On March 19th, New York's Society of Illustrators (128 E. 63rd St) will host a two hour panel discussion and graphic presentation in conjunction with the upcoming Harvey Kurtzman retrospective (opening 3/9 and curated by Monte Beauchamp and Denis Kitchen) "CELEBRATING KURTZMAN" with graphic humorists Drew Friedman, Robert Grossman, Al Jaffee, Arnold Roth, and moderated by Peter Kuper:
the rough cover art for MAD # 1 by Kurtzman will be on display at the show
Space is limited for the panel discussion, so if you plan to attend, it would be smart to purchase your tickets ahead of time.
Celebrating Kurtzman A panel discussion with Drew Friedman, Robert Grossman, Al Jaffee, Arnold Roth and moderated by Peter Kuper
March 19, 2013 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Legendary artists Drew Friedman, Robert Grossman, Al Jaffee, and Arnold Roth will discuss the life and works of Harvey Kurtzman with a panel moderated by Peter Kuper.
Drew Friedman is an award-winning illustrator whose work regularly appears in dozens of major publications. For years he was renowned for his "stippling" style of caricature, employing thousands of pen-marks to achieve photographic verisimilitude, but in recent years Friedman has switched to painting. His painstaking attention to detail and parodies of Hollywood icons is widely admired. Friedman's work has appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The New Republic, The New York Observer, Esquire, RAW, BLAB!, Rolling Stone, and MAD Magazine. He is a graduate of SVA and studied under such legendary masters as Will Eisner, Ed Sorel, Stan Mack, Arnold Roth, Art Spiegelman and Harvey Kurtzman.
Robert Grossman is a New York artist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, The New Yorker, The New York Observer, Rolling Stone and many other publications. Grossman also works as a sculptor, filmmaker, and author and has published numerous titles including ZooNooz and O-MANLAND, an online compilation of strips focusing on the 2008 presidential race.
Al Jaffee is best known for his satirical work in MAD Magazine, and today remains a regular contributor having only ever missed one issue of MAD in the last 57 years. Jaffee's trademark feature, the Mad Fold-in, was created in 1964 and a four-volume boxed set of hardcovers,The Mad Fold-In Collection: 1964-2010, was published by Chronicle Books in September 2011. In 2008 Jaffee was honored by the Reuben Awards as Cartoonist of the Year. He has also received the National Cartoonists Society Advertising and Illustration Award in 1972, its Special Features Award in 1971 and 1975, and its Humor Comic Book Award in 1979.
Arnold Roth has been a humorous illustrator and cartoonist all his life and, for most of that time, has freelanced, snatching a living by hustling one assignment after another in a highly competitive market. Roth's big breakthrough came in 1957 when he started working onTrump, Playboy's satiric magazine, and on Humbug, a more penurious production, both the inventions of Harvey Kurtzman. His work has appeared regularly in major magazines including Sports Illustrated, Esquire, Holiday, Time, The New York Times, The New Yorkerand countless others. In 1983, Roth was elected president of the National Cartoonists Society and the next year received the NCS Reuben Award as Cartoonist of the Year.
Peter Kuper's illustrations and comics appear regularly in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, and MAD, where he illustrates SPY vs. SPY every month. He has written and illustrated many books including Comics Trips, a journal of an eight-month trip through Africa and Southeast Asia. In 1979 he co-founded the political comix magazine World War 3 Illustrated.
Illustrator, sculptor, comics artist, animator Robert Grossman has had an astounding career covering the last 50 years. To say he's the greatest airbrush artist/caricaturist of all time isn't hyperbole, it's an understatement. Picking just a few samples from his incredible body of work is a near impossible task (he's created over 500 magazine covers alone!) but I'm presenting some of my favorites. If anyone deserves to have a career retrospective/anthology it's Bob Grossman. Check out these beautifully rendered, consistently brilliant and memorable illustrations, most chosen from the 60's-80's. As Steven Heller wrote: "his mordant wit is never duplicated".
