Mad Magazine’s Mort Drucker Named Cartoonist of the Year

Mad magazine caricaturist Mort Drucker was named outstanding cartoonist of the year by the National Cartoonists’ Society. “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz presented Drucker with the society’s Reuben Award, named for Rube Goldberg, who designed the statue of four improbably shaped tumblers holding up a bottle of ink.

Twelve other artists received awards at the organization’s 42nd annual banquet Saturday, including Ronald Searle, advertising; Chuck Jones, animation; Will Eisner (“The Spirit”), comic books; Jim Borgman, editorial cartooning; Art Sansom (“The Born Loser”), humor strip; Arnold Roth, illustration; Mort Drucker, special features; Bill Gallo and Paul Szep (tie), sports; John Murphy (“Prince Valiant”), story strip; Jim Unger (“Herman”) syndicated panel; and Charles Saxon, magazine gag cartoons.

The black-tie dinner at the St. Francis Hotel provided the climax to a weekend of meetings, parties and work for charitable organizations. Cartoonists visited the Shriners’ Hospital for Crippled Children, the Recreation Center for the Handicapped and the offices of the Mayor’s Youth Fund, drawing their characters and signing autographs.

Original comic strips displayed at the Circle Gallery in Ghirardelli Square were auctioned for charity.

Society members nominate three artists in each of the 11 categories. (Drucker won the special features category for the third year in a row.) Some of the nominations seemed arbitrary, if not odd: The animation category pitted retired Warner Bros. cartoon director Chuck Jones against Bill Melendez, the producer/director of the “Peanuts” television specials, and Glen Keane, one of the top young animators at the Disney studio. While all three artists use the same medium, their work offers little basis for comparison.

One surprise was the decision to give best humor strip award to Sansom’s “The Born Loser,” rather than to Pulitzer Prize winners Garry Trudeau (“Doonesbury”) or Berke Breathed (“Bloom County”).