From the Dick Buchanan Files: Favorite 50s Gag Cartoons 1950 - 1959

My friend Dick Buchanan has pulled some of his all-time favorite magazine gag cartoons for you today.  What can I say? He has very good taste. These are all from the post war "golden age" of single panel cartoons. As Dick notes, by the 1960s, a lot of magazines went out of business or cut back in general on their art.

Oh, take a moment to peek at some of his other terrific contributions by clicking a link below. There are a lot of gag cartoons to see!

Thanks and take it away, Dick ....

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FAVORITE FIFTIES GAG CARTOONS



1950 – 1959



Here are some cartoons from the 1950’s,from a few of the cartoonists who were regulars in the major magazines of that era. Some magazines began to fold in the fifties, most notably Liberty and Collier’s--it was the beginning of the end for many other magazines that failed to survive the 1960’s.



Return with us now to the 1950’s . . .



1. JOHN BAILEY. The Saturday Evening Post October 17, 1953.

 

2. CHON DAY. The Saturday Evening Post April 27, 1957.

3. PERRY BARLOW. Look Magazine December 13, 1953.

 

4. DON KOERNER. True Magazine June 1951.

5. GEORGE DAVIS. The Saturday Evening Post March 19, 1955.

6. JOHN ALBANO. The Saturday Evening Post April 27, 1957.

7. HANK KETCHAM. True Magazine June 1951.

8. RAY HELLE. The Saturday Evening Post February 11, 1950.

9. A.S. (Andy) HABBICK. Cavalier February 1958.

10. JOHN GALLAGHER. Collier’s March 4, 1955.

11. GAHAN WILSON. Collier’s August 3, 1956.

12. JOHN DEMPSEY. Look Magazine February 17, 1959.

13. HARRY LYONS. The Saturday Evening Post December 15, 1956.
 

14. NED HILTON. Collier’s December 2, 1950.

15. VIRGIL PARTCH. Collier’s February 11, 1950.  

More gag cartoons from the Dick Buchanan collection:



From the Dich Buchanan Files: Wordless, No-Caption Sight Gag Cartoons 1938 - 1970

Gag Cartoon Clichés Part 1
Gag Cartoon Clichés Part 2
Gag Cartoon Clichés Part 3
Gag Cartoon Clichés Part 4

Gag Cartoon Clichés Part 5

From the Dick Buchanan Files: William Steig Gag Cartoons 1946 - 1965

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Favorite Gag Cartoons 1947 - 1958

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Hank Ketcham Gag Cartoons 1944 – 1952

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Hank Ketcham Roughs

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Holiday and Winter Cartoons 1948 - 1960

Dick Buchanan's Cartoon Files: More Cops and Robbers Gag Cartoons 1947 - 1968

Dick Buchanan's Favorite Gag Cartoons 1946 - 1964

From the Dick Buchanan Files: More 1960s Cartoons from PUNCH

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Virgil Parch Part One; VIP in the 1940s

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Virgil Parch Part Two; VIP in the 1950s

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Even More Color Cartoons 1940 - 1956

From the Dick Buchanan Files: "Captions? Who Needs 'Em?" Wordless Gag Cartoons 1947 – 1970

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Orlando Busino Gag Cartoons 1956 - 1966

From the Dick Buchanan Files: CARTOONYFELLERS’ DIGEST, "a 1955 rag for cartoonists by cartoonists"

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Magazine Cartoons from Life and Judge 1931 - 38

From the Dick Buchanan Files: June 1953 Cartoonist's Market Newsletter

Dick Buchanan's Cartoon File: More Mid-Century Gag Cartoons 1946 - 1964

Dick Buchanan's Cartoon File: Color Gag Cartoons 1946 - 1956

Dick Buchanan's Cartoon Files: Cops and Robbers Gag Cartoons 1945 - 1968

Dick Buchanan's Cartoon Files: Gahan Wilson: Early Gag Cartoons 1954 - 1964

Dick Buchanan's Cartoon File: Inkyfellers' Gagzette

Dick Buchanan's Cartoon File: The Years of Al Ross - 1947 – 1968

Dick Buchanan's Cartoon Files: New Yorker Cartoonists Abroad 1966-1968

Dick Buchanan's Cartoon File: 1945 - 1962

From the Dick Buchanan Files: "How I Create Humor" from 1950s - 60s Gag Cartoon Insider Journal "The Information Guide"