Bob is still going strong, turning out wonderful new drawings and comic strips regularly for, among others, Rolling Stone, The Atlantic and the NY Observer where I've been proud to have alternated with him as a regular cover artist for the last 20 years.
On March 19th, New York's Society of Illustrators hosted a two hour, sold-out, SRO panel discussion and graphic presentation in conjunction with the current Harvey Kurtzman retrospective (curated by Monte Beauchamp and Denis Kitchen) "CELEBRATING KURTZMAN" with artists Robert Grossman, Al Jaffee, Arnold Roth, Drew Friedman, and moderated by Peter Kuper http://www.societyillustrators.org/Events-and-Programs/Lectures/2013/Celebrating-Kurtzman/Celebrating-Kurtzman.aspx
It was a fabulous and fun night of reminiscing about the brilliant cartoonist/satirist/editor (MAD, TRUMP, HUMBUG, HELP!) /writer/teacher, GURU, and all around cartoon renaissance man, Harvey Kurtzman. Many cartoonist & illustration luminaries, as well as friends, family members and ex-students from the School of Visual Arts, etc, were also in attendance.
Earlier in the day, Al Jaffee, Arnold Roth and I appeared on the NPR's Leonard Lopate show on WNYC to discuss all things Harvey Kurtzman. Listen to the entire interview here:
Many HK related images were screened and discussed during the panel, among them: (click to enlarge any image)
I drew this imagined first meeting of EC publisher Bill Gaines first meeting Harvey Kurtzman in 1950, for a 50th anniversary of MAD feature
Meet the staff of HUMBUG
Meet the staff of HELP! L to R: Publisher James Warren, editor Harvey Kurtzman, HK's assistant, curvy Gloria Steinem, business manager Harry Chester (Terry Gilliam would join later)
This was a group photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt taken at the 1971 Playboy writers convention. Included among the many luminaries flanking Hef: Arthur C. Clarke, Michael Chrichton, Art Buchwald, Jean Shephard, John Cheever, Jules Feiffer, Shel Silverstein, Gay Talese, one lady and LeRoy Neiman. To the right of Neiman is Harvey Kurtzman and to Kurtzman's right is my father, Bruce Jay Friedman. When my dad showed me this photo (I was 12) the thing that MOST impressed me was that he was standing right next to one of my all time idols, The man that invented MAD, Harvey Kurtzman. I would finally meet Kurtzman seven years later.
key to who's who
1975, the first issue of HK's class publication "kar-tunz". As I mentioned during the panel, the sole reason I chose the School of Visual Arts as an art school in 1977 was because Harvey Kurtzman was listed as an instructor in their catalog.
Hk created this cartoon image to be included in kar-tunz the first year I took his class and inscribed this copy for me.
ex-student visiting Harvey at SVA, circa 1984 (bad hair day for me) photo by ex-Kurtzman student/classmate Mark Newgarden
Mark Newgarden & Harvey/photo by Drew Friedman
many back-of-heads were in attendance for the HK panel
Arnold Roth, Robert Grossman, Al Jaffee, Drew Friedman and moderator Peter Kuper, surrounded by Kurtzman originals. Back of heads: (center) Tom Bunk, Joyce Jaffe
Arnold Roth: "Walking into the Angouleme comics festival with Harvey was like walking into the Vatican with Jesus"
Al Jaffee: "I've been doing the MAD fold-in now for 45 years. If I'd have done it for Harvey, it would have run once. He was always looking for NEW ideas"
Me: "Imagine a world if Harvey Kurtzman had never existed. There would have been no MAD magazine, which means there would have been no CRACKED magazine... or SICK magazine. Unimaginable!"
Thanks to Peter Kuper, Mark Newgarden, Glenn Bray, Monte Beauchamp, Anelle Miller and Ben Fentington. Panel photos by Ray Alma and Chris Boyle, among others.
