Showing posts with label Perry Barlow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Perry Barlow. Show all posts

Friday, October 7, 2022

Blog Post No. 4100: The American Theatre's Carnival for Britain

On February 21, 1941, nearly ten months before Pearl Harbor, and thus nearly ten months before the United States was to enter the Second World War, Americans were actively supporting embattled Great Britain through the British War Relief Society. The American Theatre Wing organized a Carnival for Britain at Radio City Music Hall in support of the cause. The show went on at midnight on Friday, February 21, 1941, presumably after whatever evening performance had been previously scheduled. This allowed the stellar cast to converge after their other commitments.


The program included twenty-two performances, with well-known celebrities like Fred Allen, Gracie Allen, George Burns, Helen Hayes, Walter Huston, Boris Karloff, Danny Kaye, Ethel Merman, and Arthur Treacher. The show featured stage music by Irving Berlin and Cole Porter. There was classical music by Ravel and by von Weber. George Balanchine choreographed one of the pieces.


And there was quite a printed program. The example shown here is from eBay, currently between auctions. Peter Arno's cover brings civil defense into the theater quite literally. 


That cover foretells a wartime New Yorker cartoon Arno would later create for the issue of January 17, 1942:
"Of course, if they don't bomb Sutton Place, I'm going to look like a damn fool."
Peter Arno
The New Yorker, January 17, 1942, p. 14



The remarkable entertainment program featured many entertainers whose names remain familiar eighty years later:

“We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle, nor the long-drawn trials of vigilance and exertion will wear us down.”—Winston Churchill



Jo Mielzener, who created the serious drawing of war planes over St. Paul's, below, was not a cartoonist by trade but a scenic designer. Of the artists listed in the program, the eBay seller has shown us Arno and Mielzener, of course, plus New Yorker stalwarts Perry Barlow and Richard Taylor, below. John Root's art might very well be here too. The other listed artists are quite outstanding and also should be worth seeing.
              "—on earth to men of good will!"
                              Jo Mielziner




Richard Taylor's cartoon was reprinted from The New Yorker. It is not specifically a gag related to the war effort. That is, it was apparently intended to be about ordinary house movers, but in the context of this program it could be construed as relating to the clearing of museums during the blitz.
                                                                   "Why[,] Gogarty, you're blushing!"
                                                                    Richard Taylor
                                                                      Reprinted from The New Yorker, September 14, 1940







The apparently unsigned illustration Freedom of Speech may be the work of scenic designer John Root. The Foreword by Rachel Crothers demonstrates the serious mission of the American Theatre Wing. "The one purpose of The Wing is to use the united power of the theatre to do its share of the grim work America has ahead of it—to help England stop the evil which is now stalking the earth—and to save civilization for all time."


New Yorker cartoonist Perry Barlow is represented with a cartoon that is apparently not previously published.
                                 "But[,] dear! Isn't this the medal you won in a bowling tournament?"
                      Perry Barlow                         

Peter Arno
eBay listing ended September 11, 2022

Peter Arno
eBay item description


Image added February 14, 2023


Image added February 14, 2023






"Why, Gogarty, you're blushing!"
Richard Taylor
The New Yorker, September 14, 1940, p. 21

With cartoons by Garrett Price and Richard Taylor

We know from page 41 of the program that cartoonist Garrett Price's work is in the program too, but it may not be a cartoon originally from The New Yorker, and it almost certainly isn't from the same two-page spread as the Taylor drawing.
"Pardon me. Could you tell us how to get to West Linwood?"
Garrett Price
The New Yorker, September 14, 1940, p. 20



"Of course, if they don't bomb Sutton Place, I'm going to look like a damn fool."
Peter Arno
The New Yorker, January 17, 1942, p. 14


A cartoon by Peter Arno and a spot drawing by an unidentified artist

Spot drawing
Artist unidentified




Note:  The full program also has cartoons by Alain (Daniel Brustlein), Whitney Darrow, Jr., Richard Decker, Al Hirschfeld, Garrett Price, George Price, and William Steig. Tantalizingly, they are not seen in the eBay listing. If a reader can supply these missing images, I will add them to the post.


