Thursday, October 31, 2024

Cartoon Class: What Do You Want to Dress Up As for Halloween?

Over ten years ago this week I asked the elementary school kids in a cartoon class I was teaching what they would like to dress up as for Halloween. This was my favorite then and it still is. 

In her drawing "Bacon by Rachel," she captures the wavy rivulets of meat and fat with an excellent on-model depiction of the breakfast meat. By now, she must be twenty years old. I wonder if this is still a Halloween costume go-to.



 

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Old Joke Cemetery 1946 - 1971

Since it's the day before Halloween, it's time to look at some old gag cartoons with gags so old they SHOULD be dead, but, like zombies, they live on. Thank you, Dick Buchanan, for fearlessly dealing with these undead bad jokes. They are moldy oldies, but we love them. 

---


OLD JOKE CEMETERY
(1948 – 1971)



The Old Joke Cemetery is where old jokes are laid to rest. We say rest because some of them are only resting, lying in wait until someone calls for an encore and they spring to life. We’re not sure these will spring to life, but they’re old favorites of ours so give them one more chance . . .



1. HARRY MACE. The Saturday Evening Post November 21, 1953.



 

2. DICK CAVALLI. The Saturday Evening Post October 28, 1950.

 

3. BILL KING. Collier’s February 23, 1952.

4. LEW FOLLETTE. The Saturday Evening Post June 5, 1948.



 

5. TOM HENDERSON. Look Magazine July 28, 1948.

 



6. CHON DAY. True Magazine July, 1963.



7. TOM FLANNERY. American Legion Magazine February, 1949.


8. LAFE LOCKE. Collier’s March 28, 1953.

9. DON OREHEK. American Legion Magazine December, 1967.


 

10. STAN HUNT. The Saturday Evening Post June 5, 1948.


 

11. CORKA (Jon Cronin) True Magazine March, 1952.


 

12. AL CRAMER. American Magazine June, 1955.


 

13. BILL HOEST. American Legion Magazine March, 1971.


 

14. JEFFREY MONAHAN. The Saturday Evening Post November 2, 1963.


 

15. SCOTT TABER. The Saturday Evening Post March 9, 1957.


 

16. ERNEST MARQUEZ. American Legion Magazine November, 1950.


17. JOHN DEMPSEY. Look Magazine November 8, 1960.


 

18. SYD HOFF. Collier’s January 26, 1952.


19. CHARLES STRAUSS. Collier’s January 26, 1952.


 

20. ROBERT DAY. This Week Magazine April 8, 1956.

 


Edited from a blog entry that originally appeared on October 29, 2021. So, like Michael Myers, it just came back.

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Remembering Bill Mauldin 1921 - 2003

 


William Henry Mauldin, better known as Bill Mauldin, was born on this day in 1921. He would win two Pulitzers for his cartoons. The first award was at the age of 23, which was for his wartime body of work. (Six cartoons a week for Stars and Stripes.) The cartoon above, "'Fresh, spirited American troops, flushed with victory, are bringing in thousands of hungry, ragged, battle-weary prisoners ... ' (News Item)," is typical his sardonic take on American newspaper headlines with the reality of the life of a soldier. 

From his Wikipedia page:

In 1959, Mauldin won a second Pulitzer Prize, while working at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, for a cartoon depicting Soviet author Boris Pasternak in a Gulag, asking another prisoner, "I won the Nobel Prize for literature. What was your crime?"[12] Pasternak had won the Nobel Prize for his novel Doctor Zhivago, but was not allowed to travel to Sweden to accept it. The following year Mauldin won the National Cartoonist Society Award for Editorial Cartooning. In 1961, he received their Reuben Award as well. 

 


 

Here are a few photos and links celebrating the life and legacy of Bill Mauldin. 

Below: 1958 cover story "Bill Mauldin Takes You on a Family Tour" from the Sports Illustrated Web site

 




"LOS ANGELES, Oct. 23 1945 -- MAULDINS IN HAPPIER TIMES -- William H. (Bill) Mauldin, 24-year-old cartoonist and Pulitzer Prize winner, greets his wife Norma Jean, and their son, Bruce, 2, after his release from the army. Yesterday, he charged his wife with adultery in a divorce suit here, in which he asked for custody of his son. AP Wirephoto."




