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| 1929-2022 |
Illustrator Paul Coker Jr's remarkable career rests on three mighty pillars. In the mid-1950s he got hired on at Hallmark Cards and very soon became one of that company's top artists. His scratchy style set a tone for humorous cards that is still widely copied nearly 65 years later. If that wasn't enough, he started contributing to Mad beginning in 1960, and quickly became one of that magazine's mainstay artists. And if that wasn't enough, in the mid-1960s Rankin/Bass Productions asked Coker to design the characters for a stop-motion TV Christmas special titled Santa Claus is Coming to Town. The next year he designed the characters for the more traditionally animated Rankin/Bass TV Christmas special Frosty the Snowman, and just about everything else from that company in the decades since. Though it's his Mad work that I most cherish, the Rankin/Bass productions probably got Coker his widest audience (with the Hallmark cards a close second) and that's also what got him the following 2015 radio interview. Actually, it's kind of a behind-the-scenes radio interview that's a little like an old Bob Newhart routine where you hear only the second half of a phone conversation. But as with Newhart, that's enough:
Seems like a nice guy. Now those three pillars I mentioned:
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Hi, Kirk!
ReplyDeleteNice job, good buddy, to remember illustrator Illustrator Paul Coker Jr. who died last month at the age of 93. I didn't know the name, but I know his work, especially his contributions to Mad.
It was a trip down memory lane to review his work in your post. I enjoyed the phone interview. He did indeed seem like a nice, humble, self-effacing man.
I enjoyed the Frasier parody. Daphne can now be seen in the main cast of the TV medical drama series The Resident. Roz is the daughter of Jim O'Brien, the much loved Philadelphia DJ and TV news anchor and weatherman who plunged to his death in 1983 in a skydiving accident. I loved Jim and am still not over his untimely death. Dad Martin died four years ago. Eddie, the Jack Russell Terrier, lived to age 15 and died 16 years ago. Lilith was my favorite character in the largely unlikable cast. Well, I did like Eddie. My favorite character on Cheers was Diane, and we all know how that went.
Thanks for paying tribute to illustrator Paul Coker. I must say that I appreciate his style and enjoyed scrolling down through these cartoons.
Enjoy the rest of your week, good buddy Kirk!
Shady, I preferred Shelly Long over Kirstie Alley, though not by a whole lot.
DeleteWhat an amazing and very talented artist. My step brother used to buy Mad Magazine and I read one once and I just didn't get the humour at all. Yeah, really thanks for the Christmas reminder.
ReplyDeleteSorry you didn't like (or get) Mad, Andrew. Maybe you just read the wrong issue.
DeleteI remember him from MAD magazine. And I remember that mermaid cartoon -- a true classic!
ReplyDeleteNot exactly Daryl Hannah and Tom Hanks, huh, Debra?
Delete121 days until I start thinking about shopping for Christmas.
ReplyDeleteWal-Mart is open 'til midnight, Mike.
DeleteRIP. I don't know him though.
ReplyDeleteAnanka, you would like him if you did.
DeleteI love MAD magazine. Not sure who did the back covers that were folded over to display a different picture. Anyway, I digress. Also Santa Claus is Coming To Town, one of my favorite Christmas staples...as is Frosty!!
ReplyDeleteJM, I deal with digressions all the time in this comment section, or why else would I be expressing an opinion about Shelly Long to Shady? As for those Mad Fold-Ins, they were written and illustrated by Al Jaffee (still with us at age 101.) Jaffee also wrote, but obviously did not draw, the mermaid comic I show here.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea he did all these. Every one is familiar. What talent!
ReplyDeleteHis handiwork is everywhere, Mitchell.
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