Heywood
Hale Broun, at the time a renowned journalist and editor of the Fort
Bragg newspaper, who eventually became a widely acclaimed
television commentator. Broun thought enough of Lansky’s work to send
it to Yank Magazine in New York. Yank published a spread of Lansky’s
cartoons in 1944.
Lansky quickly realized that the Army was not for him. Nothing
proved this more appropriately than his reduction in rank from private first class to
private for producing an unflattering caricature of a captain that
Lansky found an excellent subject for pen and ink.
In November 1945, the war was over and Lansky returned to San Diego
where he set up shop as an independent cartoonist. His work quickly
gained exposure and in 1949 he moved to New York City to work for Cap
Enterprises, a company that controlled the distribution of novelty
items for the Lil’ Abner comic strip.In 1951, Lansky returned to San
Diego to continue his independent cartooning career with a goal to
produce and sell his own comic creation. His work was soon
recognized by Zeke Zekley, long time assistant to George McManus who
was the creator of "Brining Up Father,” [image
1, image 2] and was invited to work in Los
Angeles. Lansky moved to Los Angeles in 1952. In 1955 Lansky sold his
first comic panel, “Seventeen”, to the
Times-Mirror Syndicate. “Seventeen” centered around a teen-aged character named Sheldon, his
mother and father, his girlfriend Lori and a pal named Tank. The
San Diego Museum of Art exhibited a collection of "Seventeen" original
works in 1964. The comic
panel enjoyed a significant and popular 20-year run and gained international
acclaim before Lansky retired the panel in 1976.
In 1960, Lansky, along with his younger brother Jordan, created and
sold the comic strip “Kippy” to Universal Press Syndicate. “Kippy” was
a comic strip based on children and their perceptions of the adult
world. It is worth noting that syndicates receive upwards of 10,000
submissions per year, and of those submissions only 2 or 3 are
selected by the syndicates. Lansky, in a stretch spanning only 5
years, sold 2 different comics to 2 different syndicates and had them
running in parallel. This is a rare occurrence in the world of comic
syndication.
In 1976 after retiring the comic panel “Seventeen,” Lansky went to
work at the San Diego Union, owned by Copley Press, as an editorial
and feature cartoonist. During this time he also produced
illustrations for other Copley Press publications and wrote book
reviews.
Lansky retired from the San Diego Union in 1992.
Bernard Lansky died
peacefully on December 12, 2004.
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To dear friends and fans:
On December 12, 2004, Bernard Lansky died from complications related to Parkinson's
disease.
This website, in part, is an
attempt to honor the many years of Bernard Lansky's talent and
dreams, and to share his story with his friends and fans.
We ask that those wishing to honor the life of Bernard Lansky to
please consider a donation to the Milt Gross Fund.
The Milt Gross Fund is the National Cartoonist Society's
indigent fund, and is supported by NCS activities and voluntary
donations. The Fund's primary mission is to assist qualifying
cartoonist members or their survivors who are in financial
difficulty. In some cases, hospital and burial expenses have
been met by the Milt Gross Fund.
The Milt Gross Fund
c/o Larry Katzman, Treas.
101 Central Park West
New York, NY 10023
The Milt Gross Fund is a
registered non-profit 501(c) and all donations are tax
deductible. Personal checks are fine.
Please use the
contact form on this website
if you wish to send us comments regarding this website or Mr.
Lansky's work. We guarantee that all comments will be
read.
Thank you.
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