Yeah, I know, just what the planet needs, yet another Blog. But this one is the OFFICIAL Blog of Illustration-ist, cartoonist, humor- mongerist, greasy Stooge-Shemp Howard-enthusiast, Danny Thomas glass coffee table ponderist Drew Friedman! Happier now?
Poster art by Sandy Kossin for "Don't Drink the Water". A prime example of the poster being far better than the film. When Woody Allen finally saw this film version adapted from his play, he vowed to never again let Hollywood "adapt" any of his work.
Sanford (Sandy) Kossin is an illustrator I've admired for many years, ever since I first saw his work on the cover of the paperback edition of my dad's play "Steambath". Kossin's signature tended to blend into his work, so it wasn't till several years later that I connected the dots and realized he was the same talented artist that created some of my favorite film poster images and paperback covers. The amazing thing about his work was his deft ability to shift styles, depending on the particular assignment. He had the rare talent to create stunning, vivid, sometimes intensely realistic images, at the same time also creating fun/funny delightful cartoony images. An "Illustrator's illustrator". As one renowned artist once summed him up: "There are many Sandy Kossins". Here are some of my favorite samples of his work, mostly from the sixties & seventies, when his artwork was omnipresent.
many of the images, mainly of Sandy's paperback book covers, came from this flickr set:
Kossin was one of he most in-demand paperback cover artists of the sixties. heres some of his most stunning covers.
Perhaps Kossin's most well known work was illustrating the invasion of the Bay of Pigs for LIFE magazine in 1963, including the cover.
Poster art for the film satire: "Oh! What a Lovely War"
"Beckett"
foreign poster by Kossin
"The Devil's Brigade"
Paperback cover art by Kossin for "The President I Almost Was" by "Mrs. Yetta Bronstein",
who had been a write-in candidate for president and
actually received enough votes to warrant a book deal.
Poster art for the legendary Clint Eastwood Spaghetti western "Hang 'Em High"
The Train
Cover art for the 1969 movie tie-in paperback
Cover for the 1972 bantam paperback edition of "Steambath". Kossin created this wraparound cover art, and when PBS presented a production of Steambath in 1973, the art (in B&W, with a black bar over her boobs) was used in Hollywood trade publications and newspapers to advertise the show (scroll down).
Steambath Back cover
Kossin poster art for: "Hannibal Brooks". Yes, there once was a day when Michael J. Pollard actually starred in films!
Kossin poster art for "Cold Turkey"
Closer detail
Second version by Kossin
SK poster art for What's Up, Doc?
More realistic Kossin paperback covers.
Add for the 1973 TV production of Steambath using Kossin's earlier paperback artwork.
Poster art for Billy Wilder's poorly received Jack Lemmon comedy: "Avanti!" To this day I haven't seen this film, but always loved his MAD-like poster art.
Some hip, cool Kossin paperback covers from the seventies.
And you thought M*A*S*H only took place in Korea? Think again. In the mid-seventies, Kossin illustrated the covers for a series of M*A*S*H paperbacks, where "M*A*S*H", somehow took to the road for a series of "zany adventures".
Even though M*A*S*H was filmed in Hollywood, they even got to visit Hollywood!
Kossin illustrated just a few assignments for MAD magazine. Here are 2 spreads from the seventies. (click to enlarge)
Kossin poster art from 1975. Jack Rickard also created a poster image for this film.
2 1970's humorous hardcover book covers by Sandy Kossin.
another foreign film poster by Kossin
film poster art created by Sandy Kossin, 1980
Sandy Kossin posed in 1969. He's alive and well, still working and teaching illustration near his home on Long Island.
Here's a recent photo of Sandy and his good friend Mike Lynch.
Throughout the sixties and seventies, Jack Rickard was a popular MAD magazine artist as well as one of the most prolific illustrators working in advertising. In fact, whenever the "MAD Men" did a advertising/MADison Ave spoof, Jack was usually they're go-to guy for the art, satirizing what he knew best and happily biting the hand that fed him. Among "the usual gang of idiots", his name isn't perhaps as famous as, say, Don Martin, Mort Drucker, Jack Davis or Al Jaffee, among others, but his work was consistently on-target, fun, clever, and always beautifully rendered. He's long been one of my MAD favorites.
Long-time MAD editor, and the author of the seminal "The Art of Humorous Illustration" Nick Meglin on Jack Rickard: "My appreciation of Jack Rickard's work was that he could do such terrific work in every medium to give us the special look we needed for each piece--line work here, a funny rendered "Ad" parody there, etc."
MAD writer Frank Jacobs on Jack Rickard: "Jack Rickard was a joy to work with and a talent like no other."
