Louis Magila of Amsterdam, New York was a cartoonist and collage artist (and master of neither!) I am afraid his biography is as slim as his talent, but at least I won't resort to cheating by cutting and pasting something sexy into my post. I believe Magila did some drawings for the Christian Science Monitor in the late 1950s, and at least one puzzle, but that's about it.
Collage is a respected technique, but I'm not sure Louis Magila's hybrid-medium gag here qualifies. He did at least one other which you can find online where he puts a woman with no shirt onto a doorknob (???) and titles it "Doll knob" for reasons known only to Magila. He sold it too. "Collage" is French for "to glue" but I am not sure Louie could have told you that when he glued the glossy photo to his artist board. But still, it qualifies Magila to be ranked with Kurt Schwitters and George Braque, just not very highly. Technically, this is a "Photo-montage" I guess, but since it is paired with a drawing, one could also call it a "Decoupage" which is certainly what the editor asked for..."Get me Louie's Decoupage, ya moron...I'm ready to layout page 25!"
This one was printed in Laugh Digest in 1969. Tempest Storm is the the babe perched on the real estate agent's desk. As far as I know, this is the ONLY image of Tempest Storm house shopping. Great name for a sweater girl on the Weather Channel, eh?. As far as I can tell, Tempest is alive and kicking (off her g-string) at the age of 80 plus. Her breasts were insured by Lloyd's of London for one million dollars, and no wonder...they were considerable enough for her to appear in three Russ Meyer films AND Irving Klaw's masterpiece of clunky cinema Teaserama, a plotless dance fest also including Bettie Page....who was a looker but NOT a dancer. To her credit, Tempest was married four times, at one time reportedly to to America's first Black Cowboy and star of Harlem on the Prairie, The Bronze Buckaroo, Harlem Rides the Range and Two Gun Man from Harlem Herb Jeffries (who is also still kicking, but horses I presume...at age 96.
Well known and respected African-American artist William Hawkins did collage too, in his case he did it to add details he didn't have the time(or technique) to paint, at one time gluing the face of Stevie Wonder into his rendition of The Last Supper (!) occupying the seat reserved for Jesus! Like Tempest, it is a major work.
I don't have any more information about Magila unfortunately. This work was published in Laugh Digest in 1969, with very specific instructions on how to reproduce Ms. Storm.
Louis Magilla original drawing with collage Collection Victor Minx