By the way, can anyone confirm that John Root made the Freedom of Speech drawing? Any luck identifying The New Yorker's spot artist?



The Attempted Bloggery Centennial Posts 💯
Blog Post No. 100
Blog Post No. 200:  A Shaggy Dog Story






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Saturday, December 12, 2020

Perry Barlow: Toys Have Consequences

Even seven decades ago consumers were evaluating potential Christmas toy purchases by criteria other than simply how much pleasure they might give. Perry Barlow's cartoon for the December 10, 1949 Collier's shows a somber couple contemplating a purchase that could have ramifications throughout the household. In contrast, the woman trying out the trumpet, which can have its own widespread effects, seems to be lost in the moment. One wonders whether the recipient will be as pleased.
Perry Barlow
Collier's, December 10, 1949
Scan by Dick Buchanan



Note:  You can always tell a scan from the Dick Buchanan cartoon clip files. It's crisp and sharp and seems to look better, if possible, than the cartoon did in the original magazine. This is Dick's fifty-seventh appearance here on Attempted Bloggery. I am honored to have him contributing. Dick also contributes regularly to Mike Lynch Cartoons, most recently a post entitled "From the Dick Buchanan Files: Gag Cartoon Clichés Part 7 1937 - 1963," the seventh installment in the wonderful series. Me, I avoid clichés like the plague. (Oops, I used that one already.)

My wife tells me our fax machine can make scans too, but that seems pretty farfetched to me.
  
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Thursday, September 5, 2019

Robert Karsten's Fake New Yorker Cover

York, Pennsylvania artist Robert Karsten (1943-1996) never had his work published on the cover of the New Yorker, but in 1962 while still a teenager he did the next best thing: he painted a fake New Yorker cover on illustration board. Complete with New Yorker magazine logo, date (October 23, 1962), and price (25 cents), the watercolor depicts a country scene with birds sitting on telephone lines and more birds in the air. It is not really convincing as a New Yorker cover. On artistic grounds, the painting is not particularly compelling. The proportions are too long, but despite this the image is entirely above the horizon line; in other words, the viewer is looking up. The strap that should typically appear along the left edge of the image is absent, although there may or may not be a faint watercolor hint of it. 

 Could this have been submitted to the magazine as a proposed cover? It's possible, but the elaborate, hand-drawn logo would seem to be an odd way of going about that. More likely it's an artistic fantasy on a New Yorker cover.

 The eBay seller suggests this painting depicts a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds." As this movie classic wasn't released until 1963 and the painting lacks the requisite menace, that seems implausible.






Robert Karsten
eBay Listing Ended April 7, 2017

Robert Karsten
eBay Item Description

Robert Karsten
eBay Bid History
A single bidder avoids a potential bidding war by using Buy It Now.



What of the real New Yorker cover for that date? The actual magazine cover of October 13, 1962 is by Perry Barlow. It depicts a hurried player substitution between plays of a football game. The players seem very young so possibly it's a college football game we're seeing. It is raining. The loose painting technique captures the immediacy and the wetness of the moment. Barlow contrasts the energy of the players coming into the game in their fresh uniforms with the fatigue of the players coming to the sidelines covered in mud.
Perry Barlow
The New Yorker, October 13, 1962

There are no rules for what can and can't constitute a New Yorker cover, but it is useful to note that the Barlow cover conveys a specific point of view that's interesting even after we've seen hundreds of football games. Karsten's fake New Yorker cover, on the other hand, doesn't tell us much about birds sitting on telephone lines that we don't already know.
Robert Karsten
Fake New Yorker Cover, October 13, 1962




