Gerald Hoffnung was an artist, musician and raconteur.  Lilliput  October – November, 1951.

"I grow all my own vegetables . . ."

 

 

15.  NORMAN THELWELL.  Thelwell’s first contribution to Punch appeared in 1952. Over the next 25 he drew more than 1500 Punch cartoons, including 60 covers.  Punch  April 7, 1954.

 

16.  SMYTHE.  Reginald Smythe created the internationally popular comic strip, Andy Capp in 1957.  John Bull  April 9, 1949. 

 

17.  J.W. Taylor.  Punch August 11, 1958.

 

18. A.F. WILES.  Arnold Wiles.  Lilliput  January 1, 1951.

 

19.  KENNETH MAHOOD.  Punch  December 27, 1950.

 

"He's on their side now." 

 

 

20.  RONALD SEARLE.  This is one of Searle’s most famous cartoons. Punch  June 9, 1954. 

 

 The Child-hater

- This has been an edited version of a blog entry that originally appeared February 1, 2021