Cartoonist Jack Davis dies at age 91

So, wise reader, you may have heard of the passing of this giant in the world of cartooning, and are now wondering what he has to do with the world of motion pictures. Well, Mr. Davis did have one screen credit, which we’ll discuss in a bit. No, more importantly John Burton “Jack” Davis, Jr. has added to the fun, or to use an old term “ballyhoo”, of promoting movies for well over fifty years. It’s difficult not to think of his work when recalling so many classic films.

First, a little bio background. He was born on December 2, 1924 in Atlanta Georgia. After graduating from the University of Georgia, Jack landed several cartooning gigs including a stint with the newspaper comic strip based ion the classic character “The Saint”. Then in 1950 he joined the staff of the legendary comics publishing company Entertaining Comics (EC). Jack produced amazing art for titles like “Frontline Combat” and “Two Fisted Tales. But the big sellers at EC were the horror anthologies, and Jack was one of the most popular artists, helping to design the host character, the Cryptkeeper, for “Tales From the Crypt” (some of its stories were adapted into films by Britain’s Amicus Studios in the 1970’s in TALES FROM THE CRYPT and THE VAULT OF HORROR). But the work that truly showcased Jack’s incredible talent was his contribution to the then color comic book “Mad” in 1952. He led his penchant humor run wild with memorable pieces like “The Lone Stranger” and “Hah Noon”. Soon Jack was doing lots of work outside the comics: advertising, magazine covers, record albums, bubble gum cards, and movie posters. His most famous movie poster wasn’t his first, but this one established him as the “go to” guy for promoting comedy films. Behold the majesty of…

Jack’s art promised zany mayhem which the film nearly delivers. But most flicks couldn’t truly present the stunning spectacle of Mr. Davis’s designs. I recall buying that record album and just staring at that beautiful cover literally for hours. From the 60’s, Jack kept producing masterpieces of mirth into the 1970’s as the perfect match for another comedy master….

Perhaps you noticed the tribute to this poster in the recent film WIENER-DOG. A character played by Danny DeVito is depicted in a poster for the flick, “Apricots”.  In 1973, Jack drew up a movie poster similar to his work in Mad Magazine for Robert Altman’s take on the classic private eye….

The flick’s a lot darker than that. Still Jack nails the likenesses of Gould and company. Another iconic image was seen in 1976 with one of the greatest sports comedies of all time….

Okay, about that screen credit. In the mid 1960’s , Jack did character sketches and model sheets for TV cartoons “King Kong” and “The Jackson Five” from the Rankin/Bass Studios, the “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” folks. When R/B decided to make a feature-length stop-motion animated comedy starring the classic movie monsters, Jack was tapped to design them, including one voiced by Karloff himself. Here’s the trailer for MAD MONSTER PARTY…

…and the model sheet sketches of Count Dracula…

Now his most famous monster art may be this nifty poster offered in the back of Warren magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland back in the 60’s. How many lucky “monster kids” had this taped to the inside of their bedroom door? Sorry, the coupon’s been invalid for fifty years…

So, here’s a big movie geeks thank you, Jack D! And there’s a lot of his art floating around out there that many of his biggest fans (like yours truly) have never seen! This prolific master is the gift that just keeps on giving! We’re sad that he’s left the art studio at age 91 and we extend our sympathies to his family, but hey, aren’t we all unbelievably lucky to have had nearly a century of Jack Davis?!