Buford Tune in College Humor, August 1937

What a cartoon Buford Tune has in the August 1937 number of College Humor! This long-forgotten gem is a technically-plausible rendering of an absolutely preposterous pun, with a scantily-clad young woman (who doesn't seem to need the product she ordered) thrown in for good measure. Come on, what more do you want?

"Don't argue with me—I ordered a girdle!"
Buford Tune
College Humor, Vol. 5, No. 4, August 1937, page 38

Scanned by Dick Buchanan

Note:  Once again my thanks go to Dick Buchanan for putting his superb scanning skills to such good use. He contributes regularly to Mike Lynch Cartoons, most recently a silent piece called "'Captions? Who Needs 'Em?' Wordless Gag Cartoons 1947 – 1970."

Help put all this in perspective. Readers are welcome to contribute scans or photos of published rarities or original art by Buford Tune.

For biographical info, check out Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: Buford Tune which appeared on October 20, 2014 in A Stripper's Guide.

Buford Tune published one and only one cartoon in The New Yorker, qualifying him as a member Ink Spill's One Club.

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02334

Buford Tune's Dotty Dripple: Making a Splash

"This should stop your father from sliding down the bannister!" Original comic book cover art for Buford Tune's Dotty Dripple Comics #20 was sold at Heritage Auctions in 2004 for just $46. The comic book cover makes clear what we already know: that immature men misbehave and smart women are prepared to teach them a lesson. But what if the remedy is worse than the original offense?

"This should stop your father from sliding down the bannister!"
Buford Tune
Original art
Dolly Dripple Comics #20, October 1951, Harvey Comics

"This should stop your father from sliding down the bannister!"
Buford Tune
Dolly Dripple Comics #20, October 1951, Harvey Comics

The artwork:

Buford Tune
Heritage Auction, November 7, 2004

https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/buford-tune-dottie-dripple-cover-original-art-harvey-1950s-bannister-sliding-is-such-a-guy-thing-which-is-why-dotti/a/14112-18029.s#guides-info

Buford Tune
Heritage Auction, November 7, 2004

https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/buford-tune-dottie-dripple-cover-original-art-harvey-1950s-bannister-sliding-is-such-a-guy-thing-which-is-why-dotti/a/14112-18029.s#guides-info

The comic book:

Buford Tune
eBay Listing as of June 2, 2017

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dotty-Dripple-Comics-20-Buford-Tune-Art-GD/201943959406?_trksid=p2047675.c100037.m2107&_trkparms=aid%3D444000%26algo%3DSOI.DEFAULT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D41451%26meid%3D02a8919dfeb34a6bacd95cd986038401%26pid%3D100037%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D3%26sd%3D201914314829

eBay Item Description

Buford Tune, "This should stop your father from sliding down the bannister!"
Original art, Dolly Dripple Comics #20, October 1951, Harvey Comics

"This should stop your father from sliding down the bannister!"
Buford Tune
Dolly Dripple Comics #20, October 1951, Harvey Comics

Note:  Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: Buford Tune was published on October 20, 2014 by A Stripper's Guide.

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02208

The File on Buford Tune

Five obscure gag cartoons by Buford Tune come to us today courtesy of Dick Buchanan's Cartoon Clip File. The earliest three cartoons are from 1000 New Jokes published by Dell. The title was formerly known as Ballyhoo and would later be shortened to 1000 Jokes. This undated issue is from the late 1930's and is quite possibly the first of this title.

In the first Tune cartoon, the setting is a lighthouse. The sailors can't possibly have as good a view as we do:

"All the ships seem to be coming this way, Henry!"
Buford Tune, 1000 New Jokes, n.d., c. 1937-38, page 13

In the second cartoon, we can finally understand the appeal of tobacco:

"Henry's done nothing but sit and smoke for the past three days!"
Buford Tune, 1000 New Jokes, n.d., c. 1937-38, page 31

Somehow cartoonists like Tune seem to know instinctively what goes on in doctors' offices:

"But, doctor—I only have a sprained ankle!"
Buford Tune, 1000 New Jokes, n.d., c. 1937-38, page 32

From Click's Cartoon Annual of 1940, there is a well-executed but perhaps not so well-written gag about height. While the caption could use a little work, even so the gag is simply not that inspired.

"How old was young Thornton when he first came with us?"
Buford Tune, Click's Cartoon Annual, January 1940, Vol. 1, No. 1, page 93

Finally, a Collier's cartoon from 1941 shows Tune again adapting his style to a different market. This prompts the question: are the less risqué gags also less funny?

"My—what we would do to your skin if you could leave it overnight!"
Buford Tune, Collier's, October 26, 1941, page 61

Note:  These cartoons appear here courtesy of Dick Buchanan's Cartoon Clip File. Thanks, Dick.

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02207

Buford Tune on the Cover of Jokes, 1933

While we're on the subject of cartoonist Buford Tune...