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Sunday, December 30, 2018

Perry Barlow: Sizing Up the New Year

It is New Year's Eve eighty years ago in the pages of Collier's. Perry Barlow's older couple has not quite gotten into the spirit of the festivities. Note how deftly Barlow sets the scene and contrasts the impassive couple in the foreground with the energetic partygoers everywhere else.
"Now, let's see, I take about a seven and three eighths[.]"
Perry Barlow
Collier's, January 7, 1939, page 43
Scan by Dick Buchanan


Note:  Hats off to Dick Buchanan for sending along this scan of a festive Perry Barlow cartoon. This is Dick's fortieth contribution to Attempted Bloggery, but then I have been known to undercount. Dick's claim to fame is that he keeps the monumental Dick Buchanan Cartoon Clip Files. From these he contributes regularly to Mike Lynch Cartoons, most recently a post entitled "From the Dick Buchanan Files: More Vintage Gag Cartoons 1947 - 1962." Go visit. You won't find these anywhere else. Yes, you can wear your party hat.

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Thursday, December 27, 2018

eBay 101: Falling Upon a New Yorker Cartoon?

An eBay seller has recently listed a wash drawing with the intriguing title "Original NEW YORKER Cartoon Art 1930s." The initial Buy It Now price was a robust $2,000, albeit with a Make Offer option. The seller, toys24-7 based in Scottsdale, Arizona, has earned an eBay rating over 2700 of which 99.5% of the feedback is positive. That's impressive. So let's have a look.



 The artwork, if we can call it that, depicts a girl slipping and falling in a puddle of water. The technique is sloppy and unprofessional. The grasp of anatomy is not even rudimentary. For example, both legs have an extra angulation at mid-thigh. This is more of an illustrated pratfall than a gag cartoon anyway. It is probably meant to be cute. There is no signature and no written caption, although there seems to be some deliberately-obliterated writing on the lower margin of the full sheet:


 The verso, as by now one might expect, has no New Yorker markings and indeed no markings of any kind to indicate it was published anywhere. To anyone not trying to sell it, this is obviously the work of an amateur.

eBay Listing Retrieved December 19, 2018

eBay Item Description


Now actively monitoring my browsing of the auction site, eBay soon wrote to tell me the item and one other similar drawing were discounted to $1,500.

But wait. Already these have been marked down to $1,250 each. Even the seller recognizes these are grossly overpriced. Alas, they will remain overpriced however much they are discounted after Christmas.


 For those like toys24-7 who may never have seen a 1930s New Yorker cartoon, here's one example, and it even includes a puddle:
"Oh, don't be an ass, Herbert!"
Perry Barlow
The New Yorker, April 20, 1935, page 18

I confess—I chose a good one.

 So what is this eBay seller really in possession of? It certainly never appeared in the New Yorker or in any other magazine for that matter. My best guess is that it's a wash drawing done by an amateur perhaps attempting to ape the style of Grace Drayton, famous for her Campbell Soup Kids. I don't have an example of her art depicting a fall into a puddle exactly, but here's a Campbell's Kid eager for some water sport.
Grace Drayton
Campbell's Soup advertisement
A 1921 ad, on the other hand, shows how she handled the subject of ice skating. (Imagine, if you will, a leisure activity taking place on a big frozen puddle.)
Grace Drayton
Campbell's Soup advertisement, 1921



Grace Drayton
Campbell's Soup advertisement, 1921



Look, sellers on eBay have the same weakness we all do. Without doing their homework, they want to believe every slapdash find of theirs is of great cultural significance and value. Naturally then at least some eBay sellers are a little too eager to conclude that whatever random drawing they have chanced upon must certainly be a lost masterpiece once published in the New Yorker.



But we know better, don't we? Of course we do.
December 30, 2018 Update:  The asking prices continue to drop.

January 1, 2019 Update:


January 5, 2019 Update:


Note: After all these years of my writing this blog, one might think it's unfair of me to go after someone for knowing less about New Yorker cartoons than I do. Unfair or not, rest assured I have no intention of letting up.


Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

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