Designer Of Rankin/Bass Classic Holiday Characters & Longtime Mad Magazine Illustrator Was 93
Paul Coker Jr., whose character and output styles for the common Rankin/Bass stop-motion and animated vacation specials and his quite a few several years as one of Mad magazine’s “Usual Gang Of Idiots” endeared him to generations of lovers, died next a short ailment at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on July 23. He was 93.
His dying was verified to Deadline by his stepdaughter Lee Smithson Burd. “Paul was lucid and had his exceptional perception of humor right up until the close,” Smithson Burd explained.
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Coker’s contributions to the generation and character design and style of the Rankin/Bass specials served make some of the most indelible holiday getaway photographs of the final 50 %-century. As both a character designer or production designer, Coker lent his talents to such Xmas and Easter specials as Cricket on the Hearth (1967), Frosty the Snowman (1969), Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (1970), Listed here Will come Peter Cottontail (1971), The Calendar year Without the need of a Santa Claus (1974), Rudolph’s Shiny New 12 months and Frosty’s Wintertime Wonderland (both equally 1976), Nestor, the Lengthy-Eared Christmas Donkey and The Easter Bunny Is Comin’ to City (each 1977), Jack Frost (1979), Pinocchio’s Christmas (1980), The Leprechauns’ Christmas Gold (1981) and Santa, Little one! (2001).
Between the several beloved characters designed underneath Coker’s supervision are Kris Kringle (voiced by Mickey Rooney), Keenan Wynn’s Wintertime Warlock, Paul Frees’ Burgermeister Meisterburger and, from The Year Without a Santa Claus, the sinister seasonal brothers Snow Miser ((Dick Shawn) and Heat Miser (George S. Irving).
Coker very first started his a long time-extended association with Mad magazine in 1961, and he would go on to illustrate hundreds of posts perfectly into the 21st Century. He was particularly known for the common panels called “Horrifying Cliches.” Between numerous other features, he illustrated some of the magazine’s film and Television set parodies which includes articles satirizing Star Trek, Jurassic Park, Twister, Frasier, Sabrina: Teenage Witch and Caroline In The Town.
A native of Lawrence, Kansas, Coker examined drawing and painting at the College of Kansas before accepting a career as a designer of Hallmark greeting cards in the 1950s, an affiliation he would maintain for many years. He freelanced for numerous publications including Esquire, Glance, Fantastic Housekeeping and Playboy. For the latter publication, he was particularly identified for his grown ups-only parodies of the Peanuts comedian strip.
Coker is survived by his spouse of 33 yrs Rosemary Smithson, stepdaughters Lee Smithson Burd and Carol Smithson.
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