Cartoons: That’s Snow Funny
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Gallagher
December 15, 1951

Larry Harris
December 4, 1954

George Booth
November 29, 1952

Frank Ridgeway
November 20, 1954

Larry Harris
November 17, 1951

Walt Wetterberg
November 17, 1951

Jeff Keate
February 10, 1951

Chas. Cartwright
February 10, 1951

February 6, 1954

Larry Harris
February 2, 1952

Al Johns
January 19, 1952

Henry Boltinoff
December 15, 1951
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The Premier Pantomime Cartoonist
If you looked at a newspaper or magazine cartoon in, say, the 19th century, it might seem a little … off. The illustrations were packed with pen strokes, and captions were often comprised of two to four lines of wordy dialogue, resulting in the effect of a short conversation between two sketched characters.
One of the cartoonists responsible for upending this style — and pioneering the kinds of strips we know today — was Otto Soglow, born on this day in 1900. At The New Yorker and, later, in this magazine and newspapers across the country, Soglow pared down lines in his illustrations, presenting a clean, minimalist rendering of whimsical characters. In the way of captions, uniquely, he often used very few or none at all, making a name for himself as a pantomime cartoonist with his popular strip The Little King, which ran for almost 40 years.
Soglow didn’t set out to become a cartoonist. A passionate performer, he dropped out of high school to pursue a career in acting. He worked as a shipping clerk, a packer, and even as a baby rattle painter before taking up illustrating professionally. In the 1920s, Soglow drew toons for the pages of radical New York publications like The New Masses and The Liberator. Influenced by the politics and aesthetics of the Art Students’ League, his work during this time depicted gritty cityscapes, working-class scenes, and socially-conscious themes.


In the August 1922 issue of The Liberator, which had published one of Soglow’s earliest illustrations the month before, the editors apologized for neglecting to credit him, saying “Soglow is to give the Liberator more of his strong work, so full of atmosphere, poetry, and sensitive observation.”
By the late ’20s, he was publishing toons and small illustrations in The New Yorker, alongside names like Peter Arno, Helen Hokinson, and James Thurber. In the magazine’s obituary for Soglow, the author noted that while his style was once busy with ink, it became purer over the years, eventually omitting all details except the most necessary: “There was nothing to distract the eye or the mind.” The New Yorker was also where Soglow introduced his most famous and enduring character: the little king.
In various weekly adventures for more than 40 years, Soglow’s “cartoon monarch” stumbled through silent, playful scenarios at the perplexity of his royal court. Far from a stereotypical depiction of a severe ruler, Soglow’s childlike king displayed no interest in power, but rather enjoyed simple pleasures like ice cream and zoo animals. While his barrel-chested guards smoked cigars, the short stubby sovereign blew bubbles out of a toy pipe. Soglow’s sight gags in his Little King strips — which were syndicated in papers around the country from 1934 to 1975 — were endearing nods to our better, more innocent, angels.
In taking his cartoons to a larger audience, the once-socialist Soglow struck a deal with newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. If this move wasn’t quite contradictory, his career quickly took a commercial turn as he began illustrating ads for Realsilk socks, Mutual Life Insurance Company, Fleischmann’s Yeast, Pepsi-Cola, oil companies, and others. His ads — of course, lacking the quaint charm of his other work — appeared in The Saturday Evening Post for decades. Soglow was also a staunch supporter of the war effort, designing propaganda posters and supporting art programs for soldiers.

Although he likely made a great deal of money illustrating and cartooning, Soglow never lost his desire to perform. New York newspapers in the ’30s and ’40s described him as a hit at parties, giving impersonations and magic tricks that rivalled Chaplin’s. Given his earlier penchant for the poetic and the critical, discerning audiences might be tempted to read some semblance of subtle geopolitical commentary into The Little King, but Soglow said that was baseless and “just plain silly.” As for the origin of the beloved character that graced funny pages for decades, he gave no deep, revelatory explanation; “He just happened.”
Soglow drew The Little King until he died in 1975. Although he isn’t remembered widely by the populace, the cartoonist is decidedly among the ranks of important New Yorker illustrators, and the magazine still uses his artwork in print and online. In a review of a new Little King coffee table book in 2012, Jeet Heer called Soglow “one of the central cartoonists of mid-century America.” Flipping through the comics of any paper in the country before and after Soglow, it would be difficult to disagree.