Dick Buchanan's Cartoon File: 1950s Color Magazine Gag Cartoons

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

Dick Buchanan's Cartoon File: Wordless Gag Cartoons 1944-1964

1953 George Booth Drawings for American Legion Magazine

Dick Buchanan: Winter/Christmas/Holiday Gag Cartoons 1940s-60s

Dick Buchanan: Some PUNCH Magazine Cartoons 1948-1963

Dick Buchanan: Gag Cartoon Clip File 1946-64

Dick Buchanan: Gag Cartoon Clip File 1947-62

Dick Buchanan: Some Favorite Magazine Gag Cartoons 1940-60s

Dick Buchanan: Gag Cartoon Clip File 1931-64

 

-- This has been an edited version of an entry from this date in 2018. 

Video Trailer: Star Wars Kid: The Rise of the Digital Shadows | Teaser

 

The "Star Wars Kid" is the focus of this new documentary coming from the National Film Board of Canada.

"In this Mathieu Fournier documentary on the first viral phenomenon of the digital age, Ghyslain Raza (the “Star Wars Kid”) breaks his silence and reflects on his story for the first time. In doing so, he also explores our collective experience living in an online world in which we have to make peace with our digital shadows. 

"Produced by URBANIA In co-production with The National Film Board of Canada 

"Watch March 31 on nfb.ca → https://youtu.be/G5Ytuea36sk"

 

"TYDYT...TYT...TYT" Czech Children's Book Illustrations by Jan Kubicek

Kids' book "TYDYT...TYT...TYT" written by Jan Noha, illustrated by a Czech artist Jan Kubicek (1927-2013). Published by SNDK Praha 1962. I don't own this book, but nicked these photos from eBay.

 

"Jan Kubíček was a Czech painter and graphic designer, and one of the most radical Central European exponents of constructivist and concrete art. He also spent more than a decade illustrating children's books for Czechoslovakia's main publishing house Albatros and designed iconic film posters and book covers throughout the 1960s." - Wikipedia

 

Here are a few of his movie posters.

 

Galerie Miroslava Kubíka

His biography at Terry Posters

Video Interview: New Yorker Cartoonist David Sipress

Bangor Daily News: Bill Woodman, Bangor native and acclaimed New Yorker cartoonist, dies at 85

 

My friend, The New Yorker cartoonist and artist Bill Woodman, who passed away last month at the age of 85, has a feature obituary in the Bangor Daily News. This makes good sense, since Bill's originally from Bangor. Bangor Daily News writer Emily Burnham has found this little animated gem: a short piece that Bill did for Public Television's The Electric Company TV show in the 1970s:

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Can Cartoonists Predict the Future?

Before handing today's blog over to the one and only Dick Buchanan, the owner and curator of The Cartoon Clip File (located somewhere in Greenwich Village), I want remind you that what he's talking about here is just a theory and people who draw silly pictures are not omniscient. A little crazy, but not all-knowing. Here's Dick to explain:

--

Every once in a while, The Cartoon Clip File gets letters. Yep, actual letters that come in an envelope, with a postage stamp. No return address, naturally. Most of these letters come from fellow crackpots. They usually consist of letters of the alphabet cut out of a newspaper or magazine and pasted in on a sheet of paper in a surprisingly artistic fashion. As chance would have it, we stumbled across a few of these letters, each of which insisted, in a rather emphatic manner, that a we left out some important examples of gag cartoons which illustrate cartoonist’s ability to predict the future. So, we have followed their instructions and added their suggestions to the original presentation.