IGOR'S DREAM, a Russian imperial stout beer was officially released by the Two Roads Brewing Company of Connecticut on March 23rd. This is the second beer label illustration I've created (the first was for McSorleys), this time featuring Russian-American Igor Sikorsky who designed the first American helicopter and whose dream obviously was to be featured on a beer label.
Bert Henry was a "blue" Los Angeles comedian in the fifties & sixties who looked like the actor who played Dennis the Menace's dad. He recorded a number of live albums featuring quick, whiz-bang gags, stunningly X-rated for their day, some featuring bawdy naked lady album covers. These are my favorites of his covers though, featuring renderings of his crazed nebbishy head:
Coming up on Wedneday, April 24th, 7.00 till 9.00 PM (doors open earlier) at The Soho Gallery for Digital Art...
The Soho Gallery for Digital Art, 138 Sullivan St (between Prince & Houston), NYC, 1-800-420-5590
"The Vermeer of the Borscht Belt" - The New York Times Graphic Humorist DREW FRIEDMAN will present a visual presentation of old & new works, & discuss/argue all things Old Jewish Comedians, Sideshow Freaks, Comic Book legends, Urban legends, (Milton Berle, Danny Thomas, Billy Barty, Lester...), Shemp Howard, Joe Franklin, Abe Vigoda, Sammy Petrillo, Sophie Tucker, Tor Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Officer Joe Bolton, Harvey Kurtzman, Dave Berg, Zagnuts, Jimmy Grippo, etc with Comic Book & Vernon Dent historian DANNY FINGEROTH. Special Guests to be announced once funds are secured for their cab fares.
Old Jewish Comedian & Sideshow Freaks books will be available for sale and inscription. Old Jews will be available for sale & inscription. Special Surprise Guests! Complimentary refreshments will be served!
Part of Danny Fingeroths's Comic book round table series Tickets: $12 (cheap!) in advance at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/362647 $17 on day of the event and at the door.
"I stand in awe of Drew Friedman's technique and the certain flavor of sad old America he captures. I love his stuff... He's such a wacko!" -R. Crumb
"Drew Friedman isn't just a brilliant artist. He takes you to a place. He takes you back in time. He makes you smell the stale cigarettes and cold brisket and you say, thank you for the pleasure" -Sarah Silverman
"Drew Friedman is my favorite artist" -Howard Stern
DREW FRIEDMAN's comics & drawings have appeared in Raw, Weirdo, Heavy Metal, National Lampoon, SPY, The New York Times, MAD, The New Yorker, BLAB!, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Observer, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Field & Stream, TIME, The Village Voice, etc. His comics and illustrations have been collected in five anthologies. "Drew Friedman's Sideshow Freaks" was published by Blast! Books in 2011. A new edition of the Shemp-covered childhood favorite "Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental", co-authored by Josh Alan Friedman, was re-issued by Fantagraphics in 2012, featuring a foreword by a deceased NY elevator operator.
Steven Heller in The New York Times wrote of his three volumes of portraits of "Old Jewish Comedians": "A festival of drawing virtuosity and fabulous craggy faces. Friedman might very well be the Vermeer of the Borscht Belt".
"The Legends of Comic Books" (tentative title), a new collection of full color portraits depicting the pioneers of the comic book industry, along with biographical info, will be published in 2014. Select Images from the new series will be projected and discussed.
This is my new cover artwork for the upcoming Shout Factory Blu-Ray release of Mel Brooks 1968 comedy classic "The Producers": Zero Mostel as flamboyant Broadway producer Max Bialystock embracing/enticing meek accountant Gene Wilder as Leo Bloom. Mel Brooks had final approval on the art and I was told that when it was finally shown to him he announced: "I LOVE IT!" Oh happy day! The Producers has long been one of my favorite films, so this was really a thrill to work on.
