Rene Bouche's Jack Benny portrait and more

Rene Bouche (1905-1963) was a renowned 20th century fashion illustrator working for decades for various publications, primarily VOGUE, where he rendered many cover images. He also drew, in his loose, sketchy and elegant style, a number of celebrity portraits and advertisements for magazines.  In the early 1950's he was hired by CBS's creative director William Golden to create portraits of their current stars to be used for advertising and promotional materials. Among these drawings was possibly what would become his most iconic image, a charcoal/marker & gouache silhouette of a relaxed Jack Benny. Benny was so taken with the drawing he used it for his TV show opening and closing and as his official logo throughout the rest of his career.

Read about the origin of the Jack Benny illustration here:

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/ideas-commentary/the-creative-integrity-of-william-golden-17171.html

The original art, measuring 12 x 21 inches, is now on display in the
National Portrait gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, donated by CBS.

opening title card

a later title card with added happy American faces (not drawn by Bouche)

a recent DVD box set

a seventies Las Vegas ad

a newspaper "Benny-Fit" concert ad

and two concert programs...

Bouche's Benny portrait was also used on the TV Guide
tribute cover

                                  More of Bouche's celebrity portraits...

Lucille Ball/Desi Arnez for CBS

Danny Kaye for CBS

Edward R. Murrow for CBS

Marcel Marceau

Geraldine Page

WH Auden

Edna Ferber

Jean Cocteau

Baba Paley, wife of CBS president William Paley

Sophia Loren

John F. Kennedy

Jean Kerr

Teddy Kennedy

Red Skelton

Skelton also used the art as his official logo

Used on this Burger King giveaway record

Judy Garland

Tammy Grimes posed with her portrait

Benny Goodman

Marlene Dietrich

More on Bouche:

http://giam.typepad.com/100_years_of_illustration/ren_robert_bouch_19061963/

THE PRODUCERS Blu-Ray box art

This is my new cover artwork for the upcoming Shout Factory Blu-Ray release of Mel Brooks 1968 comedy classic "The Producers": Zero Mostel as flamboyant Broadway producer Max Bialystock embracing/enticing meek accountant Gene Wilder as Leo Bloom. Mel Brooks had final approval on the art and I was told that when it was finally shown to him he announced: "I LOVE IT!" Oh happy day! The Producers has long been one of my favorite films, so this was really a thrill to work on.

Being released on July 2nd, The "combo pack" will include a Blu-Ray and a DVD disc,  as well as a "making of the Producers" documentary
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C7A8X4Q/ref=s9_psimh_gw_p74_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=12F7Q8FE5BQCBBWBS5PC&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1389517282&pf_rd_i=507846

OLD COMICS, OLD FREAKS, OLD JEWS

 Coming up on Wedneday, April 24th, 7.00 till 9.00 PM (doors open earlier) at The Soho Gallery for Digital Art...

• The Soho Gallery for Digital Art, 138 Sullivan St (between Prince & Houston), NYC, 1-800-420-5590

• "The Vermeer of the Borscht Belt" - The New York Times Graphic Humorist DREW FRIEDMAN will present a visual presentation of old & new works, & discuss/argue all things Old Jewish Comedians, Sideshow Freaks, Comic Book legends, Urban legends, (Milton Berle, Danny Thomas, Billy Barty, Lester...), Shemp Howard, Joe Franklin, Abe Vigoda, Sammy Petrillo, Sophie Tucker, Tor Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Officer Joe Bolton, Harvey Kurtzman, Dave Berg, Zagnuts, Jimmy Grippo, etc with Comic Book & Vernon Dent historian DANNY FINGEROTH. Special Guests to be announced once funds are secured for their cab fares. Old Jewish Comedian & Sideshow Freaks books will be available for sale and inscription. Old Jews will be available for sale & inscription. Special Surprise Guests! Complimentary refreshments will be served! Part of Danny Fingeroths's Comic book round table series Tickets: $12 (cheap!) in advance at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/362647 $17 on day of the event and at the door. http://www.sohodigart.com/ "I stand in awe of Drew Friedman's technique and the certain flavor of sad old America he captures. I love his stuff... He's such a wacko!" -R. Crumb "Drew Friedman isn't just a brilliant artist. He takes you to a place. He takes you back in time. He makes you smell the stale cigarettes and cold brisket and you say, thank you for the pleasure" -Sarah Silverman "Drew Friedman is my favorite artist" -Howard Stern DREW FRIEDMAN's comics & drawings have appeared in Raw, Weirdo, Heavy Metal, National Lampoon, SPY, The New York Times, MAD, The New Yorker, BLAB!, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Observer, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Field & Stream, TIME, The Village Voice, etc. His comics and illustrations have been collected in five anthologies. "Drew Friedman's Sideshow Freaks" was published by Blast! Books in 2011. A new edition of the Shemp-covered childhood favorite "Any Similarity to Persons Living or Dead is Purely Coincidental", co-authored by Josh Alan Friedman, was re-issued by Fantagraphics in 2012, featuring a foreword by a deceased NY elevator operator. Steven Heller in The New York Times wrote of his three volumes of portraits of "Old Jewish Comedians": "A festival of drawing virtuosity and fabulous craggy faces. Friedman might very well be the Vermeer of the Borscht Belt". "The Legends of Comic Books" (tentative title), a new collection of full color portraits depicting the pioneers of the comic book industry, along with biographical info, will be published in 2014. Select Images from the new series will be projected and discussed.

