Virgil "VIP" Partch Photo Gallery by Christopher Wheeler at pbase.com

Virgil "VIP" Partch

(1916-1984)

Like Sam Cobean, Sidney Smith, and, more recently, Doug Marlette, Parch died in a car accident. He was fond of drawing people with extra fingers. More than any cartoonist I know of, Partch was liable to include original drawings in his various books.

I had a VERY difficult time locating a photo of the guy. I finally found one in The Cartoonists' Cookbook, of all places. Thank to Ellen Roubos for the image of Ludwig and the photo of Partch that appears in that book.

Virgil Partch	Self-Portrait	Another self-portrait	Yet another self-portrait	one more self-portrait
Still another self-portrait	It's Hot in Here (1944)	Water on Brain (1945)	:: Bottle Fatigue (1950) (inscribed with five full page colored drawings) ::	Here We Go Again (1951)
R.I.P -- The Travelers Book of Street and Highway Accident Data (1951)	:: The Wild, Wild Women (1951) (inscribed with original two-page drawing) ::	:: Man the Beast (1953) (inscribed with original drawing) ::	Funny Cartoons (1954)	:: The Dead Game Sportsman (1954) (inscribed with drawing) ::
Hanging Way Over (1955)	:: VIP Tosses A Party (1959) (inscribed with drawing) ::	Crazy Cartoons (1959)	New Faces on the Barrom Floor (1961)	Here We Go Again and Bottle Fatigue (1963)
Cartoons Out Of My Own Head (1964)	Armed Farces (1969)	VIP's Mistake Book (1970)	Shaggy Fur Face (1971)	Vip Quips (1975)
:: Relations in Strange Locations (1978) (inscribed with drawing) ::	Ludwig The Dog Who Snored Symphonies (1971)	Partch (from Ludwig)	Partch (from VIP's Mistake Book)	The Executive
Todays Revolution in Weather Illustrations by Partch	Todays Revolution in Weather example of cartoon	VIP - for building professionals	VIP - inside front cover	How To Look At Women
From Western Advertising, August 1957

post a comment

Jack Lander		11-May-2008 19:02
Partch was my favorite. I'm 78, and recall only one of the tens or hundreds that I laughed at. It was of three guys playing cards. One was on the floor with a huge hinge connecting the top to the bottom of his torso. His head and feet were next to each other, and the caption was, "Ed's folded already." Long live the king.

Allan		01-Apr-2008 16:53
Two men in the middle of great desert-like expanse with a keyhole suspended in midair. One man inserts a key in the keyhole and says to the other, "It isn't much, But I call it home." Partch was a genius at turning everyday phrases into hilalrious cartoons.

margot		14-Feb-2008 00:43
Dennis: That "If Looks Could Kill" gag antedates MAD magazine by several years. Perhaps you saw it where I saw it, in a TIME magazine piece on Partch, circa 1948-50. The cartoon accompanied a short profile of the cartoonist. I remember the piece said, "Virgil Partch is nuts. But nuts in a nice way."

Denis		06-Dec-2007 20:28
I'll never forget a couple of cartoons that VIP drew for MAD Magazine. One was about a couple of guys walking along together and had passed an ugly lady walking in the other direction. One of the two guys continued looking straight ahead, not noticing his friend had fallen flat on his face and said something like, "If looks could kill eh, Ed"? The 2nd one was CAPTIONED "Cave Man's Insecticide." It showed insects dropping out of the air after a raunchy Cave Man in an animal skin, was shown wafting the air from his armpit at a nearby swarm.

Al Holter		01-Aug-2007 08:27
As a character animation student at CalArts in 1979-81 our character design teacher, T. Hee, described his friendship with VIP prior to the 1941 strike at Disney. Going over to visit to see how things were going once the Disney thing went bad he was struck by the elderly mother rocking on the front porch repeating "Somethin's gonna happen. Somethin's gonna happen." Inside Vip complained to T. that he'd been sending out lots of cartoons to magazines, who wrote that they liked 'em and seemed to say they'd send some amount of money but never had. "Let me see those letters." VIP kept them all in a big unused waste basket. T. dumped them out to discover the basket filed with checks from publishers. VIP had only seen pay/cash envelopes and didn't know what a check was. "This is like money. You take these down to the bank and they give you money for them." "See, I said somethin' was gonna happen." Apparently his financial situation improved.

Bruce		16-Jun-2007 17:32
One of my favorite single-panel cartoons of all time was by, I think, Virgil Partch. The scene was the interior of a grass hut in the jungle, with a bunch of natives, complete with spears and nose rings, sitting around a table playing cards. One of them asks "What's wild?" I'd love to have a copy or a scan of this. It might have appeared in Colliers in the early 50s, but I'm not at all sure. Help, anyone!!

Mike Taylor		30-May-2007 20:58
The series I liked the best were the ones he did for Air Cal. The only caption was the flight attendent saying "I'll ask the Captain" These were in the gate area at the airports Air Cal flew into.

J. Carey		26-May-2007 00:46
Thom L.: that sounds a lot like a Bill Mauldin cartoon from "Up Front".

John Carey (Freehold)		26-May-2007 00:43
I just bought a 18" x 11" self portrait cartoon by VIP on Ebay! Man Oh Man!

Thomas K. Lauterback		09-May-2007 21:34
I seem to remember a cartoon from the 50's, "You can always tell an ex-officer." Visual: guy on sidewalk knocking down others. Was this done by Virgil Partch? I've looked for it for years, with no luck. Anyone know how one could acquire a copy?

Guest		04-Mar-2007 04:58
Did Partch draw the hilarious cartoon with the caption, "Louie you'r a Goddamn jewel?"

Barry		02-Mar-2007 03:01
I took SCUBA diving lessons in 1973. My dive buddy was a guy by the name of Peter Partch. I had seen VIP/ Big George for years and it was a very easy style to identify. I met VIP one day when I was invited to watch the Newport - Ensenada Race, still unaware of who he was. He had a very bizzarre sense of humor that a 26 year old had difficulty relating to but now I wish I could have at the time. Peter and I were chatting in his bedroom after a dive and I saw a bunch of cartoons on the wall that were originals and were birthday cards with Peter and VIP and his mother. I said that they looked very familiar and Peter told me it was in fact the work of his father....VIP. I lost touch with Peter and with his family and was very saddened when I read about the accident. CORRECTION to the Wiki text: VIP lived in a house on the cliffs of Corona Del Mar (at least in 73) I know because I went there.

mitcheroo		01-Mar-2007 04:57
Anyone remember "The Captain's Gig", VIP's syndicated strip from around the 1970's? I can' find a trace of it anywhere. Was a favorite of mine. Set on a small island.

nancy o.		19-Oct-2006 04:53
Did he do the cartoon Titled "Under the Boardwalk Watching all The Girls Go By" It's a guy with a Big nose and a bigger gleam in his eye,standing under a pier looking up at all the women in dresses.

Christopher Wheeler		26-Dec-2005 22:47
"Did Virgil Partsch do the cartoon in New Yorker, I think --- of a little man in a box, shrinking back in the shadows, saying that "people are no damned good"." No -- that was William Steig. Regards, --chris

Fred Jones		26-Dec-2005 19:28
Did Virgil Partsch do the cartoon in New Yorker, I think --- of a little man in a box, shrinking back in the shadows, saying that "people are no damned good".

J. Carey		16-Nov-2005 20:01
Long Live VIP!

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