A Treasure Trouvaille

Monday Cartoon Day.

Although he tried to sell his cartoons to many different magazines, Mort Walker only had a couple of regular buyers. The Saturday Evening Post was a well paying one, so he send most if not all of his cartoons there first. But many remained unsold and he had to send them out again and again. In 1950 another great buyer came along, when he sold a bunch of cartoons to the new magazine sized Gags magazine. Gags had been around since the early forties and always had been a braodsheet. I think Walker sold a vouple of cartoons to the old broadsheet version, but I would have to check my files for that. In fact, you can probably do that as well, because my love of Mort's cartoon work means I have always put online any cartoon of his I could find. Anyway, from that first magazine sized issue of Gags down to the last five issues when the name of the magazine was changed to Here!, he was in (almost) every issue with several cartoons. I think I have all of the 1951 an 1952 issues and certainly all of Here! My collection of 1950 issues is less complete, but recently I got another one with 8 new cartoons. Although some of his subjects may be a bit oldfashioned by now, I think all of them (as well as the treasure trove of Saterday Evevning Post cartoon sfolowing it) are funny and very well drawn.

Walking With A Post

Monday Cartoon Day.

The Saturday Evening Post was one of Mort Walkers most frequent and best paying customers. Between 1949 and 1952 he he a cartoon is every other issue, sometimes even more. Some people call them oldfashioned, but I keep marvelling at the beauty and economy of those drawings.

What's In A Name?

Monday Cartoon Day.

Here is another cartoonist who I like more for his signature than his drawing style or gags. Like Fred Wilkinson, Ned Hilton was a run of the mill cartoonist, with a remarkable signature. Easy to spot, or at least easier than his style. He is also one of the few cartoonists from the Collier's/Saturday Evening Post lot that did not get his own newspaper strip. Or at least, not a regular strip. Allan Holtz thinks he is the artist signing Ned Michael on the New York Sunday Post filler strip The Family Upstairs. He reports two samles from 1955 and indeed when I did some research at the New Yrk Public Library last month, I came across some of those in 1955 and 1956. It may have lasted after that, no one knows. Or remembers.