Ilonka Karasz: Alas, Poor Yorker

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio—a fellow

of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy.

"Hamlet," V.i

The New Yorker artist Ilonka Karasz (1896-1981) created extraordinary covers for the magazine from its first year in 1925 through its forty-eighth in 1973. While her art adorned the magazine's cover one-hundred eighty-six times, it is unusual to find a piece by her that is actually about The New Yorker.

Such a work was offered on eBay in 2017, an illustration that simulated the effect of flipping through the pages of the magazine. Familiar sections are visible: "Profiles," "Goings On About Town," "Tables for Two." Three writers are referenced by surname: Emily Hahn, John O'Hara, and Sally Benson. The cover of the fictitious issue is about the theatre with fancy dress hats, a showgirl, and a pair of eyeglasses. The title of the piece, Alas, Poor Yorker, is also a tongue-in-cheek theatrical reference.

The art is dated May 1947 and appears to have been created for a specific purpose. My conjecture is that it could have been printed as an invitation to a party for the writers or editorial staff of the magazine.

Ilonka Karasz
eBay listing ended May 14, 2017

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ilonka-Karasz-Hungarian-American-1896-1981-Project-For-034-New-Yorker-034-1947-/322511118571?hash=item4b172920eb%3Ag%3A--8AAOSwq1JZEh9B&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Ilonka Karasz
eBay item description

Ilonka Karasz
eBay bid history
The last bidder gets it, but there's not a lot of enthusiasm here.

Note:  I would appreciate hearing from anyone who knows anything about this original illustration by Ilonka Karasz.

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John O'Hara: A Signed Pach Brothers Photograph

I always liked John O'Hara's books, although it's been a good twenty-five years now since I last took the plunge. I get the sense he is not being read much these days by anyone. That's a shame. I still plan to return to his fiction at some point. Anyway, the news can't be all bad when a rare signed photograph of the writer, a Pach Brothers portrait, sells for nearly three times its high estimate. There might be hope yet.

Pach Brothers:  John O'Hara
Lion Heart Autographs Listing Retrieved February 22, 2020

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/rare-signed-photo-of-butterfield-8-author-john-fc64f70ba1

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

John O'Hara

Pach Brothers of New York, Photographers

Signed Headshots, the Mark of True Celebrity

Attempted Bloggery's Literary Index—with Pictures!

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Ronald Searle's Sunset Strip

Ronald Searle's Sunset Strip is an unusual illustration for the artist, a dizzying commercial landscape unpopulated with any figures or even automobiles. It was created for TV Guide in the 1970s and the original art was listed by Taraba Illustration Art as early as 2012.

Ronald Searle
Sunset Strip
Original art
TV Guide

Detail

Ronald Searle
Taraba Illustration Art, LLC
Accessed November 18, 2012

Dead Link

Fortunately for us, contributor David from Manhattan was able to sort out the TV Guide publication history. He writes:

Searle illustrated an article, "Sunset Strip—Decline of a Legend" back in June 22, '74. Not TVG's finest hour with how it was cropped. Dimensions are 13 3/4 x 10, paper laid on board. He wrote a caption at bottom, and applied his handstamp on back, but not signed. Which leads to a question for you. Amidst the urban jumble, there appears to be what looks like a large "RS" with an arrow pointing to it. A bit of sly humor on the artist's part, or is the current owner getting carried away?

Here again is the art:

Ronald Searle
Sunset Strip
Original art
TV Guide, June 22, 1974

What irritates me most about TV Guide's reproduction is actually not how severely the image was cropped—I think it was created with that possibility in mind—but rather how much of Searle's exuberant detail was muddied in the printing process.

Ronald Searle
"Sunset Strip—Decline of a Legend"
TV Guide, June 22, 1974

TV Guide's crop line cuts directly between these two towers. Even in the preserved right half, the drawing's frenetic energy was largely lost anyway in the process of printing:

Detail

Is there a hidden RS? Anything's possible.

In Searle's handwriting

Yes, Searle's American agent John Locke had a prestigious BUtterfield-8 phone number. This prefix was culturally immortalized by the John O'Hara novel and subsequent movie of that name. Locke typically would answer his phone by saying, "8010."

Note:  Thanks to David from Manhattan for all the scholarship he puts into his contributions here. This is David's thirty-sixth contribution to Attempted Bloggery.

For more on Searle's TV Guide work, tune in to Matt Jones's 2007 post "Magazine Illustration Part 1: TV Guide" on Perpetua, the Ronald Searle Tribute blog, here.

Ronald Searle's centenary will be celebrated on Tuesday, March 3. As any fule kno.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Ronald Searle

TV Guide

David from Manhattan

Attempted Bloggery's Sundowning Index

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Al Ross: A Stockholder Motion

This original cartoon by Al Ross depicts an unlikely stockholder proposal at a corporation's annual meeting. The seller states it was published in The New Yorker, something sellers of cartoons are wont to do. I can't verify this by the caption, which doesn't appear at all on my standard searches. The caption has an unceremonious squiggle through it anyway, indicating someone along the line didn't think it was ready to see print. If this cartoon was indeed ever published anywhere, it could just as easily have been with a different caption and that makes a search problematic. Furthermore, the markings and stamps on the back should readily verify whether this piece was actually handled by The New Yorker's editorial department, but the reverse of the artwork hasn't been shown to us by the seller. So to call this a published New Yorker cartoon right now just seems very iffy.

Incidentally, John O'Hara wrote a short humorous piece about owning a horse named Lady Belle which was published in the New Yorker of May 3, 1930 when Al Ross was only 18. Is it possible that some half a century later, Ross recalled this when he needed a name for a horse?

Al Ross, "I make a motion we put it all on Lady Belle in the fifth tomorrow." 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Al-Ross-Original-Signed-NEW-YORKER-Cartoon-in-Ink-/390652318648?ssPageName=ADME%3AB%3ASS%3AUS%3A3160&nma=true&si=UB68sj2DvLx%252F9kdb54zXrlCgzYs%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

June 23, 2014 Update:  Sold!

Note:  Any information on this piece's publication history would be greatly appreciated.

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