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Harvey Kurtzman Little Annie Fanny prelim "Bachelor Pad"

Artist: Harvey Kurtzman (Penciller)

3 Comments - 492 Views - 2 Likes

Harvey Kurtzman Little Annie Fanny prelim Bachelor Pad Comic Art

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Artwork Details

Title:	Harvey Kurtzman Little Annie Fanny prelim "Bachelor Pad"
Artist:	Harvey Kurtzman (Penciller)
Media Type:	Pencil
Art Type:	Interior Page
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	492
Likes on CAF:	2 3
Comments:	3
Added to Site:	12/26/2022
Comic Art Archive:

Description

Was there ever a greater ratio of effort to outcome than Little Annie Fanny, Kurtzman & Elder's strip for Playboy? Multiple drafts, passing through exacting revisions by wannabe cartoonist Hugh Hefner, finally delivered to Will Elder to obsessively paint over Kurtzman's layouts, layering glaze after glaze to create what they all imagined would be a more prestigous look for the comic form. Simultaneously, Hef's revisons, generally in the direction of more nudity, worked to degrade the form to a point well below what Kurtzman and Elder had already achieved at EC. With all due respect to Will Elder, all this skillful overpainting amounted to gilding the lily of cartooning, and sucked the remaining life out of Kurtzman's gimlet vision of the '60s & '70s. For me, this pencil prelim is possibly the most desirable original out of the sequence that produced the final product. I don't know for sure, as I don't know how many other passes there were or what issue has the final version [EDIT: This story appeared in the Jan. 1973 issue. Elder worked from reference photos of the Chicago Playboy Mansion.]--but Kurtzman's cartooning here is extraordinary.

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About the Owner

	Aaron N. ( 6 ) Premium Gallery Owner
Joined:	November 2009
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
On CAF:	Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF

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Comments on this Artwork

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Marcus Wai
Member Since 2005

Posted on 12/26/2022

Love all the notes on the sides. This must have inspired some rooms in the mansion and the man in the robe smoking a pipe has got to be a stand in for Hef.

DC's Showcase
Member Since 2006

Posted on 12/26/2022

" ...worked to degrade the form to a point well below what Kurtzman and Elder had already achieved at EC" -- quotable (hence the quotes) and very well articulated. What I've always felt about these without coming up with the right words :)

Jeff Singh
Member Since 2004

Posted on 12/27/2022

Kurtzman's layouts are genius and I agree with your thoughts on the negative impact of too many cooks.

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