Karen Green, the Curator for Comics and Cartoons at Columbia University, has reminded me of one of her finds from the cover-a-day project she started back in 2015. For one full year, she documented the covers of different magazine titles in the Steven Boss humor magazine collection. The one-hundred twenty-sixth entry in this project was Jokes, Volume 1, Number 1, dating from 1933. Ms. Green writes, "This is the only issue of this title in the Steven Boss humor magazine collection, at Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library, and appears to be the only issue in any library at all. The cover illustration is by Buford Tune, who would create the strip Dotty Dripple eleven years later."

Tune's cover art, rendered in linear black-and-white, more closely resembles a daily comic strip panel than a gag cartoon such as those he did for College Humor and other magazines in that it is meant to be reproduced without any intermediate shading. The cover gag, such as it is, depicts nothing more elaborate than the relating of a joke; in this case the "buzz" is passed along from a comically short gentlemen to a comically tall one about four times his height. Parts of the taller man's wardrobe which are in black correspond to those like parts of the shorter man's wardrobe in white, and vice versa, down even to the hat bands.

The cover's text is clearly a not-very-inventive riff on the New York Times's slogan "All the News That's Fit to Print" first used by publisher Adolph Ochs in 1896 and a daily feature of the newspaper's front page pretty much ever since. In addition, eager readers are promised they can "Be the life of the party" and "Say the bright thing at the right time," assurances that if nothing else indicate that the joke-writing will be disappointing.

Buford Tune, Jokes, Vol 1, No. 1, 1933

http://klg19.tumblr.com/post/131147159660/jokes-volume-1-number-1-1933-this-is-the

Note:  Additional cartoon art, published and otherwise, by the well-named Buford Tune, is eagerly sought after here.

It seems the only library anywhere in which you can look up this issue of Jokes is the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University. It's in the Steven Boss humor magazine collection, home to some 5,600 magazines including this rarity. I'd love to have a look at it someday—after all, it's never too late to become the life of the party. In the meantime, thanks go to Curator for Comics and Cartoons Karen Green for photographing the cover and now passing it along here, thus doing the bright thing at the right time.

The entire cover-a-day project may be seen on tumblr.

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And that's the long and the short of it.

02206

Buford Tune in College Humor, September 1937

Buford Tune (1906-1989) is best known as the creator of "Dotty Dripple," a comic strip which ran from 1944 to 1974 and resembled Chic Young's "Blondie." Two single-panel cartoons by Tune appear in the September 1937 issue of College Humor magazine. Both these cartoons derive their humor by confirming readers' suspicions about how powerful men take advantage of attractive women. In this world view, the behavior of both the casting director and the physician are governed by their libidos and answer to no professional code of conduct.

"Mr. Epworth is ready for your audition now!"
Buford Tune, College Humor, Vol. 6, No. 1, September 1937, page 40

"Isn't this a rather unusual prescription, doctor?"
Buford Tune, College Humor, Vol. 6, No. 1, September 1937, page 61

Note:  This Tune's got talent. Attempted Bloggery would like to show further examples of his published single-panel cartoons. Original cartoon art by Buford Tune. would be welcome too, of course.

Some biographical information on Tune can be found on Kees Kousemaker's Comiclopedia.

According to his capsule biography of the New Yorker cartoonist on Michael Maslin's Ink Spill, Tune is a member of the One Club for his single cartoon published in the issue of October 10, 1936.

This issue of College Humor is in the Steven Boss humor magazine collection at Columbia University where I photographed it. The Rare Book & Manuscript Library is home to some 5,600 humor magazines, more than anyone could ever hope to read, let alone photograph or blog about. Curator for Comics and Cartoons Karen Green can guide anyone to relevant parts of the collection. Don't get too far ahead of me now.

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I hope we’ve passed the audition.

02205

William Von Riegen and Buford Tune in College Humor, May 1937

Two unsigned cartoons from the May 1937 issue of College Humor could be the work of William Von Riegen. The cartoons are reproduced in a horizontal orientation and the signatures may very well have been cropped out of the image. The first deals with a surefire humorous scenario: the shy man who encounters a sexually assertive woman.

"You're not the aggressive type, are you, Mr. Walters?"
William Von Riegen [?], College Humor, Vol. 5, No. 1, May 1937, page 57

The second, which may not be by Von Riegen, may be taken as a commentary on some of the Hollywood sex scandals of the era, particularly those that may have involved aging child stars who continued to take on roles considerably younger than their chronological ages. The depiction here of an infant having an affair with a young woman is clearly meant to be ridiculous, but today it is hard to view this gag as anything but tasteless in the extreme.

"Just how far has your romance with young Robbins gone?"
Buford Tune, College Humor, Vol. 5, No. 1, May 1937, page 59

May 23, 2017 Update: I am now attributing the second cartoon to Buford Tune.


Note:  This issue of College Humor is in the Steven Boss humor magazine collection at Columbia University. The Rare Book & Manuscript Library is home to some 5,600 humor magazines and Curator for Comics and Cartoons Karen Green knows where to find them all.

Are these unsigned cartoons truly the work of William Von Riegen? The first seems very likely to be, the second less so, but, by all means, tell me what you think.


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02196