The Most was a shortlived cartoon digest from Toby. Jack Mendelsohn was the editor and apart from selecting the material and sometimes writing new captions because the old ones were so bad, he also contributed some gags and pages of his own. I have already shown that he was doing Mad-like stuff long before everyone (in 1000 Jokes) and here again he strike a satirical tone (only just before he was asked to write for EC's own Mad knock-off Panic).
Showing posts with label Jack Mendelsohn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jack Mendelsohn. Show all posts
Thursday, June 08, 2017
Mad As A Nutter
Saturday Leftover Day.
The Most was a shortlived cartoon digest from Toby. Jack Mendelsohn was the editor and apart from selecting the material and sometimes writing new captions because the old ones were so bad, he also contributed some gags and pages of his own. I have already shown that he was doing Mad-like stuff long before everyone (in 1000 Jokes) and here again he strike a satirical tone (only just before he was asked to write for EC's own Mad knock-off Panic).
The Most was a shortlived cartoon digest from Toby. Jack Mendelsohn was the editor and apart from selecting the material and sometimes writing new captions because the old ones were so bad, he also contributed some gags and pages of his own. I have already shown that he was doing Mad-like stuff long before everyone (in 1000 Jokes) and here again he strike a satirical tone (only just before he was asked to write for EC's own Mad knock-off Panic).
Monday, January 02, 2017
A Laugh A Day
Saturday Leftover Day.
In my ungoing struggle to clean up my office I have started selling my issues of 1000 Jokes on Ebay. The first (earliest) lot just finished, but the most interesting lot (in my few) of the middle years are still going now at http://www.ebay.com/sch/gerapeldoorn/m.html?item=152370725886&ssPageName=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562. These issues contain the work of artists such as Hank Ketcham, Jack Mendelsohn, Salo and the magnicisent Al Ross. In 1950 and 1951 Mort Walker was the editor and did a lot of text pieces, some of which I have shown. In preparation for the sale I went through them one last time to see what I had and hadn't scanned and I found a couple of text pieces I had accidentilly skipped and some of his cartoons from later issues. For Mad collectors there is a special treat as well. A lot of the late forties issues have Mad type articles from Chas. Straus and Jack Mendelsohn (who later wrote for EC's Feldstein edited Panic as well as Mad). Later issues will be added in a couple of days and anything unsold will be relisted. Also keep an eye out for the work of Don Calhoun. If you don't know him, follow the link and be prepared to be suprised.
In my ungoing struggle to clean up my office I have started selling my issues of 1000 Jokes on Ebay. The first (earliest) lot just finished, but the most interesting lot (in my few) of the middle years are still going now at http://www.ebay.com/sch/gerapeldoorn/m.html?item=152370725886&ssPageName=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562. These issues contain the work of artists such as Hank Ketcham, Jack Mendelsohn, Salo and the magnicisent Al Ross. In 1950 and 1951 Mort Walker was the editor and did a lot of text pieces, some of which I have shown. In preparation for the sale I went through them one last time to see what I had and hadn't scanned and I found a couple of text pieces I had accidentilly skipped and some of his cartoons from later issues. For Mad collectors there is a special treat as well. A lot of the late forties issues have Mad type articles from Chas. Straus and Jack Mendelsohn (who later wrote for EC's Feldstein edited Panic as well as Mad). Later issues will be added in a couple of days and anything unsold will be relisted. Also keep an eye out for the work of Don Calhoun. If you don't know him, follow the link and be prepared to be suprised.
Monday, December 19, 2016
The Precursors Of Mad, part one
Monday Cartoon Day.
Apart from a prolific writer of many humor and satire titles, cartoons and his own newspaper strip Jacky's Diary, Jack Mendelsohn also was a pretty good cartoonist. Most of his work in that field he did in the late forties and early fifties, much of it for Dell's 1000 Jokes magazine. Since I am about to sell my collection of those magazines, I checked to see what I had not yet shared with you and apart from a couple of random cartoons here and there, I found quite a few that seemed unknown. What makes these cartoons so special is that fact that Jack Mendelsohn seems to have been doing Mad type humor long before he became a Mad writer. Now, if we talk about Mad, we have of course to treat it as two separate magazines. There is the comic book Mad, created by Harvey Kurtzman, which had a successful run of 23 issues and influenced a lot of artists and humorists. After that, Harvey Kurtzman himself did five issues of the magazine version of Mad, which had a look and content all of their own. In fact, under Kurtzman it was more of a magazine parody than it would ever be after he left. With #29, Al Feldstein became the main editor and he proceeded pretty quickly in turning MAd into the magazine most of us know - and a huge succes. The comic book Mad had a different sort of humor. All of it was channeled into the form of comic book stories, magnificently executed by Wallace Wood, Jack Davis and Bill Elder. The Feldstein magazine had funny articles, illustrated by America's Maddest artists. Under Feldstein many funny formats were introduced and usually turned into regular series. It is those types of humor (often in the 'statement and samples'-format) that we see with Jack Mendelsohn's contributions to 1000 Jokes in the late forties. Many writers have said that Feldstein's Mad was influenced by the humor magazines of the thirties. And indeed, there is a similarity to the photo illustrated ad spoofs, for instance. But the articles Jack Mendelsohn did seem a much more direct link. Makes you wonder why or how Mendelsohn (who had written for Feldsteins official Mad imitation Panic) wasn't included in the first few years of Feldstein's Mad magazine.
