Mort Drucker: What His Life Can Teach Brands And All Of Us

The cartoon world lost a true great back in April: Mort Drucker, best known for his Mad Magazine movie satires. He was 91.

He was an idol of mine. I wanted to pay him tribute. I backdated him a bit (I could only find one photo of him as a younger man.)

I included his distinctive signature and used the “O” to sneak in a second, more cartoony caricature.

So what can Mort Drucker’s life teach us?

For starters, kindness and restraint.

How can I say that about a caricature artist? Don’t they skewer people? hold them up to ridicule? rip ’em to shreds?

That’s almost always true. But Mort’s caricatures were different.

Michael Cavna writing in The Washington Post: “His caricatures contorted celebrity features yet never seemed to stretch the visual truth.”

You can see it in his wonderful Godfather caricatures below.

“I never wanted to be mean,” he told Cavna back in 2015. “I tried to be kind.”

Somehow he always was.

(click for larger view)

Mad succeeded when mockery was rare. And its mockery was, to a large extent, affectionate.

As mockery became the norm in American culture, Mad’s influence declined. The magazine ceased publishing new material last year, ending a run of 67 years.

Today, everything is mocked (with certain politically correct subjects being considered off limits). And that mockery is seldom affectionate. Quite the opposite.

In recent years, Mad tried to adopt a sharper edge, but it could no longer compete. There were simply too many voices devoted to mockery, much of it mean-spirited.

Humor now finds itself between a rock and a hard place: it has to be cutting to be considered hip, but there are some places it can’t go or it will be condemned as hate speech.

This need to mock, to be edgy, is reflected in much of today’s marketing and advertising and branding. It’s the antithesis of Mort Drucker’s humor. The snarkiness often comes at someone’s expense: you win fans or customers by alienating others.

Does anyone really like this situation? We laugh, we go along, but do we really enjoy it? I don’t, and I suspect I’m not alone.

Mort Drucker’s humor was a unifying force. Even his “victims” were fans.

He once drew Ronald Reagan as Hamlet, Moses, Scrooge and Mr. Hyde in a 1982 Mad story, Ronald Reagan — Now Starring at the White House.

Reagan gave Mort and his wife a private tour of the White House.

When he appeared on The Tonight Show in 1985, actor Michael J. Fox told Johnny Carson that he knew he had made it in show business “when Mort Drucker drew my head.”

Humor that doesn’t cross the line into meanness has that kind of appeal. It helps people laugh, relax, feel good, feel accepted.

That’s Mort Drucker humor. Brands could learn a lot from it. We all could.

The Force was strong with Mort.

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Mort was self-taught (which I find truly astounding). He figured things out– another invaluable lesson.

“When I started working for Mad, they assigned me TV satires and asked me to draw famous people,” he recalled. “So I just did it. It took me a long time to learn the skills I have, and it was time-consuming. With me, everything is trial and error.”

Anyone who’s ever seen one of his satires knows it’s like watching a real movie or television show.

“I become the camera,” he once said, “and look for angles, lighting, close-ups, wide angles, long shots — just as a director does to tell the story in the most visually interesting way he can.”

Which makes me think of something communications expert Sarah Elkins is fond of saying: “Your stories don’t define you. How you tell them will.”

Words and pictures aren’t enough. There has to be something more. A personal touch. A certain humanity, warmth, and yes, kindness.

Another lesson: the joy in Mort’s work is palpable. And he was always up for new challenges:

”For me, the stimulation comes from learning how to do things better. It keeps the adrenaline going, and that’s why I try to do so many different things. The most important thing to me is that I never stop learning.’’

Just how many people did he draw over the years?

“I think I’ve drawn almost everyone in Hollywood,” he told the New York Times back in 2000.

And a lot of other people, too.

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Back in 2015, Michael Cavna asked Mort if there was anyone he couldn’t caricature.

“My wife,” he said. “She’s too perfect to draw.”

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About Mark: I’m an illustrator specializing in humor, editorial, branding, social media, and content marketing. My images are different, like your brand needs to be.

You can view my portfolio, and connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Questions? Send me an email.

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