B. "Hap" Kliban (born Bernard Kliban; January 1, 1935 – August 12, 1990) was an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

Early life and education

Born in

Norwalk, Connecticut Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The city, part of the New York metropolitan area, New York Metropolitan Area, is the List of municipalities of Connecticut by population, sixth-most populous city in Connecticut ...

, Kliban studied at the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

and

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...

but "flunked out." He spent time painting and traveling in Europe before moving to California, where he lived in the North Beach section of San Francisco. He did freelance advertising illustration, drawing ads, logos and annual reports. His first wife, Mary Kathleen Brown, was a noted cartoonist in her own right as

M. K. Brown M. K. Brown is an American cartoonist and painter whose work has appeared in many publications, including ''National Lampoon (magazine), National Lampoon'' (1972–1981), ''Mother Jones (magazine), Mother Jones'', ''Wimmen's Comix'', ''The Ne ...

and chose many of the cartoons that appeared in his publications. It was while living in North Beach that Kliban began to draw cartoons for ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

'' magazine. The income from ''Playboy'' provided financial security that enabled him in 1967 to move Brown and his daughter Kalia to the suburb of Fairfax,

Marin County Marin County ( ) is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is ac ...

. Kliban, who hated his given name of Bernard, went by the nickname "Hap" (for his birthday, "Happy New Year"). He eventually changed his legal name to the initial "B."

Career

In 1962, Kliban became a ''Playboy'' cartoonist, contributing

cartoons A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

until his death. Michelle Urry, ''

s cartoon editor, visiting his studio, reviewed his drawings, mostly cats. She thought they should be compiled into a book, introduced him to an agent, who found a publisher, resulting in the 1975 book ''Cat''. This led to several other books of cartoons ending with ''Advanced Cartooning'' in 1993. Since ''Cat'', his cartoons have adorned many products including

sticker A sticker is a type of label: a piece of printed paper, plastic, vinyl, or other material with temporary or permanent pressure sensitive adhesive on one side. It can be used for decoration or for functional purposes, depending on the situation. ...

calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A calendar date, date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is ...

mug A mug is a type of cup, a drinking vessel usually intended for hot drinks such as: coffee, hot chocolate, or tea. Mugs usually have handles and hold a larger amount of fluid than other types of cups such as teacups or coffee cups. Typically ...

s, and

t-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shir ...

s. The books that followed ''Cat'' consisted mostly of extremely bizarre cartoons that find their humor in their utter strangeness and unlikeliness. Many of these are cartoons that Kliban drew for ''Playboy''. They often contained dysmorphic drawings of nude figures in extremely unlikely environments. Another frequent subject of satire was the type of wordless, step-by-step visual instruction manuals typically found with such things as office furniture. Kliban also had a recurring series of drawings called "Sheer Poetry," in which the page would be split into six panels, containing images of objects whose names, when spoken in the order presented, would form a rhyming, nonsensical verse. Kliban drew the album cover for the David Bromberg Band's 1977 LP '' Reckless Abandon''.

Death and legacy

Kliban died at

UCSF Medical Center The UCSF Medical Center is a research and teaching hospital in San Francisco, California, and is a medical center of the University of California, San Francisco. It is affiliated with the UCSF School of Medicine and the UCSF Helen Diller Famil ...

aged 55 of an undisclosed heart condition; he had undergone heart surgery there two weeks previously. He was survived by his second wife, Judith Kamman Kliban (who married actor

Bill Bixby Wilfred Bailey Everett Bixby III (January 22, 1934 – November 21, 1993) was an American actor and television director. His career spanned more than three decades, including appearances on stage, in films, and on television series. He is known ...

shortly before Bixby's death in 1993); brother, Ken, of New York City; and two daughters: Kalia, from his first marriage with

; and Sarah, from another relationship.

Gary Larson Gary Larson (born August 14, 1950) is an American cartoonist who created ''The Far Side'', a single-panel cartoon series that was syndicated internationally to more than 1,900 newspapers for fifteen years. The series ended on January 1, 1995, ...

, cartoonist of ''

The Far Side ''The Far Side'' is a single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Chronicle Features and then Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from December 31, 1979, to January 1, 1995 (when Larson retired as a cartoonist). Its surrea ...

'' comic strip, named Kliban as one of the inspirations for his work.

Publications

Books

*''Cat'', 1975 ( (pb), (hb)) *''Never Eat Anything Bigger Than Your Head and Other Drawings'', 1976 () *''Whack Your Porcupine and Other Drawings'', 1977 () *''Tiny Footprints'', 1978 () *''Playboy's Kliban'', 1979 () *''Playboy's New Kliban'', 1980 () *''Catcalendar Cats: The Complete Collection'', 1981 () *''Two Guys Fooling Around with the Moon'', 1982 () *''Luminous Animals and Other Drawings'', 1983 () *''The Biggest Tongue in Tunisia and Other Drawings'', 1986 () *''Advanced Cartooning'', 1993 ()

Comic books

* (Kliban credited under a pseudonym)

Posters

* March 5, 1967 – ''Benefit for Newstage and Straight Theater:

Moby Grape Moby Grape is an American rock band founded in 1966. Part of San Francisco's psychedelic music scene, the band merged elements of rock and roll, folk music, pop, blues, and country. They were one of the few groups of which all members were lea ...

Big Brother and the Holding Company Big Brother and the Holding Company are an American rock band that was formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Jefferson Airplane. After ...

Country Joe & the Fish Country Joe and the Fish was an American psychedelic rock band formed in Berkeley, California, in 1965. The band was among the influential groups in the San Francisco music scene during the mid-to-late 1960s. Much of the band's music was writt ...

, The Sparrows at Avalon Ballroom''.

References

External links

Kliban Cats official site
*
1978 audio interview of B. Kliban by Stephen Banker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kliban, B. American magazine cartoonists 1935 births 1990 deaths American humorists American erotic artists Artists from Connecticut Cat artists People from Fairfax, California Artists from Marin County, California People from Norwalk, Connecticut Playboy cartoonists Pratt Institute alumni American album-cover and concert-poster artists American advertising artists and illustrators