By the way, Mendelsohn wasn't the only one doing these sort of Mad precursors articles in 1000 Jokes. Chas. Straus did quite a few of them as well, including spreads of scenes with lots of action in it. Mort Walker, who was the editor of 1000 Jokes in 1949/50 and included a lot of that sort of articles in his issues (although the already appeared before he was an editor as well), drew similar stuff when he was the editor of The Missouri Show Me, but none for 1000 Jokes.
All of these pages are not included in my book on Mad magazine imitations, because they fell outside of the purview of Behaving Madly and frankly, I needed the space for the other articles. But if you like this sort of thing, check out the book using the link to your right. It will come out shortly and I am very proud of it.
Apart from a prolific writer of many humor and satire titles, cartoons and his own newspaper strip Jacky's Diary, Jack Mendelsohn also was a pretty good cartoonist. Most of his work in that field he did in the late forties and early fifties, much of it for Dell's 1000 Jokes magazine. Since I am about to sell my collection of those magazines, I checked to see what I had not yet shared with you and apart from a couple of random cartoons here and there, I found quite a few that seemed unknown. What makes these cartoons so special is that fact that Jack Mendelsohn seems to have been doing Mad type humor long before he became a Mad writer. Now, if we talk about Mad, we have of course to treat it as two separate magazines. There is the comic book Mad, created by Harvey Kurtzman, which had a successful run of 23 issues and influenced a lot of artists and humorists. After that, Harvey Kurtzman himself did five issues of the magazine version of Mad, which had a look and content all of their own. In fact, under Kurtzman it was more of a magazine parody than it would ever be after he left. With #29, Al Feldstein became the main editor and he proceeded pretty quickly in turning MAd into the magazine most of us know - and a huge succes. The comic book Mad had a different sort of humor. All of it was channeled into the form of comic book stories, magnificently executed by Wallace Wood, Jack Davis and Bill Elder. The Feldstein magazine had funny articles, illustrated by America's Maddest artists. Under Feldstein many funny formats were introduced and usually turned into regular series. It is those types of humor (often in the 'statement and samples'-format) that we see with Jack Mendelsohn's contributions to 1000 Jokes in the late forties. Many writers have said that Feldstein's Mad was influenced by the humor magazines of the thirties. And indeed, there is a similarity to the photo illustrated ad spoofs, for instance. But the articles Jack Mendelsohn did seem a much more direct link. Makes you wonder why or how Mendelsohn (who had written for Feldsteins official Mad imitation Panic) wasn't included in the first few years of Feldstein's Mad magazine.
By the way, Mendelsohn wasn't the only one doing these sort of Mad precursors articles in 1000 Jokes. Chas. Straus did quite a few of them as well, including spreads of scenes with lots of action in it. Mort Walker, who was the editor of 1000 Jokes in 1949/50 and included a lot of that sort of articles in his issues (although the already appeared before he was an editor as well), drew similar stuff when he was the editor of The Missouri Show Me, but none for 1000 Jokes.
All of these pages are not included in my book on Mad magazine imitations, because they fell outside of the purview of Behaving Madly and frankly, I needed the space for the other articles. But if you like this sort of thing, check out the book using the link to your right. It will come out shortly and I am very proud of it.
Monday, October 03, 2016
More Than Just Gags
Monday Cartoon Day.
Last week I shared a couple of unseen Mort Walker illustrations from 1000 Jokes. Here are some cartoons of some of my favorite artists from the same Summer 1949 issue and another one.
It includes two more of Don Calhoun's cartoon features, which I think I didn't show before. Calhoun was a very capable cartoonist who went in to advertising (and even wrote a couple of scandalous novels about that. Last time I showed some of his work a relative of his informed me his was in his nineties and still alive. If he is still with us, he would be nearing 100. What is so remarkable about his work is the fact that working in the 'modern' style in the late forties he sometimes seems to resemble Jules Feiffer, about ten year before he developed his satirical style.
Also included are two spreads that seem to go beyond the mere single cartoon format as well. Although some people point to the humor magazines like Hullaballoo in the thirties as precursors to the later Mad magazine, no where the spirit of the later Mad (even more Feldstein's than Kurtzman's) is found in 1000 Jokes in the late forties. With big spreads, conceptual features and stuff like this. Funny to see that some of these were produced under Mort Walker, who had already shown an aptitude for new formats in his college humor magazine Showme.
