Monday, July 26, 2010

TOM & JERRY COMICS No. 148, November 1956

I am unable to hazard even a guess as to who the artists are for any of these stories or cover, but the artwork is certainly worth the temporal light of a post.

This may be as good a time as any for me to express how much I love and miss old-school, hand lettering. Isn't it a beautiful thing? With regard to artist identification, my only thought is that many of Tom’s expressions in these pages are so precisely similar to expressions used in the famous MGM Cartoons. Perhaps a moonlighting animator? Postscript: We have a winner! Pal, Gary Brown, supplies artist identification for the Tom & Jerry stories as the great Harvey Eisenberg! See comments. -- Mykal

I am most regretful about not being able to identify the artist for this Barney Bear story. I love the way the “human people” are drawn in this one, and the brushwork throughout is very robust and confident. Postscript: Wow, what an informative post this has been for me! New friend, Luca Boschi, has provided the artist for this story: It's Cecil Surry! See comments. Thanks, Luca!

This ad is from the inside back-cover. If any ad, anywhere, conveys “1956” with any more perfection than this one, I haven’t seen it.

29 comments:

  1. The drawings were great..loved Tom and Jerry..
    Good expression, action, interesting angles used..
    also a fun stories..

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  2. Peter: "Good expressions" Exactly. I think that, more than anything, is what I loved here. Thanks for commenting.

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  3. Mykal, The illustrator of the Tom & Jerry stories is Harvey Eisenberg, an animator and long-time T&J and Hanna-Barbera comic book artist. He's one of the best at showing motion in a comic-book story.
    I would know the Barney Bear artist if I heard his name, but it escapes me at the moment.

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  4. Gary: Eisenberg! Excellent! Great work, Gary, and thanks. I know him from his Hanna-Barbera work and (now that you point it out) I can see it. Particuarily in the human being characters. I'll ammend post to refect your contribution. Let me know if you can think of the Barney Bear artist.

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  5. Al Hubbard, maybe? Always loved his Scamp and Chip and Dale, esp. the brushwork...

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  6. Anonymous: Hubbard for the Barney Bear story? I think you might be on to something there, considering the brushwork!

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  7. Yes, sorry, the Barney Bear story for Hubbard. Not sure about Eisenberg for the second story, though it sure looks like it on the first. I think that Eisenberg was Joe Barbera's right hand man for story sketches; a funny animal artist of the first rank.
    Mykal, your blogs are fantastic! Thanks, and cheers.
    Rob

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  8. Rob: Ooops! Those two pedestrians on panel 7 page 4 don't look like Hubbard. -- Mykal

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  9. Yup, those pedestrians are definitely not Hubbardesque. Looking closely at Barney and the two kids though still makes me think of Hubbard. The lines are kinda thick but still have that finely edged texture, and the figures and expressions remind me of his work.

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  10. I can definitely see your point about that thick, rich brush making you think of Hubbard.

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  11. Hi, all!
    Congratulations for your website!

    The Barney Bear - Fuzzy & Wuzzy artist is Cecil Hays Surry (19 Apr 1907-19 Sept 1956), former Disney animator. He worked at Western for a while, also drawing a couple of Mickey Mouse stories in the 50es.

    Here a Lambiek page about him, with artwork from "Vacation Parade" #1 (1950).

    He charged his style a lot, since I think he was inked by another artist in the beginning (1948) and I can assume that the brush work of this story be made by himself.

    If you want check, in my website I have samples of many comic artist for kids:
    http://lucaboschi.nova100.ilsole24ore.com/


    Ciao!


    Luca Boschi

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  12. Luca: Absolutely awesome! Here's proof that you learn something new every day. Great work, Luca, and thanks!

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  13. PS to Luca: I have added your contribution to the post. You have a nice site yourself. and thanks again! -- Mykal

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  14. I've been getting into Eisenberg's work lately, but find it very difficult to find any index of what he did. The best I've found is his Lambiek entry, John K's blog, and this one. I've checked with TwoMorrows to see if they had done anything on him and could find nothing. He seems to be the best artist that nobody has written about. Can any of the knowledgeable followers of this blog point me in the right direction?

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  15. Robert: I agree that Eisenberg is certainly underappreciated. Along with those blogs you mentioned, I know that Mark Evanier appreciates Eisenberg's work and writes of him. Just click HERE for a nice piece about him on Mr. Evanier's site, POVOnline.

    Like you, I long for a retrospective of Harvey Eisenberg's work. -- Mykal

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  16. Robert: In addition, with regard to an Eisenberg index, I don't know of one (but I sure wish I did). I can only tell you what I use when searching for an Eisenberg story: I go to Grand Comic Book Data Base (the link is included in my sidebar under “comic book resources”). Once there, I use the advanced search option - and put "Harvey Eisenberg" in the Pencil and Inks fields (both) – or sometimes just the Pencil field if you want a broader search. This will provide by no means a complete catalog of Eisenbergs mammoth output (as this post proves), but I have found the GCD a great resource.

    I hope this helps. -- Mykal

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  17. Thanks Mykal. That is a big help. I should have thought of the Comic Book Database myself. I'll have to start a list of books I can hunt down. His work is amazing.

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  18. hey i love comics for Dell, Harvey, Archie, Marvel, DC Comics and Gold Key Comics

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  19. Hey, put some more tom and jerry dell comics if you can please!!!
    I really like them and there are few on the internet

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  20. These are really cool! You know, honestly, I really don't know why people were so objectional to Tom & Jerry talking in the movie, seeing as that this concept obviously didn't originate in the movie & it really is for the best in this situation.

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  21. Tom And Jerry As always favorite for kids ...

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    1. I loved them, too. If I remember right - they were the first cartoon characters I were aware of.

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  22. Nice collection cartoon is the best cartoons.Most of the people want to watch it most of the time..Today i search my websitesepisodes of tom and jerry thank you for give it.so if you want more tom and jerry videos visit it

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  23. i want tell you that my children like two website for tom and jerry one is your and second is this tom and jerry band songs



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    Replies
    1. Thank your children for me. I'm glad they like it!

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