Happy Birthday Paul Coker!

Apparently if you ever aspired to be one of “The Usual Gang of Idiots” at MAD Magazine, being born in March raised your odds at bit. It seems like a lot of UGOI have birthdays this month, notably Al Jaffee who turns 100 on the 13th, Bill Gaines (March 1st), Ray Alma (March 4th), Sam Viviano (also March 13th), and Mort Drucker (March 22nd). I’m probably missing a few.

Another longtime member of the Usual Gang’s birthday is this month… this day, in fact! Paul Coker Jr. turns 92 today. I’m told Jaffee always refers to him as, “that kid.”

I’ve always felt that Paul is a bit underappreciated as a MAD artist. Well, maybe underappreciated is the wrong word. What I mean is he doesn’t get the attention that people like Jack Davis, Mort, Sergio Aragonés, Al and a few others get. Yet Paul’s work might be the most recognizable and influential outside the MAD world than all but Jack.

Paul’s work for MAD spanned over 50 years and 372 issues, making him number five on the all time MAD contributor’s list. That’s more issues than everyone but Al, Sergio, Dick DeBartolo and Mort! His best known recurring MAD feature is “Horrifying Cliches”:

Paul’s work was perfect for all manner of gags and articles, so the MAD staff wisely used him often on all kinds of features. He even did a few movie parodies including a few of the Star Trek films, “Twister”, “Jurassic Park 2” and a couple of others I don’t remember off the top of my head, plus a few TV shows including “Frasier”:

Despite his long and prolific run at MAD, Paul’s biggest “claim to fame” might be the work he did outside of the magazine. He did a lot of greeting card art Hallmark early in his career, and many people would recognize his distinctive style from that, but the work he did for the animation company Rankin/Bass cemented his place in American pop culture history.

In the late 60’s Paul was hired as background and production designer for Rankin/Bass’ animated films and TV specials. He worked on a lot of their projects but the work he did on their Christmas TV specials like ‘Frosty the Snowman’, ‘Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town’, ‘The Year Without a Santa Claus’, and many others became iconic to generations of Americans.

That’s all Paul’s work. I spent a lot of time at Christmas sitting in front of the TV as a kid loving those shows.

I’ve met Paul a few times including at a MAD event at the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2011. That’s where I got the great piece of original art at the top of this post, which is framed up and hanging in a place of honor. It was a great thrill to get to know both him and his lovely wife Rosemary a little. Terrific people.

So, Happy 92nd Birthday, Paul! Thanks for the lifetime of entertainment and inspiration!