“Who Says I’m Uncultured?”/ “Let’s Keep the Filibuster,”The Saturday Evening Post, June 16, 1962, July 14, 1962
Cartoons: Soldier On
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Herbert Johnson

Lundberg
September 13, 1941

December 6, 1941

George Wolfe
March 28, 1942

April 10, 1943

Dave Geraro
April 10, 1943

June 19, 1943

Atkins
July 17, 1943

December 4, 1943

Gardner Rea
December 15, 1951

Tom Henderson
March 17, 1956

Don Orehek
March 25, 1967
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Cartoons: Bowling Is the Best!
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Wesley Thompson
November 15, 1952

O’Brien
November 12, 1955

Gallagher
November 5, 1955

Bob Barnes
September 17, 1955

Scott Brown
March 17, 1951

W.F. Brown
March 3, 1956

Eric Ericson
February 25, 1951

February 10, 1951

Zeis
February 9, 1957

Jane Sperry
November 17, 1951
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Cartoons: Halloween Is for Grownups, Too
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Costume parties must have been popular in the 1950s, because these cartoons aren’t just from our October issues. But we’re posting them in this collection to remind you that adults can have fun at Halloween, too!

O’Brien
October 29, 1955

Walt Wetterberg
November 12, 1955

Les Colin
April 7, 1951

February 11, 1956

Busino
February 12, 1966

Bob Barnes
January 1, 1955

Fred Levinson
June 4, 1955
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Cartoons: Election Time
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Jeff Keate
October 7, 1944

Bill King
September 13, 1952

Hoff
July 12, 1952

Richter
March 15, 1952

Stan Hunt
December 8, 1951

Clyde Lamb
December 1, 1951

David Pascal
November 5, 1955

Don Tobin
November 4, 1950

Mary Gibson
November 4, 1944
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Cartoons: Mirth at the Market
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Chon Day
September 3, 1955

Goldstein
August 14, 1954

Goldstein
July 17, 1954

Bob Barnes
May 5, 1951

Irwin Caplan
April 21, 1951

April 10, 1954

Bill Harrison
February 8, 1958

Bill King
November 19, 1955
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Cartoons: Working Stiffs
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Brad Anderson
November 20, 1954

Irwin Caplan
November 19, 1955

Dave Hirsch
October 8, 1955

September 3, 1955

Joseph Zeis
August 20, 1955

Mischa Richter
December 15, 1951

February 27, 1954
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Cartoons: Pigskin Grins
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Lamb
November 27, 1954

Harry Mace
November 15, 1952

November 1, 1980

Al Johns
October 26, 1957

Zeis
October 25, 1958

Walter Wetterberg
October 25, 1952

Gallagher
October 16, 1954

Bernhardt
September 25, 1954

Roy Wilson
September 18, 1954

Ernie Garza
December 9, 1944
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Cartoons: Getting from Here to There
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Bo Brown
June 30, 1951

June 21, 1952

Bernhardt
May 19, 1951

Lundberg
May 10, 1952

Tom Hudson
May 28, 1951

Stan Hunt
November 22, 1952

October 25, 1952
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Cartoons: Doctor, Doctor
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Evan D. Diamond
August 7, 1954

Chon Day
September 16, 1950

Al Johns
September 16, 1950

Rodriguez
October 11, 1952

Wesley Thompson
October 11, 1952

Al Johns
October 20, 1951

Don Tobin
October 25, 1952

Walt Wetterberg
November 17, 1951

Bill Mittlebeeler
December 5, 1953

Goldstein
March 7, 1953
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Cartoons: Babysitter Blather
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Zeis
June 4, 1955

Lepper
April 19, 1952

Clara Gee Kastner
April 10, 1954

Locke
January 19, 1952

Ben Roth
September 15, 1951

Salo
June 14, 1952
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Cartoons: Take Me Out to the Ball Game
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Bo Brown
June 28, 1952

Tom Henderson
June 21, 1952

Dave Eastman
June 12, 1954

Chon Day
April 19, 1952

April 17, 1954

Bill Harrison
April 16, 1955
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Cartoons: Carpentry Capers
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Bob Barnes
October 9, 1954

Don Tobin
September 18, 1954

Frank O’Neal
July 31, 1954

Ben Roth
July 3, 1954

June 26, 1954

Peter Wyma
May 7, 1955
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Cartoons: Funny Money
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Brad Anderson
July 3, 1954

Mort Temes
May 15, 1954

Bill King
April 24, 1954

Al Johns
April 17, 1954

David Pascal
April 17, 1954

Stan Fine
April 10, 1954

Ken Duggan
April 9, 1955

Bill Mittlebeeler
December 5, 1953
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Cartoons: Lawn Laughs
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Gallagher
May 14, 1955

September 27, 1952

Goldstein
September 20, 1952

August 23, 1952

August 18, 1951

Bill Yates
June 19, 1954

June 14, 1952

June 7, 1952
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