Illustration Magazine cartoons Obituary

Don Margolis – RIP

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D. D. Degg August 11, 2021 1 minute 1 comment

Magazine cartoonist Don Margolis has passed away.

Donald Eugene (Don) Margolis
September 1932 – August 3, 2021

“He spent his career drawing cartoons,
and his retirement making faces at his grandchildren.”

Don’s career as described by comics historian Ken Quattro:

The story, “I Married A Teen-Age Fly,” [1959] was actually parodying contemporary movies, such as “The Fly” and “I Was a Teenage Werewolf,” but the back cover of the mag specifically stated that the Virginia R. Francis script was “A wild satirical whack at horror comics.” An interesting claim, considering the horror comic genre had been bowdlerized by the institution of the Comics Code Authority back in 1954.

The art to to the story was supplied by Don Margolis, a Chicago-area cartoonist who worked mostly in mainstream publishing doing spot illustrations and cartoons. A versatile artist who worked in a variety of styles, FLING seems to have been the main outlet for Margolis’ risque work.

While contributing cartoons to Chicago-based Fling Magazine Don also contributed cartoonish illustrations to Family Weekly, also out of Chicago.

Don also worked with the Chicago ad agency Leo Burnett, most famously on Snap, Crackle, and Pop:

Leo Burnett Worldwide assigned Chicago-based cartoonist Don Margolis to do Snap, Crackle and Pop for the Rice Krispies boxes as well as other applications. Davidson Marketing also used him for their Rice Krispies assignments. Don did the three gnomes until the end of 1998.