Seen and Noted: George Price's Signature

Autograph dealers have a way of framing signatures alongside photos or other images in an attempt to create something worth hanging on a wall. In an item from an auction scheduled for February 2, The New Yorker's George Price has his autograph mounted above one of his inimitable magazine cartoons.

04853

My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #928

In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #928 from the issue of January 13, 2025, a woman walks away from a man and steps into a giant smart phone. She is the speaker. The drawing is by Mick Stevens.

"That's enough eye contact for today."

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Seen and Noted: Cathy Guisewite Sketch "To John K. Aulthouse, Jr.!"

An ink sketch on an index card by Cathy Guisewite of her comic strip alter ego Cathy is inscribed "To John K. Aulthouse, Jr!" in a thought balloon. It is signed and dated June 6, 1986, some ten years into the strip's thirty-four year run. The art is currently available on eBay for $74.99 or a best offer.

Cathy Guisewite
eBay listing accessed January 12, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/235906053238?_trksid=p1.c101732.m5053&mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m164382.l178272&ch=osgood&euid=5590a0eed4d946bc86188961015cb75d&bu=43186000575&ut=RU&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20250111013616&segname=11021&recoId=235906053238&recoPos=2

Cathy Guisewite
Cathy Guisewite
eBay listing  item description

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Ed Arno: Social Realism

Ed Arno is best remembered for his work as a New Yorker cartoonist. An eBay auction from 2017 shows a different, more serious side of his art. The piece offered is an original illustration dated 1956 in a style of social realism. Its subjects are race, poverty, and neglect. It's setting is urban and gritty. The torn shirt is a reminder of need. The poster depicted on the brick wall recalls hunger in a supposed land of plenty. Only the cat, probably a stray, seems willing to provide some comfort to the child.

Ed Arno's initial and date

Ed Arno
eBay Listing Ended August 20, 2017

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ED-ARNO-NEW-YORKER-1950s-Gouache-of-Black-Child-Civil-Rights-Movement-A-/141942128074?hash=item210c68fdca

%3Ag%3AFjkAAOSwAuNW8aKc&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Ed Arno
eBay Item Description

Although it was apparently sold in 2017, the same artwork was sold again three years later by the same seller. This time the price was reduced and the sale benefited a charity.

04850

eBay 101: The 1937 New Yorker Album

Occasionally I offer a few helpful tips for eBay sellers who want to improve their listings. I base the suggestions in this post on a recent auction for a worn copy of The 1937 New Yorker Album with no dust jacket. First off, sellers, in your photographs, don't let the shadow of your smart phone fall on the item you wish to sell:

That goes for the back cover too.

If you're not selling your finger, it doesn't belong in your photos, I always say.

Remember what I said about smart phone shadows? It's still relevant.

If you're going to show cartoons from the book, for heaven's sake don't cut off the captions or indeed any part of the drawing. I can add the captions here as a public service but it would be preferable to see the full cartoons.

"Hey, Mr. Raboldi! Surprise!"
Charles Addams

"Maybe they'd like us to say 'good night' already."
(dating couple on a couch to the right)
Syd Hoff

"Ready or not, they say she's never been known to miss a cue."
Whitney Darrow, Jr.

In a perfect world, the listing should get the book's title correct:

The 1937 New Yorker Album
eBay listing ended November 16, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/156506425704

The 1937 New Yorker Album
eBay item description

Despite this eBay seller's less-than-ideal presentation of the book, I saw the listing and was surprised to find I didn't have this book in my library. So I took my fifteen bucks and entered the fray.

The 1937 New Yorker Album
eBay bid history
One last minute bid from your neighborhood blogger is met with success.

04849 

Claude Smith: The Happy Husband

Claude Smith called his seven-panel New Yorker cartoon of April 13, 1968, "one of my few supers!" On May 31, 1982, he pronounced it "Still a good one!" These notations were presumably made when the artist presented the original to a new owner. The art was sold in Brooklyn on January 4 for $400 plus a 28% buyer's premium.

Claude's drawing has an underlying assumption of female subservience rewarded only by male anger. The accommodating woman fails to make her husband happy, while his immature acting out brings him pleasure and contentment. Is it telling that Claude was so pleased with himself here?

Versos

The stamp indicates Ben Day was used for shading . . . but I don't see any shading.

Verso

Claude Smith's signature

Claude Smith
Antique Arena, Inc., sale of January 4, 2024

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/195006709_claude-smith-original-new-yorker-magazine-cartoon

Claude Smith 
Antique Arena, Inc., sale of January 4, 2025

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/195006709_claude-smith-original-new-yorker-magazine-cartoon/?from=alert&utm_source=LA_SavedAlert&utm_campaign=SearchAlert_20230912_A&utm_medium=email&utm_content=itemendingsoon

Note:  For once an auction house has really done its homework. If you'd like to do your homework too, send along images of some original Claude Smith art along with all the publication info. Be nice and I may even throw a coaster at you.

04848

The CartoonStock Cartoon Caption Contest No. 188

In the CartoonStock Caption Contest number 188, we are in a living room with a flying dog and its master. The dog may or may not be an angel; there's no halo.

The rules of the monthly cash prize contest have not changed (and neither has my description of them): Five dollars buys up to three entries. Real cash prizes are $500 for first place and $100 for each of five runners up. As of this writing, I've put $165 into the first thirty-three pay-to-play contests and this thirty-fourth challenge brings my total cash outlay up to $170. Having achieved runner-up status with two previous entries, I've collected $200 from CartoonStock, so I'm still playing with the house's money, thank goodness. In fact, so few contestants enter that the odds may generally be considered favorable even for us less-gifted caption writers. My three entries are shown below. The cartoonist is J. C. Duffy. 

"Guess what happened when I caught the car."
"So, it's true, you can't feed a dog chocolate."
"I never had my day."

January 12, 2025 Update:  The Judges Deliberate

04847

My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #927

The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #927 from the double issue of December 30, 2024 & January 6, 2025, is set in a corporate office inhabited by two businessmen—and four seagulls. Two of the seagulls are perched on the men's respective balding heads. The standing, more subordinate executive speaks. The drawing is by Kaamran Hafeez.

"And yet, the environmentalists still hate us."

 

04846

Constantin Alajálov: Warning All Wives!

An article called "Warning All Wives!" published in McCall's was reprinted in the Reader's Digest issue of February 1964. Part II of a feature with the same name appeared in a February magazine issue, possibly McCall's, along with Constantin Alajálov's illustration, the original of which is reproduced here. The husband appears exhausted, the wife frustrated. What could possibly have gone wrong in the marriage bed?

Warning All Wives! (Part II)
Constantin Alajálov
McCall's[?], c. February 1964[?], p. 129

Verso

An undated, unsigned inscription on the back of the illustration board lists the price of this work at $1,250. The sale of the art at Stephenson's Auction in Southampton, Pennsylvania, on New Year's Day had the bidding start at $1,500, with an estimate of $3,000 to $6,000. No bids had been received as of two hours prior to the sale.

Constantin Alajálov
Stephenson's Auction listing accessed two hour before the sale

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/195157904_constantin-alajalov-gouache-illustration-on-board

At the drop of the hammer, there was no sale:


Page 48 of the February 1964 Reader's Digest may contain a clue to this piece.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/333964401291

Note:  I'd like to hear from anyone with an image of this illustration in print—or with some advice for this poor woman.

04845