1953 America’s Most Exciting City – Chicago
DESCRIPTION
This vibrant mid-century comic-lithograph titled “America’s Most Exciting City – Chicago” drawn by the famed American cartoonist Jack Davis and produced by the T.C.G. (Tichnor Card Company) in the United States, most likely between 1950 and 1955.
Printed in bold offset lithography, the design captures the playful, comic-book aesthetic that characterized postwar American graphic humor. This piece was part of a series of 24 prints celebrating major American cities, each rendered in a cartoonish, exaggerated style meant to capture the local flavor or, in Chicago’s case, its notorious reputation for organized crime.
Design, Symbolism, and Humor
The poster presents a chaotic and tongue-in-cheek portrayal of Chicago’s gangster era, complete with caricatured mobsters, police shootouts, and flying bullets ricocheting across a city alleyway. A vintage automobile speeds through the scene while onlookers scatter, ducking from the action. The imagery plays on the lingering cultural fascination with Prohibition-era violence, which by the 1950s had already become mythologized through pulp magazines and early Hollywood crime films. The central tagline, “America’s Most Exciting City,” reflects both the notoriety and pride associated with Chicago’s rough-and-tumble history.
Among the clever visual details is a broken heart-shaped box labeled “Be My Valentine”, a clear allusion to the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre of 1929, the infamous gangland slaying that forever linked the city to organized crime in the American imagination. The exaggerated violence is rendered with humor rather than menace, aligning the print more with the playful mid-century fascination with urban mythology than any real threat. Beneath the chaos, a scurrying cartoon rat and scattered relics of daily life add to the darkly comic tone, bridging the worlds of pulp fiction and pop art.
Cultural Context and Legacy of T.C.G. and Jack Davis
The series by T.C.G. exemplifies a time when souvenir art and mass-produced lithography helped shape the cultural identity of American cities for tourists and collectors alike. These prints were often sold at roadside shops or mailed as novelty gifts, appealing to the growing middle-class appetite for lighthearted Americana. Today, “America’s Most Exciting City – Chicago” stands as both a humorous caricature of the city’s storied past and a vivid artifact of 1950s American graphic design, admired for its bold color palette, lively composition, and cultural nostalgia.
Jack Davis (1924–2016) was an American cartoonist and illustrator celebrated for his energetic, exaggerated style that defined much of postwar popular art. Born in Atlanta, he studied at the University of Georgia and the Art Students League in New York before joining EC Comics in the early 1950s, where his work on Tales from the Crypt and Mad magazine made him a household name.
Over a six-decade career, Davis produced thousands of illustrations for Mad, Time, TV Guide, and countless advertising campaigns, movie posters, and record covers, distinguished by his dynamic compositions and humorous caricatures. A founding contributor to Mad and a key figure in American satire, Davis received the Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year (2000) and was inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame in 2003, leaving behind a legacy as one of the most influential illustrators of the 20th century.
CONDITION
1200 W. 35th Street #425 Chicago, IL 60609 | P: (312) 496 - 3622