Carl Rose Illustrations from TRY AND STOP ME by Bennett Cerf

Here's a rather dog-eared edition of TRY AND STOP ME, a collection of Bennett Cerf's newspaper columns. It's copyright 1944 by Mr. Cerf. The dust jacket tells us the book has

"the most amusing anecdotes of the theatre, the book world, movies and sports and the most interesting ghost stories. One chapter contains thirty-two anecdotes, in which various pigeons, herrings and mere people furnish the deliciously crazy brand of humor known as Shaggy-Dog. Some of the stories are more than a page long. Some are only a few lines, There are hundreds of them, all flavors."

Bennett was a force, and this was arguably his best-selling book. The go-to guy to illustrate this book was cartoonist Carl Rose.

Carl Rose was the cartoonist who drew the 1928 New Yorker magazine cartoon in which the mother tells the child at the dinner table, "It's broccoli, dear." And the kid responds with "I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it." Mr. Rose drew this, Mr. E.B. White supplied the gag line.

Rose was a busy cartoonist, and here's a small sample of a few of the dozens of drawings he did for TRY AND STOP ME. I like his line. It's bold and inky. I'm guessing a crow quill or bowl dip pen. Regardless, it's pretty pliant and Rose is a master. 

The Marx Brothers:

Tennessee Williams:

Kaufman and Hart:

Charles MacArthur and Helen Hayes:

George M. Cohan:

W.C. Fields:

Harold Ross:

Heywood Braun:

Alexander Woolcott:

- This originally appeared on January 5, 2015.

Dick Buchanan's Cartoon File: Funny Vintage Magazine Gag Cartoons 1946 - 1963

Dick Buchanan, whose trove of great old gag cartoons has been featured here before, has some of what he calls his "funny ones:" sixteen magazine cartoons that were just funny to him.

Here's Dick: 

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Greetings once more from Greenwich Village. As chance would have it, while cleaning up after the holidays, I found a folder marked “Funny Cartoons” stuffed under the cushions of my couch. I was skeptical, but after leafing through them I found that quite a few pretty funny at that.

Thanks to the miracle of digital technology beyond my understanding, here are some of my favorites from Funny Cartoons.


AL JOHNS. The Saturday Evening Post February 9, 1963



 

HAL HUBBARD. JUDGE June, 1947


 

HARRY MACE. American Magazine. March, 1951


 

BORIS DRUCKER. Drucker’s cartoons began appearing in major magazines in the 1940’s. Collier’s. December 14, 1946




 

JACOBSON. The Saturday Evening Post. June 14, 1947



 

JOHN DEMPSEY. Either you think this cartoon is funny, or you don’t.1000 Jokes Magazine, December,1956-February,1957




 

JOHNNY HART. Hart was a top gag cartoonist before his comic strip B.C. debuted in 1958. American Legion Magazine. July, 1958




 

DAVID LANGDON. Punch stalwart Langdon often contributed to American publications over the years. A clever gag from The Saturday Evening Post. 1950’s.




 

AL KAUFMAN. American Legion Magazine. August,1958




 

GAHAN WILSON. Early Gahan Wilson at his best. Look Magazine. April 16, 1957



 

JOHN GALLAGHER. Colliers. January 7, 1957




 

VAHAN SHIRVANIAN. Shirvanian’s cartoons appeared everywhere from Highlights for Children to Playboy. American Legion Magazine. December, 1958





 

ALI. (ALFRED ISLER) Isler’s cartoons first appeared in the 1930’s. The Saturday Evening Post September 29,1962




 

GARDNER REA. Colliers. March 28, 1953



 

JERRY MARCUS. American Legion Magazine. November, 1958

 

- Edited from a blog entry of February 1, 2017.

BEST CARTOONS OF THE YEAR 1958

Here are just a few cartoons from THE BEST CARTOONS OF THE YEAR 1958 edited by Lawrence Lariar and copyright that same year by him.

 

Below: Al Kaufman's line is precise and to the point. It took me a few seconds, but by his use of blackspotting, I figured out the gag. I always like these "the moment before chaos" sort of gags.

