Don Orehek Cartoons: Presentation to 18th Surgical Hospital Reunion

From Sept. 17-20, 2009, Don and wife Suzy were in San Antonio, Texas for the 18th Surgical Hospital Reunion. This is how it came about that they attended a very interesting get together.

In August 1966 Don and two other cartoonists traveled to Vietnam under the auspices of the National Cartoonists Society and the U.S. Department of Defense to entertain wounded American and South Vietnamese soldiers with caricatures and chalk talks. This was the first time cartoonists went into a war zone.

Nurse Pat in Pleiku at the 18th Surgical Hospital (a MASH unit) remembered Don after all these years and even saved the caricature he did of her. (It now resides in a museum in her home state of Michigan.) Recently when the Army surgeons and nurses were planning a reunion, Pat decided to ask Don to be a guest speaker to talk about his career and his trip to Vietnam. Don’s talk was aided by a presentation created by Suzy. (See below.) It includes pictures of Don as a sailor when he first thought of a career in cartooning, some of his early work, pictures from Vietnam, a picture of Don with President Johnson (he invited the three cartoonists to the White House to thank them for entertaining the troops), and, of course, several of Don’s funniest. Don also did caricatures of most everyone in attendance—there were thirty-six there. (Some cartoons in the presentation appear elsewhere in this blog.)

The cartoonists who went with Don to Vietnam were Jack Rosen and Jon Nielsen. The trip was coordinated by Jack Tippit who was Chairman, Overseas Tours Committee, National Cartoonists Society. Jack also was a colonel in the Air Force and the creator of the syndicated panel “Amy.”

The cartoonists visited eleven locations in Vietnam including the USS Repose, a hospital ship. They did approximately three thousand caricatures in one month, profiles only as that was faster than front view. Don and Jack Rosen, after Vietnam, went to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, then on to Hawaii for more caricatures and some R & R.

There's a story here!

This picture was taken a few years ago during a big snow storm. It's definitely appropriate for today's Long Island weather.
Bogey wanted to go outside so badly he drove us nuts! The problem was, the snow was piled so high we couldn't open the sliding door he usually used, so finally we let him out the front door. He jumped off the porch and immediately sank up to his nose. He literally swam (what a comical sight) through the snow around the house to the back deck where the sliding door is located. Now he wanted to come in very badly. We still couldn't open the slider, so he jumped up to the deck railing to holler at the window, got his picture taken, then we opened the window and a happy and wiser cat climbed in!

How Many Cartoons and Illustrations?

Thanks to those who guessed how many cartoons Don has sold in his career -- so far. Our estimate is 12,000 +. Hard to believe, isn't it? Our basis for this number is a written record of sales from August 1966 (when wife Suzy started working for Don) through December 1994. This record is a simple list of sales on three-hole notebook paper. It is 253 pages with 25 lines per page. That's 6,325 sales. Add to that multiple-drawings in sales to magazines like Cracked, about 30 drawings for each of 32 jokes books, and the other 32 years before and after the list, and--well--we stopped counting at 12,000.

The text above reads:

America's National Cartoonists Society poll their entire membership of leading cartoonists throughout the United States for their pick of the best of the year. This year, Don Orehek, was presented with a plaque for the "Best Magazine Gag Cartoonist".Don is one of our major contributors to Cartoons & Gags, Laugh Parade, Best Cartoons, Cartoon Capers, and Cartoon Laughs. A sample of his work is on the following pages. He loves to draw, and his drawing shows a love for old times, new times, and wild times.Don and his wife, Suzanne, and their children, Errol and Holly, live in Port Washington, New York.Love to draw and your drawing draws love.
Congratulations, Don
-- Robert Mende

Don's Trash Can

Don has had the same plastic trash can for more than 40 years. At some point he started putting any stickers on it that came his way. Now we suspect the stickers are the only thing holding it together. There also are a few bumper stickers in there. Remember how popular they were in the 70s? About 1975 we had a bumper sticker made up that said "READ CARTOONS." It stayed on our old 1966 Chevy Belair until it was towed away. (Trash can stickers may, but do not necessarily, reflect the opinions of the artist or his family.)