Thursday, October 04, 2012

 

Obscurity of the Day: The Folks Upstairs


Here's another New York Daily News filler strip from the collection of Jay Maeder. We discussed another of his discoveries, Fun Fare, yesterday.

Jay has found two episodes of The Folks Upstairs, from 7/10 and 8/7/1955. So little thought seems to have been put into this series that we have the family practicing golf in their backyard -- usually the 'folks upstairs' would live in an apartment building, no? Maybe "The Folks Next Door" might have been a better title choice.

The series is signed by Ned Michael. Well, I've never heard of Ned Michael, but I have to wonder if this might actually be Ned Hilton. The style is similar, and the signature, with the first name in script and the last name in block, matches Hilton's. Any assenting or dissenting opinions out there?

Thanks to Jay Maeder for the info and the scans!

EDIT 12/31/2017: Just found a third example, 11/27/1955. 

EDIT 2/15/2019: Michael Vassallo reports running dates from 5/8/1955 to 8/25/1957.


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Comments:
I have a Ned Hilton, 1904-1967 or 1989 (need to narrow that down, don't I?!!) as an editorial cartoonist, illustrator and painter. Here are my sources:

Info from “Ed Hilton (1904-1989),” AskArt.com, viewed online: http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/biography.aspx?searchtype=BIO&artist=111437 , 03/14/2012; “Ned Hilton,” Michael Maslin, The New Yorker Cartoonists, A-Z, viewed online: http://michaelmaslin.com/index.php?page=nyer-cartoonists-a-z, 03/14/2012; [Cartoon Drawings filing series]

The Cartoon Drawings filing series is one of the collections of the Prints & Photographs Division of the Library of Congress. See: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/acd1996003720/PP/

Sara W. Duke
Curator, Popular & Applied Graphic Art
Prints & Photographs Division
Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20540-4730

sduk@loc.gov
 
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