 

The one and only Orlando Busino's take on those then-ubiquitous "Think" signs. The look on the guy's face, his hand casually in his pocket as he effortlessly tosses the sign makes this one a bullseye.

 

 

I believe this is the work of cartoonist Ken Montone. Look at how he handles time. Specifically, in the second panel, the recognition of what's happened vis the girl's bikini really has not set in on the boys' faces. That's how quickly this has occurred.

 

 

Monroe Leung gives us a shocking moment when an innocent boy scout has his traditional values sullied by a member of The Greatest Generation.

 

 

Jack Markow, who reminds us that back in 1958 the important thing to a woman was that her hat was one of a kind.

 

George Wolfe has a gag that relies on you, the reader, knowing about clotheslines of this era. I wonder if, in a few years, when more people realize their dryer is the most energy-sucking home appliance, that hanging up wash will be more status quo -- and this gag will again become cutting edge.

 

 

Al Ross gives us a creepy, almost Addams-ish, psychiatry gag. I love how sketchy the cartoon is.

 

Virgil VIP Partch always delivered a good punch line.

 

Ton Smits is a cartoonist who deserves to be better known in the USA. There is always a philosophic layer to his work.

 

 

Ned Hilton -- another cartoonist with a clear precise line that easily denotes mass and form -- shows us a good gag, and an idea that might really come in handy.

 

 

Bob Tupper with a gag that took me a couple of seconds, with my eyes roaming around the drawing, to get the gag.

 

 

And, last, another great multi-panel Partch cartoon. Somehow, Partch's characters can be dreadful and horrible, but they are still very, very funny.

 

 

All of these cartoons have one thing in common: no gag line full of text. All are visual jokes, and most are technically wordless. Wordless gags are, I believe, the toughest to create, if you are a cartoonist. So, I appreciate all of these more than the ones with words, you bet.

 

A hat tip to my pal, cartoonist John Klossner, who loaned me his copy of the BEST CARTOONS OF 1958. Thanks, John!

- Edited from a blog entry that originally appeared April 24, 2009.

Video: Rick Parker Interview

 

 

Via Terence Dollard:

"Rick Parker discusses his 50-year career in comics, creating his latest book Drafted, and his work on Beavis and Butt Head."

 

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Gag Cartoons 1948 - 1964

Dick Buchanan has delved into his vast collection of magazine cartoons and pulled out some vintage goodies for your edification and, of course, for your laffs. Such a guy!

Thanks and take it away, Dick!

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GAG CARTOONS
(1948 – 1964)

The Cartoon Clip File, housed somewhere in New York’s Greenwich Village (just around the corner from the Old Joke Cemetery) is chock full of gag cartoons from the glorious mid-20th century. Here, for young and old alike, are a few cartoons we recently added to our archives . . .

1. CHARLES STRAUSS. True Magazine October, 1948.

 

2. BOB BARNES. American Magazine August, 1955.

 

3. JEFF KEATE. Collier’s February 16, 1952.

 

4. MARTHA BLANCHARD. Look Magazine December 1, 1964.

 

5. CHARLES RODRIGUES. Cartoons & Gags February, 1962.

 

6. BILL HOEST. Look Magazine June 16, 1964.

7. TON SMITS. Look Magazine March 31, 1959.

 

8. AL ROSS. American Magazine June, 1955.

 

9. LARRY HERMAN. Argosy May, 1964.

 

10. VIRGIL PARTCH. Look Magazine November 3, 1964.

 

11. HENRY BOLTINOFF. This Week Magazine April 1, 1956.

 

12. TOM HUDSON. 1000 Jokes Magazine March – May, 1958.

 

13. IRWIN CAPLAN. This Week Magazine February 17, 1947.

 

14. JOHN DEMPSEY. The Saturday Evening Post November 4, 1961.

 

15. ALEX GRAHAM. Punch February 17, 1954.

 

- Edited from a blog entry that originally appeared on October 28, 2021.