Today in Comics History, May 2: Happy birthday, Pinky Lee!

Pinky Lee! Who is he, and how did he come to be? I don't know, and we're not gonna really answer half that question, not even on today, his birthday (born 1907).

To me, Pinky Lee is one of those names you see mentioned or featured in old, old comic books and you never quite know the context, because memory of him has passed long ago from our fleeting, butterfly minds. Well, I'm here to tell you that (checks Wikipedia) Pincus Leff, better known as Pinky Lee, was an American burlesque comic and host of the children's television program The Pinky Lee Show in the early 1950s. Which we all remember, right?

Right?



advertisements from (top) Harvey Comics cover-dated July 1955, and
(bottom) DC Comics cover-dated December 1955
Oh yeah, that Pinky Lee: the one who was always encouraging us to eat healthy, nutritional foods! (Mind you, I don't disagree with his diet plans.) But short of actually sitting down and hunting on YouTube for one of his shows, how can we tell what his humor is like? Check it out:


from Hello Buddies #81 (Harvey, May 1957), writer uncredit and unknown
Ah yes, men's "sophisticated" cartoon magazines of the 1950s: where you can just listen to the radio, steal a comedian's jokes, and get paid pennies to submit them.

But consider this: Pinky Lee was so topical that even if the kids of the mid-60s had no idea who he was, Stan Lee did!


from Fantastic Four (1961 series) #22 (Marvel, January 1964), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by George Roussos, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Sam Rosen
Happy birthday, Pinky!