Rene Bouche (1905-1963) was a renowned 20th century fashion illustrator working for decades for various publications, primarily VOGUE, where he rendered many cover images. He also drew, in his loose, sketchy and elegant style, a number of celebrity portraits and advertisements for magazines. In the early 1950's he was hired by CBS's creative director William Golden to create portraits of their current stars to be used for advertising and promotional materials. Among these drawings was possibly what would become his most iconic image, a charcoal/marker & gouache silhouette of a relaxed Jack Benny. Benny was so taken with the drawing he used it for his TV show opening and closing and as his official logo throughout the rest of his career.
Read about the origin of the Jack Benny illustration here:
In Oct 1955, The Honeymooners starring Jackie Gleason as Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden debuted as a weekly filmed sitcom on CBS television, Saturdays at 8.30. The show lasted only one year, producing 39 episodes ("The Classic 39") before it was canceled by CBS (finally trounced by the Perry Como show on NBC). The Honeymooners is of course now considered a television comedy classic, arguably the funniest show ever.
William Golden, the creator of the iconic CBS "eye" was their creative director in the fifties and hired a number of top illustrators and designers to create artwork on behalf of the TV network. Included among them was fashion illustrator Rene Bouche who created a portrait of Jack Benny that would become the famous opening logo for TheJack Benny Program, and the famed caricaturist Sam Berman, the creator of the opening caricature sculptures for the 1937 screwball film comedy classic "Nothing Sacred", who would draw a circular wide-eyed Jackie Gleason head inside the Moon, rising above Brooklyn to the strains of Gleason's "You're My Greatest Love" at the beginning of each episode of The Honeymooners...
For years I speculated about who the artist was who drew that iconic caricature, yet, typically, no artist credit was ever given for the image in the show's closing credits, nor in any of CBS's Honeymooners publicity. There has also never been a single reference or mention of who drew that iconic image in any Jackie Gleason biographies or Honeymooners books, nor in any caricature or television history book. Apparently, not even worth researching.
I've blogged at length on the career of the once celebrated, now long forgotten artist Sam Berman and based on his distinctive, lush yet economic style and his work for television advertising/publicity in the fifties, all indications finally pointed to him clearly being the artist. With the confirmation of caricaturist historian Zach Trenholm, (and, to my knowledge), for the first time I'm disclosing it here.
The late Borscht Belt comedian Joey Adams (Joseph Abramowitz, 1911-1999) was a vaudeville, nightclub and TV comic, stage actor, comedy/joke/gag writer, comedy/showbiz historian, novelist, film actor, newspaper columnist, radio host, Friars club Roastmaster, husband of Society/gossip columnist Cindy Adams, friend of politicians... and most prolifically, an author of books, somehow, almost forty in all.
In the early 1960's the popular theatrical caricaturist Sam Norkin was hired by Brown's Hotel & Country Club in Loch Sheldrake, NY, (the Catskill Mountains/Borscht Belt), to create a large mural depicting the beloved comedian and movie star Jerry Lewis in his various personas. The mural would hang in the lobby of Brown's "Jerry Lewis Theater Club" until the hotel was eventually sold in 1988 in a foreclosure auction. It was converted into a condominium complex in the mid-1990's, and the mural was painted over. The condominiums burned down in 2012.
Jerry Lewis had a long association with the hotel's owners, Charles and Lillian Brown, beginning in his formative years in the early forties when he worked there as a waiter/tummler, perfecting his comedy craft.
Jerry Lewis remained friends with the Brown family for decades and continued to perform for them yearly at their hotel/resort. His longtime bandleader Lou Brown was also a member of the Hotel's Brown family. Sam Norkin died in 2011.