Alfred E. Neuman morphing into MAD publisher William M. Gaines
J.R. also enjoyed a career, (beginning in 1963), as one of the most in-demand film comedy poster artists, (at first exclusively with United Artists), lasting throughout the seventies and into the eighties. It's his film poster work I'm showcasing here. Along with Jack Davis, Frank Frazetta, Sanford Kossin (all of whose film poster work I've blogged about), and to a lesser extent Mort Drucker, J.R. turned out many terrific, fun and innovative movie poster images. Jack's career at MAD lasted only 22 years, beginning in 1962, with his last illustrated piece running in 1984. He died of cancer in 1983 at age 61. At that time, J.R. had become MAD's main cover artist, having taken over from the late, great Norman Mingo.
cover art by Jack Rickard
Enjoy Jack's terrific film poster art, (plus a few extra rare items that tie in), of the great illustrator Jack Rickard.
Some of the posters will be very familiar and some are rare and more obscure, and several might be new to you (many were to me).
Jack Rickard's first poster design for The Pink Panther in 1963,
before the film was cast, perhaps testing his poster art abilities.
via Alan Kaplan: The poster is for the Pink Panther and was done before the final casting of the film. The women in the car is Janet Leigh, who was originally offered the part (she turned it down) that would eventually go to Capucine. She doesn't look very much like the Janet Leigh that we're used to seeing but she does look very much like the way she appeared in Bye, Bye Birdie released earlier that year. The guy "dressed like Pee-wee Herman carrying a saxophone" is the composer of the film, Henry Mancini. In front of him should be Inspector Clouseau in the suit of armor. This might have been based on Peter Ustinov who was originally cast in the part that later went to Sellers.
larger view of the actual poster
Spanish version of the poster
also from 1963, an Italian film comedy. To play up the comedy, Mel Brooks narrated the trailer!
the original art...
Not an actual movie poster but a parody created for MAD in 1964
a forgotten caper film comedy from 1965 with a fun J.R. poster
from 1966, a Billy Wilder hit, poster art by Jack Rickard
Rickard's original art (in black and gray) created for the poster
Jerry Lewis/Tony curtis, together for the first and last time! "the big comedy from Nineteen Sexty Sex!" (1966)
from 1967, a great cast, and another " It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" inspired comedy, and J.R.'s most elaborate poster art to date. Produced by Moe Howard's son-in-law!
Trailers from Hell on "Who's Minding the Mint?"
a Bob Hope/Phyllis Diller "comedy" from 1968
Jack was hired in 1969 to do the original poster art for "Bob, Carol, Ted & Alice" which was ultimately not used. But he enjoyed the last laugh when MAD asked him to do their cover parody of the film in 1970.
the original J.R. art
and his preliminary painting
another popular Jack Lemmon comedy (based on the work of James Thurber) from 1972
the newspaper add for the film
the Belgian poster
from 1974, the sequel to "The Three Musketeers" (in case that needed to be explained)
the Yugoslav poster and a closer look at J.R.'s art... and Raquel Welch's boobs
from 1974, a Peter Sellers comedy, original title: "Soft Beds, Hard Battles" (Oy vey)
A second version with additional J.R. caricatures of 6 Peter sellers in various disguises.
J.R. created several versions of poster art for this popular Sidney Poitier comedy with an all-star black cast, also from his busy year of 1974
second version
a door poster
Jack's poster art for the sequel from 1975. Sanford Kossin also created a poster image for this film (see my blog on Kossin)
larger version
unused J.R. art for the Redd Foxx film adaption of Norman, Is That You?
Art by J.R., unclear which film it was commissioned for but perhaps also for Bingo Long.
J.R. was hired to create the poster art for another all-star black film comedy, "The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings" in 1976 for Motown films, which was ultimately not used
more unused art created for "Bingo Long"
terrific artwork created for "The Ritz" (1976), not used for some reason
J.R. art done in 1978 for the poster for "Movie Movie" starring George C. Scott, but not used
"From the MADman that started it all"... Not.
from 1980, and a legendary, clueless, godawful film disaster (directed by Robert Downey's dad!). MAD publisher William Gaines hated it so much he had MAD do a vicious satire of it. The film's Star Ron Liebman had his name removed from it. The only reason it was even made was an attempt to cash in on the huge success of "National Lampoon's Animal House" from two years earlier. It backfired and bombed. The only actual connections this film had to MAD was the large statue created of Alfred E. Neuman (Which Gaines acquired and sits to this day in the reception room at the MAD offices) and this poster art created by Jack Rickard.
Rickard's preliminary sketch
the original art
J.R. poster art created for the 1980 Martin Mull/Tuesday Weld/Tommy Smothers comedy "Serial" (directed by the legendary comedy writer Bill Persky), though finally not used.
Jack Rickard's final poster illustration, a Dudley Moore all-star "Dud", also from 1980.
Thanks to Nick Meglin, Sandy Kossin, Justin Humphreys, Dale Johnson, David L. Steinhardt, and Alan Kaplan
