In my last blog entry, I posted a new "Millie and Terry" comic strip by Jack Cole and theorized that he may have placed several items in various publication in 1954/55, the years that he left his 16-year career in comic books and transitioned to becoming the first star cartoonist at Playboy magazine.
Fellow comics scholar, Jack Cole fan, and curator of the marvelous Fabuleous Fifties blog, Ger Appledoorn was inspired by my discovery to look around for other "lost" Jack Cole work from this period and made this wonderful discovery, from Look Magazine, the April 19, 1955 issue!
It's a wonderful example of how far Jack Cole developed his talent and style to fit a more sophisticated market. Could this strip have been a reject from Playboy, or did Cole create a sexy gag cartoon in a more mainstream, less sexual style for Look?
In any case, be sure to look at the great expressions on the character's faces in the background. It's very nice piece that shows off Cole sexy gag work in a slightly different light than Playboy. Thank you to Ger for kindly sharing this scan with me and giving his blessing to post it here first. Enjoy!
I have a couple issues of SHAFT, the University of Illinois humor magazine, with some Jack Cole cartoons. They came out in 1954 and all the other work in it is by college students. I'm guessing he's in there because the college was Hugh Hefner's alma mater and he gave his rejects to them.
ReplyDeleteGreat find, Paul! I also wanted to let you know that in your "Resources" section, jackcole.org was changed awhile back to jackcole.com. (Same site, same lazy webmaster.)
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