Jerry & Patti Lewis sing a duet at Browns in 1955
a postcard featuring a crowd of sophisticated "Borscht Belters" gathering outside the Jerry Lewis Theater Club at Brown's
another postcard featuring the inside of the Jerry Lewis Theater Club
a 1980's postcard with hired models pretending to be vacationing at Browns
The Jerry Lewis mural in 1986, 2 years before the hotel closed. Photo by Russel Harvey
A 1980's Brown's TV commercial
a Brown's Hotel ashtray
Brown's hotel soap
Jerry & Wilber the penguin in Brown's Hotel lobby, 1955
Long before Spiderman made his singing/dangling Broadway debut, "It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It'sSUPERMAN" the legendary Broadway Superman musical comedy which came so close to becoming a hit, opened in March 1966 and closed in July after only 129 performances. By the mid-sixties Superman was fairly dormant, appearing mainly in (by then) bland DC comic books. The TV series starring George Reeves had been off the air for almost a decade and the Superman movies were still another decade away. A Broadway musical reviving The Man of Steel seemed like a good idea, after all, "Li'l Abner", a musical also based on a famous comic strip had been a huge hit a decade earlier. The show starred Jack Cassidy as a new character, unscrupulous Daily Planet gossip columnist Max Menchen (loosely based on Walter Winchell). Also featured were Linda Lavin (fresh from The MAD Show) as Max's Girl Friday Sydney, Patricia Marand as Lois Lane, Michael O'Sullivan (overly sweaty & spitty) as a lunatic-professor bent on Superman's destruction, 10 time Nobel prize loser Dr. Abner Sedgwick, and a 6 foot/4 inch, square-jawed baritone, the imposing yet throughly likable Bob Holiday as Superman/Clark Kent.
Bob Holiday
The music was composed by Charles Strouse with lyrics by Lee Adams who also conceived the idea for the show and the book was by the writing team of David Newman & Robert Benton, fresh from Esquire magazine (Their next collaboration was the screenplay for Bonnie & Clyde). The lively production was directed by Hal Prince.
Linda Lavin, Bob Holiday, Jack Cassidy, (sitting) Joan Hotchkis, originally cast as Lois Lane
So what went wrong? Why did this show fail to find an audience? There has been a lot of speculation on why the show finally didn't succeed. The reviews were generally very good, with Stanley Kauffmann in the NY Times declaring it "Fun" and adding "...and amusing. How nice it is to go to a purported entertainment and actually be entertained". Hal Prince's direction was fast-paced and innovative, colorful "pop-art" sets, comic strip panels and sound effects brought to life on stage, Superman flying across the stage, large, break-away props crumbling via Superman's punches, etc. The campy script was funny and witty, with tongue firmly planted in cheek. The score by Adams & Strouse was clever, brassy and melodic, much like their earlier score for "Bye Bye Birdie". I saw a matinee of the show, (at age 7), along with my two brothers in mid-1966 and we loved the show and the music, especially the effect of Superman flying back and forth across the stage, growing smaller as he faded into the sky (miniature prop versions of Superman replaced the wired Bob Holiday).
Bob Holiday channels Mary Martin
The main problem might have been that the talented and appealing star, actor/singer/dancer Jack Cassidy was actually the star of the show, playing an essentially nasty character (he loathes Superman, seeks his destruction and has a crush on Lois) and had far more stage time than Superman/Clark Kent. In a show supposedly about Superman, kids simply wanted more... Superman! I know I did. Still, even with Jack Cassidy in the lead, even with positive notices, most adults just weren't ready to pay for an evening out at the theatre to see a show about a comic book super hero who had basically always been aimed at children. It was perhaps ahead of it's time. The other dilemma was that in January of 1966 the BATMAN TV show had premiered on ABC and by March BATMANIA was sweeping the country.
1966 LIFE which included the Superman musical inside
So, why should people pay top dollar to schlep into New York to see a campy Superman Broadway musical when you could stay at home and watch the latest campy adventures of Batman and fun celebrity guest villains twice a week on TV for free? In this case, Batman trounced Superman. In the words of David Newman: "It was the overdose of pop-camp that really hurt us" with Benton adding "We got caught up in a capelash".
Still, the musical has been revived a number of times, (including a watered-down version for TV in the mid-seventies, with many of the songs cut), is fondly remembered by adults who saw it as children, and has developed a cult following. The first-rate original soundtrack is available on CD to discover and/or rediscover. Newman & Benton would later co-write the first Superman film (along with Leslie Newman and Mario Puzo), borrowing several plot devices first used in their Superman Broadway script.
