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Stan Mack
Born (1936-05-13) May 13, 1936 (age 88)[1]
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Cartoonist
Notable works
Stan Mack's Real Life Funnies
www.stanmack.com

Stan Mack is an American cartoonist, illustrator and author best known for his observational comic strip Stan Mack's Real Life Funnies, which ran in The Village Voice for more than 20 years. He was an early pioneer of documentary cartooning and is the author of numerous graphic nonfiction books addressing a wide range of social and historical topics.[2]

His work has appeared in publications including Esquire,[3] New York Magazine,[4] Modern Maturity, Print, and Natural History among others.[5]

Mack's Adweek comic strip, Stan Mack’s Outtakes, covered the New York media scene for more than a decade.[6]

A collection of his work for The Village Voice was published in 2024 by Fantagraphics Books.[7]

Early life and education

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Mack was born in Brooklyn[4] but grew up in Providence, Rhode Island.[8] He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1958 with a degree in illustration.[9]

He served in the United States Army, stationed at the United States Military Academy at West Point, in the Department of Social Sciences.[10] In 1960, his work won first place in an all-Army art contest in the Drawings and Cartoons category.[11]

Career as an observational cartoonist

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In the early 1960s, Mack moved to New York and found work as an art director. His first job was at a pulp publication called Climax.i[12] He was later hired to be art director of the New York Herald Tribune’s Book Week,[13][14] until the publication closed in 1968.[15][16] Throughout this time, he also worked as a freelance illustrator.[17]

New York Times

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In 1969, Mack joined the New York Times as the Art Director of the New York Times Book and Education Division.[17] From 1969 to 1973, Mack was the art director for The New York Times Magazine[12] and later the New York Times Book Review.[12] During this period, his artistic influences included designers and art directors including Peter Palazzo, Henry Wolf, Herb Lubalin, Milton Glaser, Saul Bass, George Lois and journalists Jimmy Breslin and Dennis Duggan.[12]

For the Times, he contributed nonfiction comic strips for the travel and lifestyle sections of the paper. In 1973, he accompanied reporter Georgia Dullea on a feature story assignment, creating sketches to complement Dullea’s article.i[18] But when he started jotting down overheard dialogue, Dullea discovered that Mack’s quotes were better than hers.[19]

Mack ultimately resigned from the New York Times to explore his interest in drawing real people.[19]

National Lampoon

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In the early 1970s, while still the Art Director of the New York Times Magazine, Mack started experimenting with the comic strip format.[18] In 1972 he created “Mules Diner” [20] for the National Lampoon.[21]

The Village Voice

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Village Voice logo

In 1974, Mack met with graphic designer Milton Glaser, who was then redesigning The Village Voice. Mack proposed that he wander the city, sketching and writing down overheard conversations, and create a one-time piece for the paper. Glaser agreed, but asked him to do it as a weekly comic strip.i[12]

The resulting Stan Mack’s Real Life Funnies was notable for its semi-documentary feel with dialogue drawn from Mack's own observations. He said of it: "This job gave me an excuse to accost people, to be pushy and aggressive. ... I learned to take notes on my shirt cuffs and walk backward into crowds. But most of all I learned to listen to what ordinary people have to say."[22]

When it appeared in the paper, a line above the comic strip read, "Guarantee: All Dialogue Reported Verbatim." The guarantee changed in the 1980's, to "All Dialogue Overheard" and then to "All Dialogue in People's Own Words."[19]

The earliest strips were comic snapshots. Mack would hang out in public places, bars mostly, and eavesdrop on conversations.[19] Over the years, he addressed more complex topics—including AIDS, gentrification, racism, and homelessness—and the strips lengthened into short stories while maintaining much of the ironic bite of the early work.[23]

A musical revue based on dialogue appearing in the comic strip was staged by the Manhattan Theater Club in 1981. The production, called “Real Life Funnies,” was written by Howard Ashman with songs by Alan Menken[24] and featured performances by Janie Sell, Pamela Blair and Dale Soules.[25]

