MAD magazine artist extraordinaire Tom Richmond and the great comics/TV writer Mark Evanier both recently did posts highlighting a certain piece of TV-related artwork from the 1960s.
For the 1965-66 Fall season, it seems NBC commissioned legendary MAD artist Jack Davis to create a special piece of artwork to promote their primetime line-up. The large piece of art was run across six pages of the September 11-17, 1965 issue of TV Guide, in full color.
Someone recently scanned the pages and pieced them together as one large image but the quality wasn’t too good and they left off the Saturday page. I happen to have that particular issue of TV Guide so I’ve scanned it and put it together myself.
Unfortunately, there’s a bit of a gap between the first two pages so I’ve had to mesh them together as best I can. The rest fit together really well.
I also discovered that Davis did other illustrations for the issue. There are ads for the individual days in black and white throughout the issue. In some cases the art is similar to the large illustration. In other cases, it’s completely different. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, NBC didn’t do an ad highlighting the Saturday night line-up. You can see them here. (Is it just me or does anyone else see faces in these black and white ads that look like Mort Drucker’s work?)
Aside from the great artwork, it’s interesting to see which shows were around for the 1965-66 season. It’s amazing to think back to a time when legendary shows like Bonanza, The Virginian, I Spy, Get Smart, I Dream of Jeannie, and The John Forsythe Show all shared the same network.
To see the full piece of artwork, click the image below. It’s fairly large so it may take a bit of time to load but I think you’ll find it’s worth the wait.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
We have a Jack davis original poster for the 1966 Monkees show..Spoke with Peter Tork and he remembered seeing them on the walls at a promotional party nbc had for them..Where might we find some idea of the value of this?
Thanks for posting that great (and complete) scan along with the black and white spots. Jack is the best.
@Tom Richmond: He is great. I wonder if he had any role in the Mort Drucker bits being added to the b&w ads or if that was NBC’s doing. Drucker’s work continues to amaze me as well.
It’s also worth noting the times on the schedule. Remember that mythical time when the 6:30 time slot was still owned by the network, and wasn’t an “open” slot for syndicated material like ET or Wheel of Fortune? Remember the time when the “Big Three” actually had enough material for a solid week’s worth of shows? (Well, maybe not ABC…)
Jack Davis! MAD! Record covers! NBC advertising! Movie posters! What a glorious decades-long career this man has had and IS having! I’m nearly 65 years old and I have loved the man’s art for over 50 years! But after the art itself, I think the best part of all is that he’s still here to bask in the admiration and respect of his collegues and generations of fans! (My special favorites, as a record collector, are the Spike Jones and Homer & Jethro covers he did for RCA Victor, and the multitude of images for “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World!”, reprised on United Artists records from the poster art.)
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