Charles Strouse would have far greater success writing the music for the hit musical "Annie", another show based on a comic strip, in 1977.
"Dynamic Duo", David Newman & Robert Benton, from Newsweek
After appearing in several brief revivals of the show, Bob Holiday retired from acting to open a successful custom home building company (Holiday Homes) in the Catskill mountains in upstate NY. He's still robust at age 81 and very proud of forever being the "musical Superman". So much for the "Superman Curse".
One sad note, no mention was made, nor any credit given in any of the show's advertising or publicity to Superman's actual creators, writer Jerry Siegel & artist Joe Shuster who conceived the character as teenagers in the late thirties. Using incredibly poor judgement, they had signed away all their rights to Superman years earlier. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_a_Bird...It's_a_Plane...It's_Superman
Linda Lavin sings the show-stopper "You've Got Possibilities" to Clark Kent, a song that would become a night club standard for years
From LIFE magazine: Bob Holiday posed as Superman flying over Times Square
Bob Holiday posed as Superman
The front of Broadway's Alvin theater on W. 52nd St (now the Neil Simon theatre) in early 1966
promo art for the show
Al Hirschfeld's illustration ran in the NY Times on Sunday, March 27th, two days before the show opened.
Stanley Kauffmann's full NY Times review
Don Chastain and Patricia Marand sing "We Don't Matter"
a poster for the new musical
the shows Playbill
a newspaper ad for the show
the creators behind the show, LtoR: author Robert Benton, lyricist Lee Adams, author David Newman, composer Charles Strouse
Bob Holiday as Superman with adoring go-go dancers
Superman in action, a color photo from the show...
and confronting one of the Chinese villains
Bob Holiday, an incredibly charming Superman greets the audience...
and as mild mannered reporter Clark Kent
Bob Holiday as Clark Kent holds Linda Lavin as Sydney
Brief footage of Bob Holiday as Superman used within the show
Bob Holiday had a terrific baritone singing voice. Here he is transforming into Clark Kent while singing the show's opening number "Every Man Has A Job To Do"
Superman performing a choke hold on one of the shows (Chinese) villains
After the shows weekend matinees, Bob Holiday, still dressed in his Superman costume, would greet children backstage, pose for photos, admonish them to do their homework and drink their milk and then sign autographs. My brothers and I had the pleasure of meeting him after we saw the show on a Saturday afternoon and he instantly scooped up my wide-eyed, then five year old brother Kipp and hoisted him WAY above his head. This had a profound effect on Kipp who firmly believed that Bob Holiday wasindeed Superman. Kipp writes about the experience in his upcoming memoir "Barracuda in the Attic".
LtoR: Barry Mitchell, his brother Arthur and friend Michael visit Bob Holiday backstage at the Alvin (photo courtesy Barry Mitchell)
Bob Holiday signing a program for a young fan
the stars of It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman: Patricia Marand, Jack Cassidy, Michael O'Sullivan, Linda Lavin, Don Chastain
Opening night, Bob Holiday, Patricia Marand, Shirley Jones (Mrs. Jack Cassidy), Jack Cassidy
Linda Lavin, Jack Cassidy
Jack Cassidy, Patricia Marand
a set from the show, the citizens of Metropolis singing the praises of Superman within comic strip panels
a 1966 carpet ad from the Ladies Home Journal featuring Bob Holiday as Clark Kent & Superman
During the years that The Sopranos ran on HBO, I was asked to draw the actor James Gandolfini (1961-2013) aka Tony Soprano several times. I always enjoyed rendering that large, bulbous-nosed, deadpanned mug of his. I'm saddened that I probably won't be asked to draw him again. He was by far the best truck driver who ever became an actor. Rest in Peace.
