The Blue Funties by Bill Greenhead

Here's the one-man animator/cartoonist/writer Bill Greenhead with his latest fun animation "The Blue Funties."

Bob Clarke 1926-2013

Above: Bob Clarke's 1967 self portrait from MAD #111.

Bob Clarke, who contributed to MAD Magazine for six decades, died March 31, 2013. The cause was complications from pneumonia. He lived and worked in Seaford, Delaware.

From the MAD Magazine site:

“We’re sad to announce that on Sunday, legendary MAD artist Bob Clarke passed away at the age of 87. 

“Bob was with MAD nearly from the start — first contributing in 1956 and continuing through 2010. 

“During his amazing career as one of ‘The Usual Gang of Idiots,’ Bob was one of the magazine’s most versatile artists, illustrating everything from covers, to articles, to Spy vs. Spy, to bonus inserts for MAD specials [including the MAD Zeppelin paper model and the MAD mobile]. Bob’s contribution to MAD’s legacy is massive, and he’ll be greatly missed.”

From the Seaford DE Statesman Journal:

Clarke had fun being part of the MAD staff – self-proclaimed as “The Usual Gang of Idiots” – and did his share of pranks and jokes, his nephew said. 

When publisher Bill Gaines took artists and writers on yearly adventures, one of Clarke’s pranks was a classic. 

Their hotel had a room behind the registration desk with banks of lights to show when room doors opened or closed. “Bob, whose first wife was Lithuanian, convinced the fellow Idiots to wake up throughout the night and open and close their doors a dozen times or so to keep the KGB on their toes!” his nephew said.

Tom Richmond remembers Bob Clarke

Video: The Life of Thomas Nast

Thomas Nast self portrait from the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum.


Fiona Deans Halloran recounts the life of political cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840-1902). She teaches history at Rowland Hall-St. Mark's School in Salt Lake City, Utah.

There is no direct link, but you can see her presentation on YouTube here.

She has written a new biography, published by UNC Press, THOMAS NAST, THE FATHER OF MODERN POLITICAL CARTOONS.

"A regular contributor to Harper's Weekly, Nast made popular the donkey and elephant as symbols of the Democratic and Republican Parties. Ms. Halloran examines the role the cartoonist played in Gilded Age politics and his many detractors, William "Boss" Tweed, and friends, Mark Twain that he accrued throughout his career. Fiona Deans Halloran speaks at the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, Kentucky."