| Mort Drucker | |
|---|---|
 Drucker in November 2000 | |
| Born | Morris Drucker (1929-03-22)March 22, 1929 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | April 9, 2020(2020-04-09) (aged 91) Woodbury, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Cartoonist, artist |
Notable works | Mad |
| adriansinnott | |
Morris "Mort"Drucker[1][2] (March 22, 1929 – April 9, 2020)[3] was an Americancaricaturist and comics artist best known as a contributor for over five decades inMad, where he specialized in satires on the leading feature films and television series.
Drucker was born inBrooklyn, New York City,[4] with some sources listing his birth date as March 22, 1929, and others as March 29.[5] He was the son of Sarah (Spielvogel), a homemaker, and Edward Drucker, a businessman.[6] His family was Jewish.[7] He attended Brooklyn'sErasmus Hall High School. There he met his future wife Barbara, whom he married shortly after her graduation. The couple moved toLong Island, living inSyosset, where they brought up two daughters, Laurie and Melanie; their family eventually expanded with three grandchildren.[8]
Drucker entered the comics field by assisting Bert Whitman on thePublishers-Hall newspaper comic stripDebbie Dean in 1947 when he was 18, based on a recommendation fromWill Eisner. He then joined the staff of National Periodical Publications (DC Comics), where he worked as a retoucher. While at DC, Drucker alsoghosted "The Mountain Boys", Paul Webb's regular gag panel forEsquire magazine.[8] Early in the 1950s, Drucker left his DC staff gig and began doing full-time freelance work for a number of comic book publishers such asDell,Atlas andSt. John's, as well as several humor and war titles for his former employer.[9]
In the fall of 1956, shortly after the departure ofMad's founding editorHarvey Kurtzman, Drucker found his way toMad. His first visit to the magazine's offices coincided with aWorld Series broadcast, and publisherBill Gaines told Drucker that if theBrooklyn Dodgers won the game, he would be given a drawing assignment. The Dodgers won. Capricious though Drucker's alleged audition process may have been, it was a good anecdote. Years later, Gaines unsurprisingly confessed, "We would have hired him anyway."[10][11]
Drucker had arrived at theMad offices with pages from hisHopalong Cassidy comic book work forDC Comics and some of his "Mountain Boys" strips, as well as a humorous "little situation" featuringThe Lone Ranger andTonto that he had specifically drawn for the interview. Though this work was unlike the likenesses and continuities he would become best known for, theMad staff reacted favorably. The first to review Drucker's portfolio wasMad associate editorNick Meglin, who admitted, "I didn't spot how great he was at caricatures. Not at first. But then, he wasn't that great then." Drucker said that he "just wanted to be an artist ... to get paid for drawing anything," and only started focusing on caricature work, because he started getting more of those assignments. "That's when I realized I'd found my calling," said Drucker.[12] At the time of Drucker's arrival,Mad did not regularly feature television and movie satires. EditorAl Feldstein credited Drucker's style and ability for the decision to start featuring them in every issue.
For well over a decade,Mad had difficulty obtaining promotional photos that Drucker could use as source material for his drawings.[13] When he was illustratingMad parodies, Drucker's colleagueAngelo Torres brought a camera into movie theaters and snapped pictures of the screen. Eventually, a generation ofMad fans grew up and some became Hollywood publicists, making Drucker's research easier.
By the time he wound down hisMad career 55 years later, Drucker held the longest uninterrupted tenure of anyMad artist. Drucker has the most bylined articles by anyMad artist who does not also write his own material, with more than 400.[14]
Drucker also remained active for DC, illustratingWar Stories, among other titles. Beginning in 1959, he spent four years drawing DC'sThe Adventures of Bob Hope comic book.[8] Drucker credits this stint as a key moment in his career because it focused his work on caricature.[15]
In 1962, Drucker teamed with the prolific humor writerPaul Laikin on the highly successfulJFK Coloring Book (Kanrom Publishers), which sold 2,500,000 copies. Two decades later, Drucker illustrated similar coloring books onOllie North andRonald Reagan.[8][16] His film posters includeUniversal'sAmerican Graffiti (1973), directed byGeorge Lucas[4] with Drucker also drawing thehigh school yearbook pictures in thefilm trailer.
