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March 10, 2009
Handyman Magazine's "400 Quick Answers"
Here's a find I'm really amazed by, for a few reasons. First, the illustrations here are prime, superb examples of the cartoon style that was prevalent in so many publications in mid-century America. When I find visual flotsam like this - done for a humble home improvement manual - 50 years after the fact, I can't help but long for a time-machine to escape the ugly dreariness of modern life. Second, this is of such remarkable quality I was astonished to discover - well, not discover - that it doesn't seem to have been scanned and uploaded elsewhere online, nor do I have any indication of who the artist might have been.
There are dozens of functional diagrams and illos like the one to the left, but the chapter headings below are the real gold here. The book has a copyright of 1955, and was art directed by a Franc L. Roggeri, whose only other credit seems to have been
Galaxy Magazine Science Fiction. If anyone has any more info about the illustrator here, or Roggeri, please comment.
My (fairly certain) guess would be that this is the work of N.M. Bodecker who also illustrated all of Edward Eager's fine novels.
Posted by: Paul Karasik at March 11, 2009 04:27 PM
Hey Jeff; great find - saw your request for info on that tcj board and Neutron's suggestion that it might be Lowell Hess. A good suggestion - but its not Lowell. The guy who might be able to ID this artist is Glen Mullaly http://www.flickr.com/people/glenmullaly/
Obscure 50's advertising cartoonists are Glen's specialty.
Keep up the great work!
L ;^)
Posted by: leif at March 11, 2009 08:06 PM
Thank you both -- I will investigate a bit more and report back.
Posted by: Jeffrey Meyer at March 11, 2009 08:23 PM
These cartoons look very much like the work of Don Margules. Margules was a chicago artist in the '50s and '60s. Mostly he did commercial art...but his cartoons appeared in early men's mags. The guy is virtually unknown. In the early '60s, he did a feature for PLAYBOY called "The Playboy Coloring Book", but it wasn't in his VIP style that we see in this hardware mag thing. Mostly he did ads, though.
I guess the tip off would be if the Hardware mag was published in Chicago. Margulies pounded the pavement for work...and mostly worked for outfits in Chicago. In later life, he did a perfect Jack Davis for ads. It looked exactly like Davis, and in some cases it was better than Davis. The guy was the best style mimic around...and I think he did some Dick Tracy licensed stuff as well, which he drew exactly like Gould.
Posted by: Jay Lynch at March 12, 2009 11:35 PM
Received the below email from Roy Doty this morning:
"Not sure who drew that spot. Lowell Hess sounds like a good guess. It was way before my days at Handyman."
Posted by: Mike Lynch at March 13, 2009 06:25 AM
Maybe it's spelled "Margolis". Don Margolis? There was also a guy named Don Margolin who did cartoons and wrote for the satire mags... But this stuff 1s by Don Margolis...or Margules. I'm fairly sure.
Posted by: Jay Lynch at March 15, 2009 09:57 AM
Hi Jeff,
Franc L Roggeri was my dad(1909-1976)
Handyman Magazine, which later became Family Handyman, was owned and published by Universal Publishing which also published Ski Magazine, Golf Magazine, Galaxy Science Fiction Series, Home Planner among others.
My Dad was the Executive VP and Executive Art Director of Universal for approx 30 years and was responsible for the art direction of all of their publications.
As a high school student he painted the murals in the lobby of James Monroe High School in NYC and earned numerous awards for his painting receiving scholarships to study Art in Europe.
Posted by: Franc R. Roggeri at April 23, 2009 12:56 PM
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Here's a find I'm really amazed by, for a few reasons. First, the illustrations here are prime, superb examples of the cartoon style that was prevalent in so many publications in mid-century America. When I find visual flotsam like this - done for a humble home improvement manual - 50 years after the fact, I can't help but long for a time-machine to escape the ugly dreariness of modern life. Second, this is of such remarkable quality I was astonished to discover - well, not discover - that it doesn't seem to have been scanned and uploaded elsewhere online, nor do I have any indication of who the artist might have been. 
There are dozens of functional diagrams and illos like the one to the left, but the chapter headings below are the real gold here. The book has a copyright of 1955, and was art directed by a Franc L. Roggeri, whose only other credit seems to have been Galaxy Magazine Science Fiction. If anyone has any more info about the illustrator here, or Roggeri, please comment.
