The Original Grinder

Friday Little Bit Extra.

Before Mort Walker created Beetle Bailey, he did cartoons. Between 1946 and 1952 he drew about 3500 cartoons and sold half of them. WE know that, because the Walker family kept his records and I have (confidential) copies of them. I like Mort Walker's cartoons. They are sometimes a bit dated, but always funny. Even the unsold ones. In many cases, I can't see the difference in quality.

I got in touch with the Walker family (and Mort) because I have been putting his cartoons on this blog from day one. And one day I hope to have every one of his cartoons here. From the records we can see he tried to sell his cartoons to the biggest and best paying magazines first. The Saturday Evening Post and Collier's bought a lot, others less. After that, he repackaged them and offered them to leeser paying but more inclined to bulk buying magazines such as 1000 Jokes and Gags. I have quietly collect many of those 1949-1952 monthly Gags magazines and found three to four in each issue. Still, I haven't yet got all of them. I am especially low on issues from 1950 and 1949. Last month I bought three magazine, one from 1950 I already have, one I didn't yet have and one from 1949 that was new to me. The 1949 one did not have any Mort Walker cartoons, but the May 1950 one had three. You will see them below.

I also went throough Morts ledgers, where he kept a description of every (numebered) cartoon and some notes. And after some leaving and squinting, I found all three of them. So here it is: an exclusive look into the accountancy of Mort Walker. In the order in which they appeared.

This one was in Mort's ledger as #1354: 'won't resemble either'. It was sold to Gags on January 12 1949, so it took more than a year to get published. The next number, by the way, #1355 is titles: 'who does he resemble' so there must have been some inspiration going on. It is noted as being sold to WSW, without a date. I would say that is Woman's Weekly if such a magazine exists. If not, I am open to suggestions.

The second one is noted as #1514: 'chocolate base' and was also sold January the 12th. Possibly of the same year although this one was first offered to RWR, another unknown magazine. Number 1513: 'So or (?) telling story' was first offered to NRD and finally sold on May 25th to Gags. I should go through my collection to see which one that could be.

The third one is #1509: 'you order this' and was also sold to Gags on January 12th. Number 1508 was called 'parrot + palmist (?)', and offered to AS, but probably unsold.

Although Mort's ledgers run well in 1951, he decided in 1949 that he needed to get out of the cartooning game if he wanted to earn some real money. He has always told the story that he saw he made the list of best selling cartoonists and when he proudly told his wife she told him": "Well, if that is what the best selling cartoonist earns, you should find another job." In 1950 Beetle Bailey started and four years later he sold his last cartoon.

Among the copies of Mort's papers is also the list of 'best selling artists' he mentions. It's not exactly what he remebered it was, but it supports the story at least partly.

Hello, Mr. Wilson!

Monday Cartoon Day.

There are many interesting Wilons to collect if you are into cartooning. Gahan Wilson, the Playboy and National Lampoon artist, S. Clay Wilson, the underground cartoonist and Rowland Wilson, who rose to fame with his beautifully illustrated cartoons for Wsquire and Playboy and went on to become an important animation designer at Disney. The last Wilson started out at the Texas Ranger, the college magazine of the University of Texas in Austin. I came across some of his work from that magazine when it was reprinted in 1000 Jokes in 1952 - which was edited by another Texas Ranger Alumni, Bill Yates. His earliest work is funny but derivitive - although it sometimes shows the character humor that would later become his staple. In Esquire and Playboy, he was never one to go for the big gag. His forte was a sly remark accompanied with a beautiful llustration. Click on the link to see some of those.

Cream of Ream

Monday Cartoon Day.

Last week I shared a lot of cartoons by Reamer Keller. They were only a fraction of what I have scanned (from all three decades of his work). Today I have a few of his earliest cartoons, in the more stodgy style he started out with. To fully appreciate it, scroll down to the color cartoons from the fifties later on.

Sketcham

Monday Cartoon Day.

For a short period in the late forties Hank Ketcham tried something different. He starts selling gags that seem to have been deliberately unfinished. Maybe it was his own idea, or maybe the editor in question (which may very well have been Mort Walker, who was on the masthead of the issue they were used in) decided that this would be more fun. They may not be his best of most recognizable work, but they do give a good look into his process.

Funny Because It Says So

Monday Cartoon Day.

Last week I showed a set of cartoon from Henry Boltinoff for Gags magazines, one of his biggest accounts. He sold to other magazines as well, but never that often or that many. Here are some cartoons he did for 1000 Jokes (Gags' main competitor and probably inspiration).

Slapschtick

Monday Cartoon Day.

When I was selling my 1000 Jokes magazines a month ago, I quickly scanned all the cartoons from my favorite artists. One of those was Bill Holman of Smokey Stover fame. Before that he did a lot of cartoons for various magazines, including these. He was very succesful, too. Sometimes he had ten cartoons in one issue.