Drucker also pursued assignments in television animation, movie poster art and magazine illustration, including covers forTime, some of which are in theNational Portrait Gallery of theSmithsonian Institution. His album covers include art for the pop bandThe Bears[17] and theAnthrax albumState of Euphoria, as well as humor albums in the vein of his own "JFK Coloring Book" including "The LBJ Menagerie" and "The New First Family, 1968". In addition to books collecting his own work, he has provided illustrations for numerous books by others, includingchildren's books, humor books and satire. He drew the prop cartoons used in the 1957 Broadway musical comedy,Rumple.[8]
Between 1984 and 1987, Drucker collaborated withJerry Dumas (andJohn Reiner) on the daily comic stripBenchley. Set in theWhite House, the plot revolved around the fictive character Benchley who acted as the assistant and admirer of contemporary presidentRonald Reagan. Dumas commented, "Nobody ever did a strip about the government. It's a wonderful place to set a strip. There's so much room for humor in the White House."[18]Benchley was syndicated by theRegister and Tribune Syndicate.[19]
In 1990, Drucker designed the Supercup forTarget.[20] The following year, for the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, Drucker and executive Mitchell Erick created the Frugies (pronouncedfru-jees) to promote June as National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month. The campaign included such characters as Auntie Broccoli, Lord Mushroom, Pepe L'Pepper, E. J. Cobb, Peach Velour, Penelope Pear and Adam Apple.[21][22][23]
In 2012, Drucker discussed his art style, and how he applied it to hisMad assignments:
I've always considered a caricature to be the complete person, not just a likeness. Hands, in particular, have always been a prime focus for me as they can be as expressive of character as the exaggerations and distortions a caricaturist searches for. I try to capture the essence of the person, not just facial features ... I've discovered through years of working at capturing a humorous likeness that it's not about the features themselves as much as the space between the features. We all have two eyes, a nose, a mouth, hair, and jaw lines, but yet we all look different. What makes that so is the space between them.
The artist is actually creating his own storyboard for the film. I become the "camera" and look for angles, lighting, close-ups, wide angles, long shots—just as a director does to tell the story in the most visually interesting way he can. My first sketches are as much composition and design ideas as they are character and action images ... I don't want to get too involved in the juicy parts since some of what I'm doing will be modified or discarded as I get further involved in the storytelling. I then stand back and look at the page as a complete unit to make sure it's designed well: "Hmmm, three close-up panels in a row of characters talking. Better change that middle panel to a far shot. Maybe make that panel an open vignette." ... Then I place the facing pages together and look at how the spread holds together, and sometimes make changes based on that.[24]
When the magazine's parody ofThe Empire Strikes Back was published in 1980, drawn by Drucker, the magazine received acease and desist letter fromGeorge Lucas' lawyers demanding that the issue be pulled from sale, and thatMad destroy the printing plates, surrender the original art, and turn over all profits from the issue. Unbeknownst to them, George Lucas had just sentMad an effusive letter praising the parody, and declaring, "Special Oscars should be awarded to Drucker andDeBartolo, theGeorge Bernard Shaw andLeonardo da Vinci of comic satire."[25][26] Publisher Gaines mailed a copy of the letter to Lucas' lawyers with a handwritten message across the top: "That's funny, George liked it!"[27] There was no further communication on the matter.[28] Drucker had also worked on the advertising campaign for Lucas' earlier filmAmerican Graffiti. In his introduction to theMad About Star Wars book, Lucas wrote, "I have always defendedMad from my lawyers."[29][30]
In a 1985Tonight Show appearance, whenJohnny Carson askedMichael J. Fox, "When did you really know you'd made it in show business?" Fox replied, "When Mort Drucker drew my head."[31]
Nick Meglin called Drucker "number one in a field of one."Charles Schulz wrote, "Frankly, I don't know how he does it, and I stand in a long list of admirers ... I think he draws everything the way we would all like to draw." In 2012, referring to Drucker's splash page forMad's parody ofThe Godfather, the Comics Reporter'sTom Spurgeon wrote, "The way he drawsJames Caan's eyebrow is worth some folks' entire careers."[32]
Mort Drucker'sTime covers are in the collection of theNational Portrait Gallery. He was recognized for his work with theNational Cartoonists Society Special Features Award (1985, 1986, 1987, 1988), itsReuben Award (1987),Eisner Award Hall of Fame (2010) and induction into the Society's Hall of Fame (2017).[33][34] Drucker was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the Art Institute of Boston. He was awarded theInkpot Award in 1996.[35]
Drucker died on April 9, 2020, in hisWoodbury, New York home.[1] His daughter Laurie reported toAssociated Press that the previous week he had experienced respiratory problems and had trouble walking, but she did not state the actual cause of his death. Laurie added that her father had not been tested for thecoronavirus.[36]
DRUCKER MORRIS WOODBURY NY aka MORT DRUCKER and ERICK MITCHELL OCOEE FL 1,901,999 pub 4 4 1995 Int Cl 41
Metadata
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
