PAUL COKER Jr. (1929-2022)

Recently, on July 23, cartoonist Paul Coker Jr., one of my favorite artists from the original MAD Magazine Usual Gang of Idiots, passed on.  The following is the article appearing in ANIMATION Magazine on the day of his passing:

Animation artist and illustrator Paul Coker Jr., best known for his character and production designs for the classic Rankin/Bass stop-motion specials as well as his long stint illustrating for MAD Magazine, died at home in Santa Fe, New Mexico on July 23 at age 93, after a brief illness. Coker’s stepdaughter, Lee Smithson Burd, confirmed his passing to Deadline and shared that the artist was “lucid and had his remarkable sense of humor until the end.”

Born March 5, 1929 in Lawrence, Kansas, Coker studied drawing and painting at the University of Kansas, and began his career designing greeting cards for Hallmark in the 1950s in Kansas City, Missouri. He became the Art Director for the company’s humorous “Contemporary Card” line.

His first work for MAD appeared in 1961, and he became established as one of the publication’s so-called “Usual Gang of Idiots.” He went on to illustrate over 375 articles for the humor rag, as well as a series of paperbacks starting in 1968.

Coker was known for his “Horrifying Clichés” panels and film/TV parody spoofs. He also collaborated with MAD writer Don Edwing on the Lancelot and Horace & Buggy comic strips. Coker freelanced for other publications, including Esquire, Good Housekeeping and Playboy. 

To generations of fans, however, Coker will be remembered as the artful hand that created beloved Rankin/Bass characters like Frosty the Snowman (from the 1969 2D special); Kris Kringle, Winter Warlock and Burgermeister Meisterburger (Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, 1970); and the wonderfully vaudevillian villains Snow Miser and Heat Miser (The Year without a Santa Claus).

                                       

For Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr.’s iconic studio, Coker also provided character designs for stop-motion specials Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971), Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July (1979) and The Enchanted World of Danny Kaye: The Emperor’s New Clothes (1972) as well as 2D specials and series like Festival of Family Classics and The Wacky World of Mother Goose. 

                                  

Coker lent his talents to to many of these titles as well, in addition to The First Easter Rabbit, Frosty’s Winter Wonderland, Rudolph’s Shiny New Year, Jack Frost, The Stingiest Man in Town and Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey, to name a few. Coker continued working the the studio into the early 2000s, on the 2D TV movie Santa, Baby! He also provided character models for Cartoon Network’s Whatever Happened to Robot Jones? (2002).                          Coker is survived by his wife of 33 years, Rosemary Smithson, and stepdaughters Lee Smithson Burd and Carol Smithson.

THE RULE OF THUMB!

If you are a senior citizen, you have faulty eyesight and you're not very technology-wise,

this has most certainly happened to you at least once. Or maybe, more than once. 

But don't worry. That's okay. You're human.  

JUST DON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN, OKAY?

"Here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!"

 

Of course, that was one of Oliver Hardy's most familiar catchphrases along with "Why don't you do something to help me?" and "Hard boiled eggs and nuts! Hmmh!"  Unforgettable words, always directed at his slow-witted partner Stan Laurel in their many short films from the 1930s. Unlike most comedy double acts who consisted of a funny guy paired with a straight man, Laurel and Hardy were a comedy team formed by two equally funny comedians, each one in his own particular style which complemented and counterbalanced the other.  Considered by many film scholars as being the greatest comedy team ever, Laurel & Hardy have always remained a very important and recurring part of my life. Every mistake, downfall, calamity, disaster, stupid move, wrong turn or spill I've experienced in my daily existence, always remind me of something that happened to The Boys. And then I realize I am not alone, for Laurel & Hardy were echoing all humanity with its many shortcomings and foibles. Therefore, I will always remain grateful that Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy existed and even though they are gone now, their influence still remains with me and those like me who remember them fondly.

'Twas Ever Thus!

I was 6 years old when Ollie passed away and I vaguely remember my grandfather making some comments about it. I guess I was much too young to be really impressed mainly because most of the comedians I watched on TV from the silent era and early talkies had almost all died by then, a fact my parents were quick to provide whenever they saw me watching those films.

“Hey, ma! Look at this funny guy here! Who’s he?”

“Oh, he’s Harry Langdon. He’s dead now!”

YESTERDAY, LOVE WAS SUCH AN EASY GAME TO PLAY!

On tour in Guadalajara with actress Irlanda Mora and an unidentified girl, many, many, many years ago! We were appearing with a comedy play in a local night club and we were taping some promo footage for local TV channels to advertise the show. 

 This photo also proves I've met some women in my time! 

