↓
 

TransverseAlchemy

Visual Curiosities: Psychedelia, Sex, Drugs and other Decadent Art. Dedicated to Those who Suckle at the Teats of Chaos.t

  • Home
  • FleshandRelics
  • CVKustoms
<< 1 2 3 4 … 19 20 >>

Tag Archives: 1970’s

Post navigation

← Previous Post
Next Post→

Skip Williamson: Snappy Sammy Smoot

TransverseAlchemy Posted on July 13, 2017 by CharlieApril 4, 2024

Skip Williamson & Jay Lynch

Mervyn “Skip” Williamson was born in San Antonio, Texas, but later moved to Lynchburg, Virginia, and then to Canton, Missouri. Williamson’s real first name is Mervyn; however when he was a child, he was a bit of a troublemaker, so his grandmother gave him the nickname “Skip” after Percy Crosby’s comic strip character “Skippy“.
In 1961 Gloria Steinem, then editor of Harvey Kurtzman’s Help! magazine, published one of Williamson’s cartoons featuring two New Orleans trash cans labeled “Negro Trash” the other “White Trash”. Comedian Dick Gregory subsequently appeared on The Tonight Show and presented the comic on national television, launching Williamson into the mainstream.

 

 

 

In 1967 Williamson moved to Chicago to help long-time friend Jay Lynch publish The Chicago Mirror. A year later Williamson, Lynch, and Robert Crumb rechristened the Chicago Mirror as Bijou Funnies, which became one of the earliest and longest running underground comix titles. Williamson’s character Snappy Sammy Smoot became popular enough to appear (played by Carl Reiner) on the 1960s television program Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.
He also contributed work to The Chicago Seed, an underground newspaper launched by artist Don Lewis and Earl Segal and published biweekly in Chicago from 1967 to 1974.

 

In 1969 Williamson’s friendship with Yippie activist Abbie Hoffman got him into the courtroom where the Chicago 8 trial was being held, where he sketched out key characters in the trial. Williamson also designed the cover of the first printing of Abbie Hoffman’s Steal This Book, and Hoffman gave Williamson the advance from his publishers to produce a comic book to raise money for the Chicago 8 defense fund. Williamson came out with the popular volume of Conspiracy Capers, including art by Jay Lynch, Art Spiegelman, Jay Kinney, Dan Clyne, Paul David Simon, and others.

During the 1970s and 80s Williamson art-directed and contributed artwork to several men’s magazines; in 1973 he was art director of Gallery magazine, where he created the “Girl Next Door” concept by publishing snapshots of sweethearts and wives sent in by readers. In 1974 he was the founding art director of Hustler, and in 1976 he joined the staff of Playboy where he created the popular “Playboy Funnies” section and introduced millions of readers to his characters Neon Vincent and the “postmodern” couple Nell ‘n’ Void.
Williamson also designed album covers for blues artists like Albert Collins (Cold Snap, 1986), Koko Taylor (An Audience With the Queen, 1987), Little Charlie and the Nightcats (All The Way Crazy, 1987) and Mudcat (You Better Mind, 2013). Snuk Comics was designed to promote the band Wilderness Road.

 

In later years Williamson concentrated on producing large-scale canvases depicting political social abomination and political treachery.
He died at Albany Medical Center on March 16, 2017. The official cause of death was renal failure and complications from heart disease and diabetes.


More:

Free your mind: the underground comics of Skip Williamson
Skip Williamson, 1944-2017 – The Comics Journal
Skip Williamson, Jay Lynch & the World of 1960s Underground Comix – PRINT Magazine
Skip Williamson’s Comix & Stories Featuring Snappy Sammy Smoot – Comixjoint.com

Posted in 1960's, 1970's, Americana, Graphic Art, Illustration | Tagged 1960's, 1970's, Americana, Illustration | 2 Replies

Post navigation

← Previous Post
Next Post→

Bounce to my other blog, Flesh & Relics.

Notice:

This is a collection of images found online. There are generally no links or credits to the original artists as they come from random sources.
If your work is on this blog and you want it credited or removed email me with the relevant information.


>View Full Index

Tag Cloud

1920's 1960's 1970's Acey Harper Al Goldstein Albert Arthur Allen Alfons Mucha Alphonse Mucha Ama Americana Anders Petersen Anita Berber architecture Art Nouveau Art of Rock Attila Sassy Banksy bar Beat Generation Bellocq Berlin Betty Broadbent body art bomb Brassai Bulgaria bullshit Cabaret Carlo Mollino catacombs Charles Wish Chicago Chuck Sperry Ciral's House of Tiki circus sideshow Clara Bow collage Communism Dada Daleks Dave Aho death deep south derbyblue Destino Diado Moriyama digital art Dope Rider Dr. Loo Dr. Seuss Drtikol Egon Schiele El Travo Collabo Elmer Batters Ephemeral art Eugenio Recuenco Flappers Flemish Art Fosco Maraini French Postcards Freud girl bands Glenn Beck glurge graffiti Graphic Art Grateful Dead Grundworth gun Harley Hedonists Hi-Fi hippie chicks Hunter S. Thompson HUSH Illustration Indian Janis Joplin Jean Marie Poumeyrol John Santerineross Jon Anderson Joshua Hedlund Jules De Bruycker Karel Teige KFC kudzu L'Âge d'Or Ladybirds Leanne ELROD Rodriguez lesbians LOA Louise Brooks Lowbrow Luca Rubbi Luis Buñuel magoo Marquette MI. Masons Masters of Monochrome Max Beckmann Merry Alpern Mexakitsch Mexico Michigan Mike Brodie Mixed Media New Orleans New York City Nixon nude nuns op Art Nude Opium Otto Dix Oz Magazine painting Paris personal shit Personal Work Peter Donnelly Peter Max Petr Flynt photography Picasso piercing Pierre Louÿs Pin-Ups Polaroid Polaroid Kid PoP Pop Art prints propoganda psychedelic art R.Crumb Roaring 20's Robots Russian Art Salvador Dali Saudek SCREW Magazine sculpture Shiko Soviet amateurs Soviet Monuments spam statistics Stephan Würth Storyville street art surrealists Tarot Tattoos Ted Coconis The Sun Between the Storms Thomas Hart Benton Tiki Tokyo Tom Huck Toulouse-Lautrec Tyson McAdoo Ukraine Un Chien Andalou vagina Vera Novak Veruschka Video vintage Vinz Feel Free Vivian de Milo Weimar Republic weird William Burroughs Yooper stuff Yoshiyuki Iwase Zbigniew Reszka Константин Фёдорович Богаевский
©2025 - TransverseAlchemy - Weaver Xtreme Theme
↑

 

Notice: This website contains nudity and other adult oriented content which may be considered offensive. You must be over 18 to enter.