Sunday, March 02, 2008

1963 CARTOON CLASSICS Pamphlet


CARTOON CLASSICS ("SPREAD JOY, GET GAY! OVER 200 LAFFS") is a 5 1/4" x 4" 50 page pamphlet, with 2 staples as binding. This item, which I got as part of a larger lot thru eBay, was stamped with a 50 cents price at the top. The space on the bottom, the right size to stamp a name and address, is a hint that this was meant as a gift from one businessman to another.


There are no credits, except for a notation on the bottom of the back page: NO. LL-3 COPYRIGHT1963. Most of the book is like this: a few bawdy, not particularly clever comments like a guy would say to another guy in a tavern, and then, a gag cartoon.

Some of the cartoons are clever and risque; all in the Playboy vein. Some are well drawn.


Other cartoons, like the one above, lack the polish of a professional cartoonist. And the gags are off.

The Chinese lanterns and crepe twists, wispily drawn above the door, almost as an afterthought, lead me to believe that this is a costume party and knight is a guy in a costume who retrofitted a tub spout onto his armor. A respectable gag. But it was hard to make it clear; the cartoon didn't "read" in the requisite couple of seconds, at least, not for me.



Above: another old joke, but deftly handled. And this is the pattern: some good drawings, some not so good drawings. A real mixed bag. Like most of the cartoons in the pamphlet, it is unsigned.



The shape of the lady of the evening is lost in the background black spotting. Nevertheless, a provocative gag.


The above cartoon seems well done; good composition, excellent detail, with a swift, easy line of someone who's comfortable with their ink line. It too is unsigned.


Above: some nice work, but the cartoonist has hidden all of the hands except for one thumb (hers). A lot of beginners will try to hide hands rather than show them.


Above: a simple gag, but once again, out of a possible 4 hands, only one is drawn.


The overworked liney background is competing with the figures and blurring the cartoon's impact.


Above: a body function cartoon that is more gross than funny.



Above: a badly drawn cartoon with some poor proportions on the man and a woman whose reaction is obscured because her head is too small.


Above: another oddly drawn cartoon. The woman looks like she is from a different cartoonist than the man. Perhaps she was traced. No signature again.

7 comments:

Spikey said...

Hey Mike,in the cartoon with uncle Bob, one of his hands (or at least a couple of fingers)seem to resting on her butt...er, not that I was staring or anything.

Mark Anderson said...

I agree on that egg one; that has "hey, I just sold my first cartoon!" written all over it.

The knight one is a pretty OK gag, but it's clumsily handled.

On the uncle Bob one, it took me a while to find his mouth. That's one big chin, and I thought he had shaving cream on his face for a while.

That last one about the bugle, I just don't get it. I think I sort of do, but if it is what I think it is... meh.

All of the above being said, I'm sure you could rip apart a few hundred of my cartoons and find similar problems.

This is some pretty cool stuff there Lynchy!

mamafrog said...

Were there supposed to be illustrations in your blog today? For some reason, your text was above and below two lines and nothing else happened.

Mike Lynch said...

Ray, I stand corrected! Now, stop staring! You're gonna need glasses!

Mark, I think this is a weird, weird pamphlet put together for nothing and it's full of tracings and so on.

Mamafrog: Thanks for the heads up. The images disappeared and I put them back up just now. Sorry about that. Don't know what happened!

Dawn said...

Mike, my pamphlet has no price on the top. It is in great condition...are they worth anything? Dawn.

Unknown said...

How much is this book worth because i got one and a hole bunch of other postcards...postage stamp cards with sexual scenes...some from the "rebeille postcard."bugle call"series,8cards total from the series...i also have the Zito post card "dog collection"20 cards total.....i also got 12 other cards that are from the same ara or earlyer with same style advertisment risque theme and some very nice art work post cards with single wemon posing with funny captions war ara and mommy daddy baby funny remarks to the scean occurring 7 post cards total with the signature "NH4 Beact"all cards have been well kept and are a good grade excellent shape......please if anyone could help me out exsplaining what i actually got smut wise and worth of cards or would like to buy as a bundle deal iam ready to sell for a fair price

Unknown said...

My 1963 edition does not have the 50 cent post on the cover