Today, the late Mort Walker is best remembered for his Beetle Bailey comic strip which began publication in 1950. In 1952, he was still actively creating gag cartoons for Collier's, which was to cease publication after 1956. A Mother's Day cartoon by Walker is disarming in its approach to the contrasting sentiments of mother and son. The son is rather nonchalant about it all, possibly even mocking, but there is no doubt the mother's tear is genuine. The furniture, it will be noted, like the sentiment, accurately reflects its time. The doorway arch unobtrusively directs the eye into the center of the cartoon toward the oversized Mother's Day card on which this gag hangs. All together now: Aw!
Note: Shucks! My thanks to Dick Buchanan for providing us with this heartwarming scan from the legendary Dick Buchanan Cartoon Clip Files. Dick contributes regularly to Mike Lynch Cartoons, most recently a post entitled, "From the Dick Buchanan Files: Syd Hoff 1936 - 1958." Syd Hoff has long been a favorite cartoonist around here so be sure to check it out. And to call your mother.
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| "We had to make them in class today. Sort of touches your heart, doesn't it, Ma?" Mort Walker Collier's, May 17, 1952, page 73
Scan by Dick Buchanan
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