"February 8, 1965 - Sun-times cartoonist Bill Mauldin (left) admires the helicopter pilot helmet awarded to his son Bruce upon Bruce's graduation last year from the U.S. Army's Aviation Center, Fort Rucker, Ala. Mauldin was visiting Bruce with the 52d Aviation Battalion, when the Viet Cong attacked Saturday."




"October 28, 1965 - AUTOGRAPH PARTY - Bill Mauldin, Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist of the Sun-Times, autographs copies of his new book "I've Decided I Want My Seat Back." The autographing party was held at Barbara's Bookstore, 1434 N. Wells. The new book contains cartoons and commentary. (Sun-Times Photo by Bob Kotalik.)"





"March 17, 1966 -- Bill Mauldin, Sun-Times editorial cartoonist, and Paul Ghali, Daily News Paris correspondent, exchange greetings and discuss Mauldin's work in the gallery of the Sun-Times and Daily News building. The exhibit of original Mauldin cartoons will continue until the end of March and is open to the public without charge."





"May 3, 1966- Sun-Time cartoonist Bill Mauldin (left) is notified that he'll receive the "Communicator of the Year" award next Wednesday at the 19th annual communications division dinner of the Combined Jewish Appeal of Metropolitan Chicago. With Mauldin are Larry Fanning (center), of the Publishers Newspaper Syndicate, and Morris Rotman, Chairman of the CJA division. Sun-Times photo."



September 13, 1985 - Cartoonist Bill Mauldin thinks President Reagan is "wrong a lot."



Bill Mauldin in his studio, 1984:



Some related links:


Bill Mauldin gets his best ideas in the bath, according to this 1977 Bill Mauldin Profile

1990: Bill Mauldin in Saudi Arabia
Brian Hoag on Bill Mauldin and Charles Schulz
More rare photos of Mauldin here and here

More rare and unseen cartoonist photos in general (lots of 'em):
Part one
Part two
Part three
Part four
Part five
Part six 
Part seven
Part eight
 

Monday, October 28, 2024

Edward Hopper's Sketchbooks

Here's Edward Hopper's notebook, looking like a comic book or graphic novel. This is from the Today's Inspiration Facebook group.


Hopper and his wife kept detailed notes on the paintings he’d sold or which were being bought in installment, and these are those notebooks, like ledgers almost. There's a book that reproduces them: Edward Hopper: A Journal of His Work. 

A few more samples. Via Rob Stolzer, here are some prelims for his Nighthawks painting:




 

 

Thursday, October 24, 2024

See You Soon

Some Fall of 2024 colors along the Maine/New Hampshire border (Province Lake) and around home. 

This is from a trip this past weekend. 

I'll be away for a couple of days. Back to the blog soon.







Wednesday, October 23, 2024

1981 BBC Review of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

From the BBC Archive:



Astronomer Patrick Moore, sports journalist Julie Welch and playwright Alan Plater join Ludovic Kennedy to review the BBC television adaptation of Douglas Adams' science-fiction comedy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Does this latest incarnation of THHGTTG hold a candle to the original radio series? Clip taken from Did You See...?, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 14 February, 1981. 
 


Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Video: "See You At the Polls" Election PSA (1956) with Groucho and Bob Hope

Here's a great 30 minute PSA film hosted by Bob Hope! "See You At the Polls" was produced by the Heritage Foundation and the Ad Council.

From the jeffsabu YouTube page.

Groucho shows up with George Fenneman around six minutes in, with an appeal to the public to exercise their right to vote, oddly sincere considering it's Groucho!

Also featured: Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Spring Byington, Danny Thomas, Jimmy Durante, Ethel Merman, William Bendix, and many more.