Tony Soprano threatens "President" Martin Sheen from the New York Daily News
Speculation about The Sopranos becoming a motion picture also from the Daily News
Tony Soprano relaxes by watching TV from Entertainment Weekly
cover art for MAD from 2002, art directed by Sam Viviano, a parody of the then popular TV show Girls Gone Wild
fellow MAD artist and friend Ray Alma shows Gandolfini the issue featuring my cover art...
and he looks over the issue. Ray Alma describes what transpired that day: I got to meet Gandolfini when they were shooting a scene for the "Sopranos" near my house. He was very nice. I showed him a recent copy of Mad with him on the cover and he got a huge kick out of it. He thought I said I painted it (Drew Friedman did) and he smacked me on the head with the rolled up magazine. I used to tell people I was "whacked" by Tony Soprano. and more from Ray... Gandolfini really was very nice the day I met him. Warm and friendly. And he honestly got such a kick seeing the magazine. To the point that he stole it from me! After he asked me "Why you'd make me so fucking fat!?!" (regarding the cover) and "whacking" me, he kept looking at it. I was gonna ask him to sign it for me, but he got called back to the set and got up, shook my hand, said thanks and walked off with it. I later saw him with some of the other cast members huddled over it and laughing.
Tony Soprano in bed with Carrie Bradshaw cover art for the NY Observer
This is my portrait of Ziggy Gruber, the chef/owner of Kenny & Ziggy's New York Delicatessen in Houston, Texas. The art was created for for Pakn Treger, the magazine of the Yiddish Book Center, art-directed by Alexander Isley http://www.yiddishbookcenter.org
Martin Goodman (1908-1992) was the legendary, elusive publisher of magazines, paperbacks and comic books. Under his parent company Magazine Management, his vast empire of magazines ran the gamut ranging from pulps, true crime, romance, humor, puzzles, movies/celebrities, cheesecake photos, and most notably men's adventure magazines which is where my father worked as an editor from 1954-1966 along side among others, Mario Puzo. Goodman is mostly remembered today for helping to launch the "golden age of comics", publishing a comic book line known first as Timely, then Atlas, and eventually Marvel comics. This is my (imagined) pencil portrait of the rarely photographed Martin Goodman at Magazine Management in 1956, proofing several of the latest covers for Atlas comics. The finished color painted piece will be included in my upcoming book of portraits depicting the pioneering legends of American comic books, to be published by Fantagraphics Books in 2014.
Publisher Martin Goodman, 1956
"The Martin Goodman Story" published by Goodman in 1947
My tribute to the late, great Kim Thompson, co-founder and publisher/editor of Fantagraphics books, written for The Comics Journal (see more tributes to Kim from various comic artist greats below):
According to Kim Thompson, I had the honor of (indirectly) giving him what he told me was “the most thrilling moment of his career.”
Kim was the brilliant editor of my last six books for Fantagraphics, including my three books of portraiture depicting “Old Jewish Comedians” (designed by Monte Beauchamp). The only running text in the books was the comedians’ actual Jewish names, along with their showbiz names (for example: Benjamin Kubelsky/Jack Benny). My wife Kathy and I diligently researched the original names using various sources, mainly comedy history books and via the web. When the first book was released in late 2006, Fantagraphics sent out several copies to some of the (still living) comedians who were included, among them Mickey Freeman, Freddie Roman, and Jerry Lewis. All three aged comics instantly called me directly to tell me they were absolutely thrilled with being in the book, so much so that they arranged for a Friars Club book party to celebrate its release.
Shortly after the Friars party I received a call from a giddy Kim Thompson, his upbeat voice far from his usual steady monotone. He had just gotten off the phone with one of his all-time heroes, none other than the legendary comedian Sid Caesar of Your Show of Shows fame, now 84. Caesar had placed a call to Fantagraphics and their secretary instantly transferred the call to Kim. It soon became clear that Sid Caesar was not at all happy. Why? Because his “real” name was listed as Isaac Sidney Caesar.