LOVE CONNECTION?

 

THE GRIEF OF PAINTING

A few weeks ago, I offered to help a girl friend of mine to pick up a very large and heavy painting from her home and take it to a gallery as a consignment for sale. While I was trying to pack it with bubble wrap, the frame tilted a bit, hit an armchair and suffered a slight rip of the canvas. The restoration of the artwork cost me close to a thousand dollars.  The moral of the story? 

Never try to pick up a heavy framed painting by yourself and NEVER try to impress a girl friend!

CUCURUCHO #5 - Back Cover

Here's a nicely restored version of the back cover of CUCURUCHO # 5, published in 1975.

YOU BET YOUR LIFE!

Wise quote by an often quoted Groucho Marx!

TWA Photo Booth, 2022

The day I arrived at JFK to visit my son and his family in Hoboken, NJ, and the day I left. (With my son Ricardo by my side, as always!)

Turning 71!

Homo Sapiens

Our planet is fine. It has survived the worst catastrophes for billions of years. 

Humans, on the other hand, are an entirely different story.

THE PEACOCK EFFECT

 Watching the girls jog by.

May The Fourth Be With You!

Today I got my fourth COVID-19 vaccine shot. 

 Here's hoping the full force of the vaccine will diminish the dark power of the Coronavirus.

TRAVELING

As June begins, I'm still visiting with my son and his family in Hoboken New Jersey after a three week stay in San Antonio Texas last April with my other four grandchildren.   This photo was taken at the TWA Hotel the day I arrived in New York early in May!

THE SELF-FRISKING TECHNIQUE

And as you grow older, some things become essential, like the self-frisking technique before you leave the house...

PINK PANTHER Olympic Trading Cards

            

Two cards published in 1990 by Editorial VID with an Olympic theme. These two were the ones I did. 

The rest of the collection featured all the other characters from Vid's comic book titles.

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo...like every other Cinco de Mayo.

 

CUCURUCHO - The Llera Covers

Forty seven years ago, I was hired to do some comic stories for a kiddie magazine in Mexico. The magazine was titled CUCURUCHO and it ran for 20 issues. My job was to provide some comic pages between the fun activities like coloring, origami folding, puzzles, read aloud stories, word games, and other kiddie related material.

 

 

I came up with three different titles for the mag: "Cucurucho, The Magical",  about a boy who had magical powers and lived in a little box; "Gavin, The Cowboy Mouse", about four rodent rustlers in the Old West;  and "Hector and the Detective", about a gangster's ghost who lives in an old revolver owned by a private eye.  Pretty exciting stuff, eh? 

I managed to do the cover art on 14 of the 20 issues released. The rest were done by the editor of the magazine, Checo Valdez and the late Eduardo del Rio (RIUS), the celebrated Mexican political cartoonist.

By the end of 1975, after very faulty promotion and some bad economic choices by the

 publishing staff which resulted in rather poor sales, CUCURUCHO was finally discontinued.

Beginning 1976 after my 12 month hiatus, I was back at Editorial Novaro, doing

 THE PINK PANTHER and  BEEP BEEP THE ROAD RUNNER for the Hispanic markets.

However, even today, I still get comments from children who read the magazine back in 1975, and remember it fondly for its original content and who thought highly of the effort poured into the project by all the people who collaborated jointly in helping the magazine to flourish briefly during their childhood. 

I have revisited the pages of CUCURUCHO lately and, although it is obviously a product of its time, it still holds up well in terms of originality and humor. Kids nowadays would find it naive and out of step with the era of social media and internet gamers but on its day, it was a worthwhile and entertaining publication for children of the 70s.

These were the last two issues of CUCURUCHO.  I don't think my grandchildren would appreciate them as much as the kids from four decades ago so I guess I'll put them back into my personal archives and let the memories hover around for a little while before going on to something else.

HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY, 2022!

 

This is me in 1956. Wish I could go back in time and warn myself about the future!

I Remember Abu Dhabi!

Back in 2016, I flew to Abu Dhabi to meet with my sister who was living there at the time. Spent one great month making the scene there and at Dubai, where I visited every tourist attraction and several other places not seen by the general public. All in all, a wonderful experience! 

The End of the Holidays?

 

ACCORDION IN HELL

I took accordion lessons way, way back in Grade School. 

According to this FAR SIDE cartoon by Gary Larson, does that mean I'm going to end up 

at the place down below?

 

Since I know you're all dying to know, here's a close up of the Hohner Accordion Model that I used to play. The expression on my face on the picture at right, tells everything about the joy I felt about learning this instrument. 

The New Stand-Up Comedy Rules?