Closing off is a cartoon by another later Panic and Lunatickle writer, Jack Mendelsohn.
Last week I shared a couple of unseen Mort Walker illustrations from 1000 Jokes. Here are some cartoons of some of my favorite artists from the same Summer 1949 issue and another one.
It includes two more of Don Calhoun's cartoon features, which I think I didn't show before. Calhoun was a very capable cartoonist who went in to advertising (and even wrote a couple of scandalous novels about that. Last time I showed some of his work a relative of his informed me his was in his nineties and still alive. If he is still with us, he would be nearing 100. What is so remarkable about his work is the fact that working in the 'modern' style in the late forties he sometimes seems to resemble Jules Feiffer, about ten year before he developed his satirical style.
Also included are two spreads that seem to go beyond the mere single cartoon format as well. Although some people point to the humor magazines like Hullaballoo in the thirties as precursors to the later Mad magazine, no where the spirit of the later Mad (even more Feldstein's than Kurtzman's) is found in 1000 Jokes in the late forties. With big spreads, conceptual features and stuff like this. Funny to see that some of these were produced under Mort Walker, who had already shown an aptitude for new formats in his college humor magazine Showme.
Closing off is a cartoon by another later Panic and Lunatickle writer, Jack Mendelsohn.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Monday Cartoon Day.
Despite the fact that American Legion was an ultra rightwing magazine aimed at WWII veterans, which seemed to pave the way to the repressive McCarthyism of the fifties, I really love going through their monthly magazines in from 1948 to 1952, since they used many of my favorite cartoonists. Including quite a few liberal New York Jews, who didn't mind where they were published as long as it paid. Or at least,m that's what Jack Mendelsohn told me. In this lot you'll find Hank Ketcham, Dave Garard, Reamer Keller, Henry Boltinoff, Jack Mendelsohn and Disney gag writer Roy Williams. As a bonus there is an early cartoon journalism sample by Michael Berry (who did more of this sort of thematic spreads in the fifties, long before 'comic journalism' became a thing) and a full page illustrated feature by Otto Soglow. The only one missing is Mort Walker and that is because I have already shown all of his contributions.
Despite the fact that American Legion was an ultra rightwing magazine aimed at WWII veterans, which seemed to pave the way to the repressive McCarthyism of the fifties, I really love going through their monthly magazines in from 1948 to 1952, since they used many of my favorite cartoonists. Including quite a few liberal New York Jews, who didn't mind where they were published as long as it paid. Or at least,m that's what Jack Mendelsohn told me. In this lot you'll find Hank Ketcham, Dave Garard, Reamer Keller, Henry Boltinoff, Jack Mendelsohn and Disney gag writer Roy Williams. As a bonus there is an early cartoon journalism sample by Michael Berry (who did more of this sort of thematic spreads in the fifties, long before 'comic journalism' became a thing) and a full page illustrated feature by Otto Soglow. The only one missing is Mort Walker and that is because I have already shown all of his contributions.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Pre Mole
I have been slowly scanning all of my pretty large collection Sunday Jacky's Diary strips by Jack Mendelsohn. This delightful and funny strip from the late fifties and early sixties is a prime example of what I love about the comedy and newspaper strips of that period. It is intelligent, welldrawn and satirical in the oldfashioned sense of the word - pointing out negatives and discrepensies in the world around us without tearing it down. Today we often sperate the negative and the positive, but these guys knew how to combine it.
Anyway, I shouldn't have bothered, because Craig Yoe prouced a beautiful reprinting of all the Sunday strips with the help of Mr. Mendelsohn, who is still with us and runs a very informative website about his career. As usual, Craig has added an opening article that tells you all you need to know about Jack Mendelsohn and his career and I highly recommend it, as I do all of Craigs books. You can buy it at Amazon for under $30.
Monday, February 06, 2012
Mendelsohn's First
Tuesday Comic Strip Day.
As long as we are doing Jack Mendelsohn, here are some more scans of Jacky's Diary. I still have some more to do, but these will help tide you over. I have added whatever I have of the first year from previous posts. Some of the missing dates I have in black and white, but you will have to follow the tag for those. This post is just the color ones I scanned myself. Some more info about this strip and Jack Mendelsohn can be found there as wel.
Tuesday Comic Strip Day.
As long as we are doing Jack Mendelsohn, here are some more scans of Jacky's Diary. I still have some more to do, but these will help tide you over. I have added whatever I have of the first year from previous posts. Some of the missing dates I have in black and white, but you will have to follow the tag for those. This post is just the color ones I scanned myself. Some more info about this strip and Jack Mendelsohn can be found there as wel.
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