Do we know if cartoonists can predict the future? Of course not, we aren’t even certain there is a future. Nonetheless, take a look at the evidence the Cartoon Clip has unearthed . . . and thanks and a tip of our cap to fellow crackpots, No Name, You Know Who and Fang.
 

TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMY. WALTER GOLDSTEIN. The Saturday Evening Post November 21, 1953. We can’t entirely credit cartoonist Goldstein for this so-called theory, later called Reaganomics—humorist Will Rogers thunk it up.

 

CLOSED CAPTION TELEVISION. GARRETT PRICE. Collier’s June 8, 1946. Although cartoonist Price was on the right track with this idea but we’re still working on the word balloon angle.

 

BIG SCREEN TELEVISION. CLYDE LAMB Argosy April, 1950.
Although Garrett Price covered this one with his Closed-Caption TV, credit also goes to Clyde Lamb who needed a Big Screen TV to make his gag work.

 

WORKING FROM HOME. JERRY MARCUS. The Saturday Evening Post November 6, 1954. A dream of many but it took cartoonist Marcus to give us a glimpse of what working from home might look like.

 

GUARANTEED ANNUAL INCOME. J. G. FARRIS. Collier’s October 28, 1955. It was Joseph Farris’ baby boomer who introduced this idea, now experimental some places.

 

Video: Society of Illustrators: Making Graphic Adaptations: From Text to Comics

The Society of Illustrators has posted its video from the "Making Graphic Adaptations: From Text to Comics" Zoom panel event that was presented live on Thursday, March 3, 2022.

A panel of graphic novelists discuss the challenges and rewards of taking literary prose and transforming it into comics. This slideshow presentation and discussion features an eclectic group of cartoonists who’ve written and/or illustrated new versions of Little Women, Kindred, A Wrinkle in Time, Slaughterhouse-Five, and more.  This event is part of Will Eisner Week, and Eisner’s many literary adaptations are the inspiration for this panel.  With Bre Indigo, John Jennings, Hope Larson, and Ryan North.

Moderated by R. Sikoryak.

Video : Leigh Rubin Interview

Via Rodger Nichols:

"Leigh Rubin is a cartoonist, whose single-panel cartoons appear in more than 400 newspapers worldwide. In his career, he has created more than 14,000 cartoons and he's picked 300 of the best for his new book, Rubes: Twisted Pop Culture. We interviewed him in February, 2022. You can order a copy of the book directly from the publisher."

 

Cartoons from WIT FROM OVERSEAS Edited by Roy H. Hoopes, Jr.

  

WIT FROM OVERSEAS, a collection of wit (cartoons and prose) from various foreign periodicals. It's edited by Roy H. Hoopes, Jr. and is (I swear to goodness) copyright: 1950, 1951, 1952 by Farm Journal, Inc.; 1952 by Hulton Press, Ltd.; 1950, 1951 by The Elite Publishing Corp.; 1950, 1951, 1952 by Bradbury, Agnew, Ltd.; 1953 by Roy H. Hoopes, Jr. Whew!



I don't know the work of most of these cartoonists, so please excuse my ignorance. I'd love to hear from someone who may know more about them.

Above: I love the old robots: all boxy, with knobs and gears and sometimes an old fashioned lightbulb for a nose. The cartoonist added that great big wind-up mechanism in back and it just is a wonderful gag. The smug reaction on the bearded scientist tells you that the poor robot is right.


Above: the drawing makes the gag. Click to really supersize the cartoon. Look at that detail! Look at all that patience to get it all looking right.



The above cartoon COULD be the way it all works. Maybe there's this WHITE CONCRETE, y'know? I recall an episode of the 1970s British comedy series THE GOODIES wherein one of the guys is making an old time black and white movie, and the gag is that he truly believes that he must paint everything within camera range with either black or white paint.


 

Above: you get a great feel for the space in the compartment. Yeah, it's a potty joke -- but one that's clever, and, international -- since it's wordless.

Above: Just look at the cartoonist's command of perspective and excellent reference. And this was before Google images!