Stan Mack's Real Life Funnies ran in the Village Voice from 1974 until 1995, when the paper’s editor dropped Real Life Funnies along with several other features,[26] despite protest from Voice staffers.[27]

AdWeek

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Mack began creating “Out Takes,” a weekly comic strip for AdWeek Magazine, in 1981. The strip focused on the nuances, idiosyncrasies and humor of the advertising business. To create the strip, Mack visited commercial shoots, creative meetings, new business pitches and strategy sessions at agencies around New York City.[13] If requested, Mack would disguise the identity of the agencies, executives, or products mentioned in the meetings.[13]

Other publications

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In 1995, as part of a redesign, Mack created a comic strip for Modern Maturity magazine[28] called Stan Mack’s True Tales.[29] This was followed in 1997 by a series of docu-comics for Natural History Magazine.[30]

Mack created a monthly comic strip series called Dispatches for the New York Times Suburban Sections. One strip in 2000 caused controversy when he chronicled the last days of the life of his partner, Janet Bode,[31] who died of breast cancer on December 30, 1999.[32]

Mack continued to profile the media and advertising business with a strip called “Stan Mack’s Real Mad: True Tales from Inside the Ad Biz” which began publication in MediaPost in 2014.[6]

“Stan Mack’s Real Lives” ran on whowhatwhy.org from 2021–2022.[33]

Personal life

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Mack met his first wife, Gail Kredenser when the two worked at the New York Herald Tribune.[34] The couple were married in 1966[35] and had two sons.[34]

Mack lived in New York’s Greenwich Village neighborhood for more than 30 years.[36]

A collection of Mack’s original children’s book illustrations, proofs, and books, is archived at the Elmer L. Anderson Library at the University of Minnesota.[37]

Mack had an 18-year relationship with the writer Janet Bode.[32] Following Bode’s death at the age of 56, Mack wrote and drew Janet & Me: An Illustrated story of Love and Loss as a memoir of their life as a couple, his time as her caregiver, and her experience fighting the disease.[38] The book highlighted the lack of transparency between patients and doctors, and the torment of dealing with insurance companies.”[38]

While promoting the memoir about Bode, Mack became an outspoken voice for care-giving and participated in panel discussions about coping with cancer.[39]

Mack married writer-editor Susan Champlin[36] in 2010.[40] The couple have collaborated on two historical graphic novels for young people: The Pickpocket, the Spy, and the Lobsterbacks (original title Road to Revolution!)[41] and Our Fight, Our Time, (original title Fight for Freedom)[42]

Bibliography

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Children’s books

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Potato Talk (1969) (as illustrator)[43]

The Preposterous Week (1971) (as illustrator)[44]

The Brownstone (1973) (as illustrator)[45]

10 Bears in My Bed: A Goodnight Countdown (1974)[46]

Where's My Cheese (1977)[47]

The Runaway Road (1980)[48]

Belmont the Bat Catcher and other Nutty Number Tales (1983)[49]

Graphic novels

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The Story of the Jews: A 4,000 Year Adventure (1998)[50]

Janet & Me: An Illustrated Story of Love and Loss (2004)[51]

Revolting Rebels (2024; formerly Taxes, the Tea Party, and Those Revolting Rebels: A History in Comics of the American Revolution, 2012) [52][53]

Collections

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Stan Mack’s Out-Takes (1984)[54]

Stan Mack’s Real Life Funnies: The Collected Conceits, Delusions and Hijinks of New Yorkers from 1974 to 1995 (2024)[55]

With Gail Kredenser

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The ABC of Bumptious Beasts (1966)[56]

One Dancing Drum (1971)[57] (winner of The New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year 1971)[58]

With Janet Bode (non-fiction)

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Heartbreak and Roses: Real Life Stories of Troubled Love (1994)[59]

Hard Time: A Real Life Look at Juvenile Crime and Violence (1996)[60]

