CAPTION: “Are they any good? They found ME a job, didn't they?”
Laff-A Day, the daily panel syndicated by King Features, was another market that for a long time had a popular cartoonist as Cartoon Editor — in this case, Bob Schroeter. I don't know if he bought this one, in 1967, but I was always doubly pleased when another cartoonist who I respected OK'd my work.
I got involved pretty early when this Dow-Jones publication was launched. NBEW only printed one cartoon per weekly issue. Their editorial offices were in Princeton, New Jersey, so I didn't have any personal contact, except occasionally by phone. The first editor, Ellen Kolton, LOVED my cartoons and puchased them like they were going out of style, sometimes as many as five at a time. Of course, we cartoonists realize that this sort of thing can't possibly last, and sure enough Ellen eventually left NBEW to work for INC. magazine (which has never published cartoons, by the way). I was so devastated that I called her at INC., at their Massachusetts office, and jokingly pleaded with her to get back to NBEW, or at least convince INC. to start using cartoons. I still remember one of her kindly comments to me over the phone: "Y'know, The New Yorker publishes cartoons, too!"
Anyway, and inevitably, her replacement wasn't so enthusiastic about my work, but still kept buying at a decent pace, out of habit, I imagine. Then more editors came and went, and each one seemed even less enthusiastic. Sales came fewer and farther apart, until the publication folded in 1999. According to my records, NBEW printed 113 of my cartoons, which I consider a pretty good run.
Aside: For a while there, it seemed like there was a contest between me and New Yorker cartoonist Tom Cheney as to who would be the principal cartoonist at NBEW. In the end, Cheney won out easily. The late Henry Martin, another New Yorker cartoonist, also appeared regularly. When a small paperback of the best cartoons from NBEW was printed, I had six cartoons included, and Cheney had about ten times as many.
Cartoon Editors should never change jobs — unless they're not buying my cartoons, of course!
CAPTION: “Is a GY475 tube very expensive?”
Another one sold to Bill McIntyre at TRUE magazine. TRUE was one of the regular in-person stops on Wednesday in Manhattan — “Look Day” for the local cartoonists. “Look Day” at The New Yorker right now is Tuesday — go figure.
CAPTION: “No, you're not being replaced by a computer, Hoskins . . . you're being replaced by an electric paper shredder.”
CAPTION: “. . . and the Board of Directors voted to wish you a speedy recovery — 5 to 4, with two abstentions.”
CAPTION: “Our bellies are up 12 1/2 cents.”
Stock Market was publishing quite a few of my cartoons at one time. In fact, for a while I even had a featured by-line, under the title “The Bottom Line”. The magazine folded, and that was the end of that.
Never could figure out why The Saturday Review (of Literature) bought this “blind umpire” sports cartoon, but was very glad that they did.
CAPTION: "Miss Farber, would you please tell me what this piece of paper is doing on my desk?"
This cartoon from Datamation is by far the most reprinted of my cartoons. It was first picked up by Business Week for an article they were doing on "The Paperless Office". After that, the reprint requests just came in thick and fast.
I used the name Farber as a silent tribute to radio talk personality Barry Farber, who I used to listen to a lot while I was cartooning.
1000 Jokes and its sister Dell publication, For Laughing Out Loud, were edited at various times by prolific and popular gag cartoonists Bill Yates and John Norment. Payment was very small, but it always left me with a feeling of satisfaction to be accepted by fellow cartoonists. Something akin to the feeling I would get now if I were accepted by cartoonist Bob Mankoff at The New Yorker, I guess.
