A cartoon from 1963 serves to remind us of the importance of staying safe on Halloween. Dick Buchanan submitted this scan to Attempted Bloggery. He writes that "Ben Wicks was a Canadian and celebrated there for many worthy projects. He was a regular in the Post during the 1960's."
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| "Trick or treat?" Ben Wicks The Saturday Evening Post, November 2, 1963
Scan by Dick Buchanan
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The supposed threat of violence perpetrated by trick-or-treaters on which this gag hangs might strike some today as not very fertile ground for humor. It seems unlikely though that the Post's editors gave this any serious thought at the time. This issue is dated just a few short weeks before Americans were to be reminded of our collective vulnerability by the assassination of President Kennedy. Would a gag cartoon such as this have been selected for publication immediately after that horrific event? Perhaps not.
Note: This is the first appearance of cartoonist Ben Wicks on this blog.
I want to thank Dick Buchanan for once again coming through with a timely and beautiful scan from the celebrated Dick Buchanan Cartoon Clip Files. Dick contributes regularly to Mike Lynch Cartoons, most recently a post entitled "From the Dick Buchanan Files: Color Gag Cartoons 1947 - 1957." You'd better go and have a look.
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