For Better, For Worse: A Guide to Surviving Divorce for Preteens and Their Families (2001)[61]

With Susan Champlin

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The Pickpocket, the Spy, and the Lobsterbacks (2024; formerly The Road to Revolution, 2009)[41]

Our Fight, Our Time (2024; formerly Fight for Freedom, 2012)[42]

References

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  1. ^ https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/4/resources/10204
  2. ^ Dooley, Michael (2013-04-26). "A Stan Mack Cartoon Chronicle of Revolutions Foretold". PRINT Magazine. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  3. ^ Mack, Stan. "The Fire Island Ferry* | Esquire | September 26, 1978". Esquire | The Complete Archive. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  4. ^ a b Enright, Joe (2024-04-09). "Tales of New York –an interview with cartoonist Stan Mack, by Joe Enright". Red Hook Star-Revue. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  5. ^ "Apr 28, 1998, page 17 - Boca Raton News at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  6. ^ a b Rhode Island School of Design (2014-05-28). "Behind the Scenes on Madison Ave". Our RISD. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  7. ^ STAN MACK'S REAL LIFE FUNNIES | Kirkus Reviews.
  8. ^ "From Mt. Sinai to Providence, Rhode Island". My Jewish Learning. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  9. ^ "Learning from History?". Our RISD. 2012-07-29. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  10. ^ Army Times 1960-09-17: Vol 21 Iss 7. Internet Archive. Gannett Co., Inc. 1960-09-17.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. ^ U.S. Army. Star Presidian Volume 9 No 1-50, May 1960 - May 1961.
  12. ^ a b c d e Heller, Steven (2019-02-20). "Introducing Conceptual Illustration to The NYT". PRINT Magazine. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  13. ^ a b c "Jun 05, 1989, page 27 - Detroit Free Press at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  14. ^ "Apr 28, 1998, page 17 - Boca Raton News at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  15. ^ "May 13, 1979, page 114 - The Boston Globe at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  16. ^ "Stan Mack's Real Life Funnies". Society of Illustrators. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  17. ^ a b Journal of the American Institute of Graphic Arts. American Institute of Graphic Arts. 1969.
  18. ^ a b "The Day a Garden Club Found Buildings Grow in Connecticut; Doors Flew Open". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  19. ^ a b c d Dullea, Georgia (1992-05-21). "AT WORK WITH: Stan Mack; Walk Backward, Carry a Big Bic". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  20. ^ "Your Usual Corner Table at Mule's Diner". Who's Out There?. 2021-11-20. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  21. ^ Meyerowitz, Rick (2019-03-15). Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Writers and Artists Who Made the National Lampoon Insanely Great. Abrams. p. 232. ISBN 978-1-68335-767-4.
  22. ^ "NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: GREENWICH VILLAGE; The Voice to Stan Mack: 'It's Been Real, but . . .'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  23. ^ Dooley, Michael (2012-07-10). "Stan Mack's Occupy-the-Fourth-of-July funnies". Salon. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  24. ^ "Feb 13, 1981, page 151 - Newsday at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-06-17.
  25. ^ "Feb 12, 1981, page 33 - The Central New Jersey Home News at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-06-17.
  26. ^ New York Magazine. New York Media, LLC. 1995-07-24.
  27. ^ "Daily News from New York, New York". Newspapers.com. 1995-07-19. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  28. ^ Colford, Paul D. (1995-11-03). "Face Lift for a Magazine That's Showing Its Age". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
  29. ^ Bernard, Walter; Glaser, Milton (2019-12-31). Mag Men: Fifty Years of Making Magazines. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-54953-0.
