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.

The Littlest Don

Wednesday Illustration Day.

Here's one I am proud of. In the last couple of years I have shared everything I could find of the work of Don Colhoun, a forgotten figure in American Cartooning. Most if it seems to have appeared in a magazine called 1000 Jokes in the late forties. He seems to have produced only serial gags, that is: gags that use more than one image to tell a story, usually with text underneath. What makes these gags so unique is how singular and accomplished his UPC inspired style was and how much it resembles the later work of Jules Feiffer. One of his contributions shares more with Feiffer than just the style, though. The Little President was published in the same period and predates the similarly themed Monroe by Jules Feiffer by ten years. In The Little President a little boy gets elevated to the highest seat in government. In Monroe a little boy gets drafted and is made a soldier. Now I am not saying Jules Feiffer took something from Calhoun, or even saw it. I don't believe in labeling things in such a way. Stan Lee often gets a bad rap for doing formats that others have pioneered and I don't agree with that either. Point is, certain themes may be 'in the air', as we say in Dutch, or sometimes people look at something else and both make the same leap from that. But I do think that this book should be noticed, so I am representing it here completely.

Don Calhoun went into advertising and became a successful executive at one of the major ad agencies. When he retired he even wrote a satirical novel about his experiences. He sounds like an interesting man.... who may still be with us. When I first posted some of his material one of his relatives contacted me to say he was in his late nineties and still very much alive. After that I never had contact with them again and if Mr. Calhoun is still around, he will now be over a hundred years old. I would love to know more about him.

For the other samples of his cartooning, follow the link.

More after the book.

While searching for more information about Don Calhoun, I found this, confirming his death in 2012. 

Obituary: Donald Gilmore Calhoun, 98, ad man, author, former resident

Donald Gilmore Calhoun, author, artist and ad man, died on Monday, Nov. 19, in Burlington, Vt., at the age of 98. While serving as an ensign in the Navy in World War II, he wrote and published “The Little President” and “Dear Kids.” After the war he worked for McCann Erickson (Interpublic) as head of their creative department and then as a partner with “Jack Tinker and Partners.” While living in New Canaan and commuting to New York, he took time off to write two comedic novels: “Dando Shaft” (1965) and “Is There Life After Advertising?” (1974). He is survived by his children, John Calhoun, Steve Calhoun, Faith Gordon, his sister Judy Schurman and his grandchildren Chris Calhoun and Alisha Gordon.

I did not know he wrote another cartoon book, which I will now look for.

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.

Pre-Modern

Saturday Leftover Day.

When I shared a couple of new Don Calhoun cartoons a couple of weeks ago, I knew I was missing one. I finally ran across it, misfiled under another name. Like the others (which I am including here) I marvel at the early 'modern' style, simialr to the work of Jules Feiffer, but many years earlier. I have also added the head of the Friday magazine's letter's page from the same issue I shared an illustrated feature last Friday. This one is even earlier and shows a similar style. Probably not by Calhoun, but it did remind me of his work.

Don In Another One

Monday Cartoon Day.

Over the years I have shared some of the cartoon work done in the forties by Don Calhoun. He drew in an UPC influenced style quite similar to that of Jules Feiffer ten years later. Looking in to his life, I found that he had worked in advertising, reaching a high position at the McCann agency and ended up writing a satirical novel about the advertising bussiness. He also did a piece for Look magazine in 1946 about a kid running the country, which makes the comparison to Jules Feiffer (who broke through as a cartoonist with a story about a boy being trated as a normal army conscript in Munro) all th emore to the point. I have found a couple more cartoons by Calhoun and that seemed to be it, but now I have yet another two pager from 1000 Jokes. Showing his skill as a writer as well as an artist, it is a nice addition to an the work of an otherwise unknown cartoonist. I did however also finds two pages of a longre article on McCann from a magazine calle dSponsor, one with a photo of Calhoun and one with some more information about his position at McCann's. When I showed his material the first time, I was contacted by a family member, who told m ehe was still alive and approaching 100. Chances are that he is no longer with us now, but I would love to hear about it.

American Plenty

Monday Cartoon Day.

I showed some of Don Calhoun's work a couple of years ago, because I found it so similar to the later work of Jules Feiffer. At that time I was contacted by John Calhoun, which I suspect is ither his son or his grandson. I did not notice that comment at the time and have tried to reach John again. Anyway, here are two more cartoons that I suspect are from Don Calhoun as well. He was never a full time cartoonist, and ended up in advertising. If you want to know more about what I found out, you can follow the link.

Novel Staring

Saturday Leftover Day.


While scanning some stuff from late forties issues of Dell's 1000 Jokes magazine for later use, I came across this gem. This must be one of the earliest UPC infuenced cartoons I have ever seen. This is the type of style (and subject for that matter) cartoonists such as Gene Deitch and Jules Feiffer would be using five to ten years later. Unfortunately, the cartoonist Don Calhoun is completely unknown to me. There is no record of him, other than the fact that he drew another (maybe similar) piece for Look magazine in 1946. The vender selling that issue (for a whopping $30, alas) describes it as: "Cartoonist Don Calhoun shows American as run by a baby Michael". Even more of a coincidence that Feiffer would become famous with his cartoon about a boy being drafted into the army.

So I went onto the nternet to try and find more about this cartoonist and I did. But first the article from 1000 Jokes.



It seems Donald Gilmore Calhoun worked in advertising. Now this may have been know by some of you, but it took me a long time to find out. First I had a look for the period Calhoun's 'article' in Look appeared. I quickly found that it was based on a book he did, called The Little President. Here is a sample I found in one newspaper and a review that ran in several. It seems like one of those forgotten precursors of the graphi nove, that keep popping up from time to time.




After that I tried to find out more about the book and if Calhoun might have written more. It turned out the book was still available through Amazon from several sellers and that also gave me his full name and the information that he wrote two more books: Dando Shaft from 1965 and Is There Life After Advertising? from 1974. The latter made me conclude that Calhoun must have worked in advertising, which isn't weird with a style like his. Amazon also had three reader reviews from his now unavailable 1965 book Dando Shaft. Again, t sounds like th sort of clever satirical stuff we have seen above and his other work (as well as the fact that he was in advertising) would make us expect. It seems this was a striaght novel, not a 'graphic' one.

This review from: Dando Shaft (Paperback)
I read this book in the 70s and really enjoyed it. The author is very clever with his unbelievable character development and interaction. I am very sorry it is presently out of print. I had loaned it to several friends and somehow didn't get it back.

This review from: Dando Shaft (Paperback)
This book is about a man that comes up with the scheme to make himself 'Everybody's Millionaire'. Some of the exploits are just hilarious, for instance, the time he climbs upon the top of a car to scare the occupants but he waits until the car is moving then pulls himself to look down through the windshield and the driver slams on the brakes and Dando goes tumbling over the hood to the pavement.

This review from: Dando Shaft (Paperback)
While this book is out of print and dated it had some of the funniest scenarios I have ever read in a book. One example dealt with the account supervisor who resented the owner's son position in the agency. The son had just purchased a new homburg hat and was quite proud of it. The account supervisor bought the same hat in a size smaller and one a size larger and would then periodically switch the hats. There is also an on-going tale of the account supervisor and a woman he sits next to on the train every day during his commute to work. It ends in the most hilarious scene immaginable. This is a light-hearted book that anyone who has ever had anything to do with advertising will find totally enjoyable.

Further searches in the internet didn't yield a lot except for the fact that in 1971 a UK folk band named themselves after Calhoun's "comic novel" hero. But no name of an ad agency he worked for or (animated) commercials he may have worked on.