John Bernard Handelsman was born into a Jewish Hungarian immigrant family in New York, USA, on 5 February 1922. Known professionally as J. B. Handelsman and informally as Bud, he drew for publications including The New Yorker, Punch and Playboy. Following his move to England in 1963, he created Freaky Fables, later collected in book form, and illustrated books by John Cleese and Robin Skynner. John Bernard Handelsman died in Southampton, New York, USA on 20 June 2007.
Cartoonist and illustrator John Bernard Handelsman was born on 5 February 1922 in New York, USA, the son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants. Born Bernard Handelsman, and known informally as Bud, he later adopted the first name John and used the professional signature J. B. Handelsman. Handelsman grew up in the Bronx and began drawing cartoons as a child, reportedly deciding by the age of ten that he wanted to become a comic-strip artist (British Cartoon Archive). He was educated in Bronx public schools and attended the prestigious Art Students League in New York from 1938–42. During the Second World War he served briefly in the US Army Air Corps, but was discharged because of asthma. In 1945 he enrolled at New York University to study electrical engineering, but left in 1946 to pursue commercial art. For several years he worked in New York advertising agencies as a commercial artist and typographic designer, a discipline that later informed the clarity and balance of his drawings. At the same time, he submitted cartoons to magazines including Esquire, Playboy and The Saturday Evening Post. He became a full-time freelance cartoonist in 1960, and in 1961 sold his first cartoon to The New Yorker, beginning a relationship with the magazine that lasted for 45 years.
In 1950 Handelsman married Gertrude Peck. In 1963 he moved with his family to England, settling in Leatherhead, Surrey. The move was prompted by his belief that his style of cartooning and sense of humour were better suited to Britain than to the United States. In Britain he contributed pocket cartoons to the Evening Standard and cartoons to The Observer, New Statesman, Punch and other publications. He also maintained strong American connections, continuing to publish in The New Yorker and Playboy. The satirical magazine, Punch became especially important to his career: for 11 years he wrote and drew the weekly series Freaky Fables, in which he compressed biblical stories, classical myths, folklore and literary tales into irreverent one-page comic narratives. By the mid-1980s he had produced hundreds of these fables, and the series was later collected in book form (Sphere Books, 1979). Some of his contributions to Punch appeared under pseudonyms, including T. R. Squink and A. J. Spoop, although his distinctive line made his authorship recognisable. Handelsman’s cartoons were admired for their spare drawing, carefully staged compositions and sharp captions. Critics repeatedly emphasised that the verbal wit was central to his work: his drawings were economical, but his captions could be long, precise and intellectually pointed. His subjects ranged from social status, sex and money to politics, civil liberties, war, religion and mythology. Although he could be biting, his humour was described as intelligent rather than brutal (Plimmer 2007). His figures often included self-satisfied businessmen, lawyers, waiters, politicians and affluent couples, caught in moments of vanity, hypocrisy or absurdity. His political cartoons also showed a strong grasp of topical issues, and his caricatures of public figures, such as Harold Wilson, Willy Brandt and Lyndon B. Johnson were noted for their economy and recognisability.
His reputation extended widely on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1971 Playboy published a collection of his cartoons, You’re Not Serious, I Hope, and in 1978 awarded him its prize for Best Black and White Cartoon. Handelsman was active as an illustrator of books for both adults and children. His illustrated books included Ann McGovern’s If You Sailed on the Mayflower (1969), Melvin Berger’s The Funny Side of Science (1973), Jean Fritz’s Who’s That Stepping on Plymouth Rock? (1975), R. B. Gross’s A Book About Benjamin Franklin (1975), John Cleese and Robin Skynner’s Families and How to Survive Them (1983) and Life and How to Survive It (1993), and David Frost and Michael Shea’s The Mid-Atlantic Companion (1986). Cleese reportedly called him ‘the best cartoonist alive’ (Jeffreys 2007). Handelsman was also a writer and animator. He contributed scripts, humorous prose and short stories, sometimes under pseudonyms, and in 1992 created the ten-minute animated film, In the Beginning, based on the Creation and broadcast by the BBC on Christmas Eve, with voices including John Cleese, Harry Enfield and Michael Hordern.
After nearly two decades in England, Handelsman and his wife returned to the USA in the early 1980s, settling in Southampton, New York, though he retained important links with Britain. He continued to publish cartoons in The New Yorker until shortly before his death. Over his career he contributed nearly 1,000 cartoons to the magazine, as well as five covers. John Bernard Handelsman died in Southampton, New York, USA on 20 June 2007. His work was included posthumously in the exhibitoin On the Money: Cartoons for The New Yorker from the Melvin R. Seiden Collection at the Morgan Library & Museum, New York (2009). In the UK public domain, his work is represented in the British Cartoon Archive at the University of Kent.
Irene Iacono