Sid Caesar, not happy
At the time, every Sid Caesar tribute site, including Wikipedia, claimed his real name was indeed “Isaac”. He claimed it was not. He proceeded to rant, rave and kvetch into the phone at Kim for a good twenty minutes or so, as if Kim was directly responsible for this insult, even launching into faux German/Yiddish double-talk to overly-emphasize his points (“Vot’s Vit You?? You ish a DUMMKOPF!!”). Kim was in heaven, Caesared the moment and basically sat back and let Sid Caesar perform his special brand of (angry) schtick. The more Caesar carried on, the more Kim laughed, and Caesar seemed content because he had a clearly receptive audience of one all to himself, even if it was someone who published a book that infuriated him. They somehow established a brief phone-bond, a performer pleasing his audience. He continued his raving until he eventually became exhausted and finally banged down the phone.
Kim Thompson, shaken, but happy
Kim immediately called me to relate what had just transpired and told me that although he was a bit shaken, it was the most thrilling moment of his entire career AND the best part of having just turning fifty. He asked if I wanted Sid’s phone number so I could also enjoy the experience of being reamed out in Yiddish by a comedy legend but I declined the offer. I was content with living vicariously through Kim’s experience. Finally, Kim, always the level-headed editor, summed things up: “Well, I guess this means we won’t be able to get him to write a foreword to one of our Peanuts books. Oh well! Ha!”
In 1964, someone at Verve records had the brilliant idea of releasing comedy LP records by popular contemporary comedians and not featuring the comic's faces on the covers. Instead, the covers depicted laughing, guffawing, shrieking, head-slapping, nose-squinching, all-American, (white), couples, (actors), all with their eyes shut, all pretending to be enjoying comedy LP's.
Some appear to be suffering from severe migraine headaches, several look like they're actually weeping or in pain, and one guy looks like he's literally about to throw up. The guy on the cover of the Jackie Mason album looks like the last guy you'd expect to enjoy Jackie Mason's brand of comedy.
In anticipation of the 50th anniversary coming up in Nov...
In 1963, the cartoonist/comics artist/humorous illustrator Jack Davis was hired by United Artists to create the poster art for the Stanley Kramer all-star comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Jack Davis had drawn several movie posters prior to being hired for MMMMW, but this one was huge, the film becoming a blockbuster, and forever established him as the king of comedy film posters. When Fantagraphics' Gary Groth and I interviewed Jack in 2011 at the Brooklyn Comics festival he confirmed that this was the assignment that forever changed the course of his career, it was the game changer.
with the great Jack Davis in Nov 2011 (photo by Ryan Flanders)
Jack Davis became the go to guy, the most in-demand artist of comedy film posters throughout the sixties and seventies, arguably the most successful and popular film poster artist of all time, and undoubtedly, the master of the chaotic, over- crowded crowd scene. The film has also had an afterlife for Jack Davis. He'd create several variations of the poster over the years, as well as the wraparound art for the LP album, and several other fun spinoffs...
B&W version used for the film's press book and newspaper ads
click to enlarge
an ad for the film's premiere
larger look at the B&W version
cover to the LP album
the front & back covers
click to enlarge
a display for record stores
a later poster variation created for the film's re-release in 1970
a German poster
TV Guide ad for the film's first TV airing
an early video cover
Jack Davis created this later piece for the RCA Videodisc release in 1983
Jonathan Winters, who co-starred in the film, had Davis create this cover parody of his film poster for this 1964 album
in 1964, Jack Davis, who hadn't done work for MAD magazine in nearly a decade, made his triumphant return by parodying the very poster he created for this wraparound MAD paperback
Jack Davis's recent career anthology from Fantagraphics, using his "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" poster art on the cover
The upcoming book, "Mad's Greatest Artists: Dave Berg-Five Decades of The Lighter Side" is being un-leased soon, and features a foreword and a brand new portrait of Dave Berg by yours truly.
This is my new portrait for the New York Observer of actor/cartoon voice artist Hank Azaria posed as massive-toupee wearing former hairdresser turned porn auteur Gerard Damiano. Azaria appears in the new film "Lovelace"
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