Smiles #45 (Part 1)

"Give dad a tie!" says the sign on the wall. Looks like dad is going to get a lot more than just a tie from "Santa" this Christmas. Hmm... I could expound further on the implications of this situation, but I think I'll just move on now...

This issue of the "Smiles" digest is dated January, 1951 (appearing on the newsstands sometime in late 1950), so Wiseman was about a year (or so) away from quitting most of his freelance clients and working full-time for Hank Ketcham. The back cover of the issue features a black & white ad for another digest mag with a Wiseman cover:


If you click for the larger image, you can just about make out the Wiseman signature (in the water above the words "sale" & "at"). It's in there somewhere. Honest!
This same ad also appeared on the back covers of Smile #46 & 47.

Around the same time, Al was doing a lot of work for a different publisher on a similar digest-sized magazine, "Charley Jones' Laugh Book Magazine". But more on that some other week. In the meantime (tomorrow that is), we'll delve into the inner pages of "Smiles" #45 looking for more traces of that elusive Al Wiseman.


Wiseman digest mags:

Charley Jones' Laugh Book Magazine:
August 1950: Part 1
March 1951: Part 1/Part 2
April 1951: Part 1/Part 2/Part 3/Part 4
June 1952: Part 1/Part 2
March 1953: Part 1/Part 2
"Pin-Up Stationery" ad: Part 1/Part 2
"The Latrine Gazette" column: Part 1

Smiles:
#45 (January, 1951): Part 1/Part 2