crazy magazine cartoonist Al Jaffee attends an event honoring veteran contributors to the magazine at the Savannah College of Art and Design and the National Association of Cartoonists on October 11, 2011, in Savannah, Ga. Jaffee died Monday at the age of 102.
Stephen Morton/AP
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Stephen Morton/AP
crazy magazine cartoonist Al Jaffee attends an event honoring veteran contributors to the magazine at the Savannah College of Art and Design and the National Association of Cartoonists on October 11, 2011, in Savannah, Ga. Jaffee died Monday at the age of 102.
Stephen Morton/AP
NEW YORK – Al Jaffee, Foolhardy Newspapers award-winning cartoonist and ageless wisecracker who has delighted millions of kids with Fold-In’s sneaky fun and the catchy quote of “Quick Answers to Questions.” silly question” passed away. He was 102.
Jaffee died Monday in Manhattan from multiple organ failure, according to his niece, Fani Thomson. He retired at the age of 99.
Foolhardy, with its witty, sometimes critical political and cultural content, is a must-read for teenagers and young adults during the baby boom and an inspiration to countless comedians in future. Few of the self-billing magazines “The Usual Stupid Gang” have contributed as much – and believably – as the mischievous, bearded cartoonist.
For decades, almost every issue had new material by Jaffee. His “Fold-Ins” collection, which appeals to everyone in his unmistakably broad visual style from the Beatles to TMZ, was enough for a four-volume box set published in 2011.
Readers enjoy his Fold-Ins like desserts, flipping to them on the inside of the back cover after perusing other favorites like Antonio Prohías’ “Spy. vs. Spy” and “The Lighter Side” ” by Dave Berg. The premise, originally a forgery of the old one Sports Illustrated And dissipated magazine, you start with a full-page drawing and the question at the top, fold the two indicated points towards the middle and create a new and surprising image, along with the answer.
Fold-In was supposed to be a one-off joke, tried in 1964 when Jaffee satirized the most famous news of the time: Elizabeth Taylor left her husband, Eddie Fisher, in favor Queen Cleopatra co-star Richard Burton. First, Jaffee shows Taylor and Burton hand-in-hand on one side of the picture, and on the opposite side a handsome, young man being held by a policeman.
Folding the photo in, Taylor and the young man are kissing.
This idea is so popular Foolhardy editor Al Feldstein wants to follow. Jaffee devised a picture of the 1964 GOP presidential candidates Nelson Rockefeller and Barry Goldwater that, when collapsed, became an image of Richard Nixon.
“That really sets the tone for Fold-Ins intelligence,” says Jaffee. Phoenix Boston in 2010. “Can’t just get the person on the left to kiss the person on the right.”
‘Quick Answers to Stupid Questions’ delivered exactly what it promised
Jaffee is also known for “Quick Answers to Stupid Questions”, delivering exactly what the title promised. A comic from 1980 shows a man on a fishing boat with a noticeably bent reel. “Are you going to fish?” his wife asked. “No,” he said, “I’m going to jump in the water and marry the gorgeous one.”
Jaffee isn’t just cultural satire; he helped change it. His parodies include future real-life products like auto-redials for phones, spell-checking calculators, and anti-graffiti surfaces. He also expects peelable stamps, multi-blade razors and self-extinguishing cigarettes.
Jaffee admirers range from Charles M. Schulz of “Peanuts” fame and “Far Side” creator Gary Larson to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who marked Jaffee’s 85th birthday by doing Highlight the Fold-In cake on Colbert Report. When Stewart and Daily program The writers gather the best-selling books America (Book), they asked Jaffee to contribute Fold-In.
“When it was done, I called the manufacturer who contacted me and said, ‘I finished the Fold-In, where do I send it?’ And he said – and this is a great compliment – ‘Oh, please, Mr. Jaffee, can you deliver it? The whole crew wanted to see you,'” he recounts. Phoenix Boston.
Jaffee has received numerous awards and in 2013 was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, a ceremony held at San Diego Comic-Con International. In 2010, he contributed illustrations to Mary-Lou Weisman’s The Crazy Life of Al Jaffee: Biography. The following year, Chronicle Books published MAD Fold-In Collection: 1964-2010.
A childhood split between the United States and Lithuania
Art was his childhood saving presence, causing him to permanently distrust adults and authority. He was born in Savannah, Georgia, but for years was torn between America, where his father (a department store manager) preferred to live, and Lithuania, where his mother (a devout Jew) longed to be. return. In Lithuania, Jaffee suffered from poverty and bullying, but also developed her craft. With scarce paper and no school to attend, he learned to read and write through comic strips his father sent him.
In his late teens, he had settled in New York City and was clearly gifted so he was accepted into the High School of Music & Arts. His classmates include Will Elder, a future Foolhardy illustrator and Harvey Kurtzmann, a future editor of Mad. (Meanwhile, his mother remained in Lithuania and was apparently killed during the war).
He had a long career before Foolhardy. He drew for Timely Comics, which later became Marvel Comics, and for several years sketched the “Tall Tales” panel for New York Herald Tribune. Jaffee first contributed to Foolhardy in the mid-1950s. He left when Kurtzmann left the magazine, but returned in 1964.
Foolhardy lost most of its readership and advantage after the 1970s, and Jaffee outlived all of the magazine’s stars. But he is rarely short of ideas even if his method, drawing by hand, has barely changed in the digital age.
“I was so used to drawing and knowing so many people that I didn’t see the magic of it,” Jaffee told the publication. NYC graphics in 2009. “If you think about it and think about it, I’m sitting and suddenly there’s a big illustration of people appearing. I’m amazed to see magicians at work, even though I know them. it’s just a hoax. You can imagine what someone thinks when they see someone drawing freely and that’s not a trick. It’s very impressive.”