This note from @fromthesidelines is on the YouTube page:

 "Incidentally, most of the segments were lifted from other TV shows and movie excerpts. For example, Bing's musical number was originally featured on the March 21, 1954 filmed episode of 'THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM.' Rosie Clooney's musical segment was from her syndicated TV series. Bob Hope and Jane Russell in an excerpt from 'The Paleface' (1948). Ethel Merman and Donald O'Connor in a number from 'Call Me Madam' (1953). And Byron Palmer was in a segment from the syndicated 'THIS IS YOUR MUSIC' series. Jimmy Durante, Anna Maria Alberghetti and Peter Lawford's musical number was originally presented on the final episode of Durante's 'TEXACO STAR THEATRE' [June 23, 1956]."

  

Monday, October 21, 2024

1987 B. Kliban Interview by Heidi MacDonald

 

From 1987, here's an interview with gag cartoonist B. Kliban conducted by Heidi MacDonald (and it's copyright that year by her) from SPLAT! #3, SPLAT! sports a cover by Howard Cruse and was published bi-monthly by Mad Dog Graphics, a division of Strnad Publishing and Tom Mason.

What's amazing here is the backstory to his Cat book, which was and still is a big deal. It almost didin't happen at all. Kliban was just doing weird cat drawings and filing them away. One day Playboy cartoon editor Michelle Urry just happened to drop by his studio and open the drawer of cat drawings. She loved them. It was she who said these should be published. 

Michelle was a great editor and much missed by Playboy cartoonists. Playboy was, after all, a premiere cartoon market that was very difficult to break in to. I remember getting a rejected cartoon from Playboy in the mail. (This was back in the day when submissions were mailed, natch.) There was a note from Michelle to me that she thought it was a good, funny cartoon and disagreed with Hef who had decided not to buy it. That's what is called a "good rejection" in the business. 

Here's this terrific interview by Heidi MacDonald:








Friday, October 18, 2024

From the Dick Buchanan Files: The Life and Cartoons of Tom Henderson

Tom Henderson's single panel magazine cartoons were everywhere. Within a year of his first sale, he was a top-selling gag cartoonist. Here's Dick Buchanan with a lot more about Tom Henderson's life, work, and, also, of course, many samples of his work. Thanks and take it away, Dick!



TOM HENDERSON
(1920 – 1970)




Tom Henderson. “What’s Funny About That?” E.P. Dutton Inc., 1954.


Tom Henderson was a cartoonist and illustrator best known for his work in The Saturday Evening Post.
He was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, but grew up in Chicago where he attended Wabash College and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. 


Henderson sold his first cartoon in 1945 and he was top cartoonist in point of sales to five largest magazines for 1946. He contributed to the Saturday Evening Post. Collier's, Look, This Week Magazine, True Magazine, Popular Science and1000 Jokes Magazine among many others.


In 1956 Henderson created a weekly feature, “Fan Fare,” for This Week Magazine. This series appeared weekly featuring one of Henderson’s favorite targets, the wealthy, entitled, clueless members of the upper crust.


Like many other cartoonists Henderson, in addition to drawing gag cartoons for magazines, had many advertising clients. He created illustrated advertising campaigns for clients including General Electric, Shell Oil Co., American Express, Yale & Towne, Pennsylvania Tire Co., and Johnson & Johnson, among others.


Here just a few of the gag cartoons Tom Henderson created over the years . . .

 
American Magazine April, 1945.

 

 

This Week Magazine April 1, 1945.



Liberty Magazine August 10, 1946.



True Magazine August, 1946.



This Week Magazine April 27, 1947.



American Legion Magazine March, 1947.



The Saturday Evening Post September 27, 1947.



The Saturday Evening Post February 21, 1948.



Holsum Advertisement, week of May 28, 1949.



The Saturday Evening Post July 1, 1950.



The Saturday Evening Post February 7, 1951.



The Saturday Evening Post June 21, 1952.



This Week Magazine July 13, 1952.



The Saturday Evening Post June 6, 1953.



The Saturday Evening Post October 23, 1954.



Collier’s July 8, 1955.



American Legion Magazine March, 1956.



This Week Magazine August 4, 1957.



Look Magazine April 29, 1958.



The Saturday Evening Post November 21, 1959.



American Legion Magazine January, 1964.



Boys’ Life November 1968.


 

Related:

Tom Henderson's son has a site here.