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Bert Henry Album covers

Bert Henry was a "blue" Los Angeles comedian back in the fifties & sixties who looked like the actor who played Dennis the Menace's dad on TV. He recorded a number of live albums in LA dive clubs featuring quick, whiz-bang gags,  stunningly X-rated for their day, some featuring bawdy naked lady album covers.

These are my favorites of his covers though, featuring realistic renderings of his crazed, nebbishy head:

http://www.examiner.com/article/father-of-the-street-joke-a-brief-look-at-bert-henry

Igor's Dream Beer Label

IGOR'S DREAM, a Russian imperial stout beer was officially released by the Two Roads Brewing Company of Connecticut on March 23rd. This is the second beer label illustration I've created (the first was for McSorleys), this time featuring Russian-American Igor Sikorsky who designed the first American helicopter and whose dream obviously was to be featured on a beer label.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Sikorsky

label art direction: Jordan Bochanis

original art, I drew the floating fedoras separately 

Two Roads Brewing Company announcing their latest beer

a bottle of Igor's Dream

"The "Celebrating Kurtzman" Panel

comp for MAD #1

On March 19th, New York's Society of Illustrators hosted a two hour, sold-out, SRO panel discussion and graphic presentation in conjunction with the current Harvey Kurtzman retrospective (curated by Monte Beauchamp and Denis Kitchen) "CELEBRATING KURTZMAN" with artists Robert Grossman, Al Jaffee, Arnold Roth, Drew Friedman, and moderated by Peter Kuper
http://www.societyillustrators.org/Events-and-Programs/Lectures/2013/Celebrating-Kurtzman/Celebrating-Kurtzman.aspx

It was a fabulous and fun night of reminiscing about the brilliant cartoonist/satirist/editor (MAD, TRUMP, HUMBUG, HELP!)
/writer/teacher, GURU, and all around cartoon renaissance man, Harvey Kurtzman. Many cartoonist & illustration luminaries, as well as friends, family members and ex-students from the School of Visual Arts, etc, were also in attendance.

Earlier in the day, Al Jaffee, Arnold Roth and I appeared on the NPR's Leonard Lopate show on WNYC to discuss all things Harvey Kurtzman.  Listen to the entire interview here:

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2013/mar/19/legendary-illustrators-celebrate-mad-magazine/?utm_source=sharedUrl&utm_media=metatag&utm_campaign=sharedUrl

Many HK related images were screened and discussed during the panel, among them: (click to enlarge any image)

I drew this imagined first meeting of EC publisher Bill Gaines first meeting Harvey Kurtzman in 1950, for a 50th anniversary of MAD feature 

Meet the staff of HUMBUG

Meet the staff of HELP!
L to R: Publisher James Warren, editor Harvey Kurtzman, HK's assistant,
curvy Gloria Steinem, business manager Harry Chester
(Terry Gilliam would join later)

 This was a group photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt taken at the 1971 
Playboy writers convention. Included among the many luminaries flanking 
Hef: Arthur C. Clarke, Michael Chrichton, Art Buchwald, Jean Shephard,
 John Cheever, Jules Feiffer, Shel Silverstein, Gay Talese, one lady and 
LeRoy Neiman. To the right of Neiman is Harvey Kurtzman and to
 Kurtzman's
 right is my father, Bruce Jay Friedman. When my dad showed 
me this photo 
(I was 12) the thing that MOST impressed me was that he was standing right 
next to one of my all time idols, The man that invented MAD, Harvey Kurtzman.
 I would finally meet Kurtzman seven years later.

key to who's who

1975, the first issue of HK's class publication "kar-tunz". As I mentioned during the panel, the sole reason I chose the School of Visual Arts as an art school in 1977 was because Harvey
Kurtzman was listed as an instructor in their catalog.

Hk created this cartoon image to be included in kar-tunz the first year I took his class and
inscribed this copy for me.

ex-student visiting Harvey at SVA, circa 1984 (bad hair day for me) photo by
ex-Kurtzman student/classmate Mark Newgarden

Mark Newgarden & Harvey/photo by Drew Friedman

Arnold Roth, Robert Grossman, Al Jaffee and me prepare for the HK slideshow

many back-of-heads were in attendance for the HK panel

Arnold Roth, Robert Grossman, Al Jaffee, Drew Friedman and moderator Peter Kuper,
 surrounded by Kurtzman originals.
 Back of heads: (center) Tom Bunk, Joyce Jaffe

Arnold Roth: "Walking into the Angouleme comics festival with Harvey was like walking
into the Vatican with Jesus"

Al Jaffee: "I've been doing the MAD fold-in now for 45 years. If I'd have done it for Harvey, it would have run once. He was always looking for NEW ideas"

Me: "Imagine a world if Harvey Kurtzman had never existed. There would have been no MAD magazine, which means there would have been no CRACKED magazine... or SICK magazine. Unimaginable!"

my recently completed portrait of Harvey Kurtzman

This was my 2012 memoir on Harvey Kurtzman for the Comics Journal, "Seriously Funny":
http://www.tcj.com/seriously-funny/

All about "The Art of Harvey Kurtzman show" at the Society of Illustrators in NYC:

http://www.societyillustrators.org/The-Museum/2013/Harvey-Kurtzman/The-Art-of-Harvey-Kurtzman.aspx

Thanks to Peter Kuper, Mark Newgarden, Glenn Bray, Monte Beauchamp, Anelle Miller and Ben Fentington. Panel photos by Ray Alma and Chris Boyle, among others.