  30. ^ "An Astrophysicist's Manhattan : Neil deGrasse Tyson". neildegrassetyson.com. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
  31. ^ "Taking a Comic Strip Seriously". The New York Times. 2000-01-09. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
  32. ^ a b "Writer Janet Bode Dies at 56". Washington Post. 2024-01-10. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
  33. ^ "Southern Discomfort". WhoWhatWhy. 2022-05-26. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
  34. ^ a b "Class Notes | General Studies". www.bu.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-17.
  35. ^ "Dec 15, 1968, page 83 - The News and Observer at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-06-17.
  36. ^ a b Gould, Jennifer (2019-09-18). "Cartoonist Stan Mack selling his Village apartment for $1.72M". New York Post. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
  37. ^ "Collection: Stan Mack Papers | University of Minnesota Archival Collections Guides". archives.lib.umn.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
  38. ^ a b "Janet and Me: An Illustrated Story of Love and Loss". Graphic Medicine. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
  39. ^ "Oct 24, 2004, page 102 - Tampa Bay Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
  40. ^ "Episode 591 – Stan Mack". The Virtual Memories Show. 2024-06-11. Retrieved 2024-06-17.
  41. ^ a b Mack, Stanley (2009). Road to Revolution!. Scholastic. ISBN 978-0-545-32815-9.
  42. ^ a b Mack, Stan; Champlin, Susan (2012-07-17). Fight for Freedom. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-1-59990-014-8.
  43. ^ Rees, Ennis (1969). Potato Talk. Pantheon Books. ISBN 978-0-394-82800-8.
  44. ^ Keenen, George (1971). The Preposterous Week. Dial Press. ISBN 978-0-8037-7071-3.
  45. ^ Scher, Paula (1973). The Brownstone. Pantheon Books. ISBN 978-0-394-82487-1.
  46. ^ Mack, Stanley (1974). 10 Bears in My Bed: A Goodnight Countdown. Pantheon Books. ISBN 978-0-394-92902-6.
  47. ^ Mack, Stanley (1977). Where's My Cheese?. Pantheon Books. ISBN 978-0-394-93452-5.
  48. ^ Mack, Stan (1980). Runaway Road. Dutton. ISBN 978-0-525-31017-4.
  49. ^ Mack, Stanley (1983). Belmont the Bat Catcher: And Other Nutty Number Tales. Scholastic. ISBN 978-0-590-31874-7.
  50. ^ Mack, Stanley (1998). The Story of the Jews: A 4,000-year Adventure. Villard. ISBN 978-0-375-50130-2.
  51. ^ Mack, Stan (2004). Janet & Me: An Illustrated Story of Love and Loss. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-87278-0.
  52. ^ "Revolting Rebels: a History in Comics of the American Revolution – About Comics". Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  53. ^ Mack, Stan (2012-09-01). Taxes, the Tea Party, and Those Revolting Rebels: A History in Comics of the American Revolution. NBM Publishing. ISBN 978-1-56163-722-5.
  54. ^ Mack, Stanley (1984). Stan Mack's Outtakes. Overlook Press. ISBN 978-0-87951-997-1.
  55. ^ "Stan Mack's Real Life Funnies: The Collected Conceits, Delusions, and Hijinks of New Yorkers from 1974 to 1995 by Stan Mack". www.publishersweekly.com. May 20, 2024. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
  56. ^ "Dec 15, 1968, page 83 - The News and Observer at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2024-06-03.
  57. ^ Kredenser, Gail; Mack, Stanley (1971). 1, One Dancing Drum: A Counting Book for Children (and Parents) who are Tired of Puppies and Chickens and Horses. S. G. Phillips. ISBN 978-0-87599-178-8.
  58. ^ "New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year, 1952-2002". The New York Times. 2002-11-17. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
  59. ^ Bode, Janet; Mack, Stanley (1994). Heartbreak and Roses: Real Life Stories of Troubled Love. Delacorte Press. ISBN 978-0-385-32068-9.
  60. ^ Bode, Janet; Mack, Stanley (1996). Hard Time: A Real Life Look at Juvenile Crime and Violence. Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers. ISBN 978-0-440-21953-8.
  61. ^ Bode, Janet; Mack, Stanley (2001). For Better, for Worse: A Guide to Surviving Divorce for Preteens and Their Families. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 978-0-689-81945-2.
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