Above: a creepy one that would spook me if I saw it when I was a tot.


Above: some gorgeous work by a Mexican cartoonist. If anyone knows who the cartoonist is, please drop a line. Note to Mr. Hoopes: this wit is not from overseas, since Mexico is part of the North American landmass.



Above: a silly and twisted little cartoon. Who knew that umbrellas were so prim and proper!


Chaval is a name that I see a lot -- but I know nothing of the human being behind the pen. His bold, wordless gags work so well because they're all rooted in human behavior. Not necessarily the kind of behavior that would win you a merit badge, but human behavior nonetheless.


Above: the cartoonist Wiles (?) puts together this grand vertical composition with exacting precision.


It's the appearance of that one high heel -- and leaving their view to the imagination -- that makes this one so successful.



Above: a silly gag, but one full of good drawing: the watery squiggles, the spritzing leak, the Commander in full Napoleon pose.



Not only that, the divan looks like it's floating! An eerie cartoon that smacked of Edward Gorey or William Steig.



Above: life before the Internet. A sharply drawn cartoon by Starke, whose work I've seen in some other UK collections.


Above: another great silent gag, with just enough detail for you to see what's going on.



Chaval with another winner. Are there really big trucks, lugging wine all over France?



Above: a silly cartoon by some youngster named Ronald Searle!

 

-- This has been an edited version of a March 11, 2008 blog entry. 

Richard Gordon (Dick) Guindon 1935 - 2022

 

Cartoonist Richard "Dick" Guindon passed away on February 27, 2022. He was 86.

Born in Minnesota, Dick Guindon graduated from the University of Minnesota and moved to NYC. It was during the 1960s that his cartoons began appearing in The Nation, Esquire, Playboy, Down Beat and Paul Krassner's The Realist. His cartoons for The Realist satirized political and social attitudes of the time.

He returned to the Midwest, and began working for the Detroit Free Press. He began his panel, "Guindon," in 1974 for the Minneapolis Tribune. It was later nationally syndicated. 

"In May 1984, he made an appearance on The Tonight Show. He had a three-month art exhibition, "Richard Guindon, 1981–1984", at the Flint Institute of Arts from March 10 to May 26, 1985. That same year, he took an extended vacation, continuing to draw his cartoons while driving around Europe.

" ... When he returned to the United States, he moved to Traverse City, Michigan in March 1986, and the following August he set up his studio in the Masonic Hall building in downtown Traverse City with a third-floor view of Grand Traverse Bay. Eight months later, the historic four-story building was destroyed by fire. 'I've lost 30-some years of work,' said Guindon. 'It's funny this building should wait 97 years for me to move into it before burning. It really hasn't hit me yet. I think tomorrow is going to be a very grim day.' More than 5,000 cartoons and sketches burned in the April 1987 fire, but a few weeks later Guindon learned that Irv Letofsky, Sunday editor of the Los Angeles Times 'Calendar' section, had saved a copy of every Guindon cartoon syndicated over a decade."

"In 1988, Guindon broke out of the single-panel mold and began a multi-panel comic strip, The Carp Chronicles, commenting, 'Nothing ever works out in Carp City. I don't know why. They're very nice people. It's not a pretty story, but it has to be told.'" -- Wikipedia

He retired in 2005.

 

Related:

Jim Keefe

Detroit Free Press 

Daily Cartoonist

Society of Illustrators: Making Graphic Adaptations: From Text to Comics Thursday, March 3 7pmEST

 

A panel of graphic novelists discuss the challenges and rewards of taking literary prose and transforming it into comics. This slideshow presentation and discussion features an eclectic group of cartoonists who’ve written and/or illustrated new versions of Little Women, Kindred, A Wrinkle in Time, Slaughterhouse-Five, and more.  This event is part of Will Eisner Week, and Eisner’s many literary adaptations are the inspiration for this panel.  With Bre Indigo, John Jennings, Hope Larson, and Ryan North.

Moderated by R. Sikoryak.

Free with registration.

More here.