Friday, November 16, 2007

First (?!) PLAYBOY Cartoon to be Auctioned


"Jeannie -- what's the past tense of 'virgin'?"

Hugh Hefner, via Heritage Galleries & Auctioneers, will be auctioning a cartoon from PLAYBOY #1. The cartoon, reproduced above, is by Ben Denison. Click to get a huge, giant size.

From the press release:

"It's impossible to overstate the importance of Playboy magazine to the modern cartoon field," says Ed Jaster, Heritage Auctions Vice President, "and Ben Denison's was the very first cartoon commissioned and published by Hefner in the pages of Playboy #1, the December 1953 debut often dubbed the 'Marilyn Monroe issue.' This was the cartoon that set the stage for all that followed, and as such, it holds a hallowed place both in Playboy lore and cartoon history."
Thanks to Tom Spurgeon at Comics Reporter!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

If you go to the actual auction site linked in the article you linked to, they state it a bit more carefully.
I read the Heritage Auction site as saying that the cartoon was published on page nine of the debut issue, and so, sequentially, it is the first Playboy cartoon.
Am I reading that right?

Mark Anderson said...

WOW. And a great cartoon too. MARK NEED MONEY! BUY CARTOON!!! RARGH!

DON CRESCI CARTOONS said...

Mike, The first PLAYBOY cartoon. What agreat gagline!

Mike Lynch said...

D.D., I agree with your careful reading. I wonder what an original Jack Cole would go for? Or are those in Mr. Hefner's possession?