On Sunday, a cement carrier named NACC New Yorker made its way up the East River accompanied by a tug boat. The ship flies under the Portuguese flag out of Madeira. Yes, the New Yorker.
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Thursday, July 23, 2026
Wednesday, July 22, 2026
William Steig: Coming Home Late
It's late at night in Apartment 3K. Seventy years ago, the readers of Collier's were treated to a wonderful cartoon by a wonderful cartoonist: William Steig.
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| William Steig Orignal art Collier's, May 11, 1956 |
Evidently rejected by The New Yorker which would have had first crack at it, the drawing presents us with a couple uniquely suited to each other.
The framed original art was listed some two months ago by Honey & Wax Booksellers of Philadelphia and it remains available at the time of this posting.
The published cartoon is in Dick Buchanan's clip files and appeared on the blog Mike Lynch Cartoons.
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| William Steig Framed, orignal art Collier's, May 11, 1956 |
The framed original art was listed some two months ago by Honey & Wax Booksellers of Philadelphia and it remains available at the time of this posting.
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| William Steig AbeBooks listing accessed July 21, 2026 |
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| William Steig AbeBooks item description |
The published cartoon is in Dick Buchanan's clip files and appeared on the blog Mike Lynch Cartoons.
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| William Steig Collier's, May 11, 1956 |
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| William Steig Orignal art Collier's, May 11, 1956 |
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Tuesday, July 21, 2026
The CartoonStock Cartoon Caption Contest No. 208
In the CartoonStock Caption Contest number 208, is set at one of those Mommy and Me swim lessons. The male child speaks. The cartoonist is Lindsey Budde. She is new to the contest and new to this blog.
The monthly cash prize contest has new rules: Five dollars will still buy up to three entries but now three additional dollars optionally can buy a fourth entry, and so forth and so on. Real cash prizes are fifty percent of the total prize pool (previously $500) for first place and ten percent of the prize pool (previously $100) for each of five runners up. As of this writing, I've put $265 into the first fifty-three pay-to-play contests and this fifty-fourth challenge brings my total cash outlay up to $270. Having achieved runner-up status with three previous cash prize entries, I've collected $300 from CartoonStock, so I'm still playing with the house's money, at least for the time being. Because the contest is no longer subsidized by cash from the vast coffers of CartoonStock, the contest's odds should now be just a little less favorable. The prize pool, as I prepared to enter two hours before the contest ended, was approaching the old thousand dollar level.
This contest is tricky. There are no real incongruities to reconcile here, just an everyday situation. For what it's worth, I'm not at all proud of my entries.
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| "Guess how I'm warming up the pool." "I'll let you look in my swim trunks for Nemo." "Great news! We'll be sharing a locker room." |
The final prize pool tally:
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Monday, July 20, 2026
My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #998
In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #998 from the issue of July 20, 2026, a woman and a cat are out kayaking. The woman speaks. My submission is shown below. The drawing is by Liza Donnelly.
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| "There must be a closer litter box." |
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Sunday, July 19, 2026
My Entries in the Moment Cartoon Caption Contest for Summer 2026
Moment magazine's Cartoon Caption Contest for the Summer 2026 double issue shows us God speaking to Moses at the top of Mount Sinai—I mean Rushmore. God, perched in a cloud, is the speaker. The drawing is by cartoonist Benjamin Schwartz. My captions appear below.
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| "That settles it. We should ban graven images." "See what I mean? What we need is better marketing." "At this altitude, on a clear day they can see forever." "Not My best work? This isn't My work at all." "At least they're an improvement over the golden calf." "Now lead the Israelites north by northwest." |
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Saturday, July 18, 2026
Blog Post No. 5300: James Thurber's "The Masculine Approach" Scarf for Richard A. Farrar
"The Masculine Approach" is a scarf designed around a series of drawings by The New Yorker's James Thurber. It is currently listed on eBay.
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| "The Masculine Approach" By James Thurber |
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| "The Masculine Approach" By James Thurber |
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| The Harpo Marx Attack |
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| The Indifference Attitude Does the indifference apply to spelling as well? |
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| The Continental-Manners Technique |
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| The Just-a-Little-Boy System |
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| The Sudden Onslaught |
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| The Let-'em-Wait-and-Wonder Plan |
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| The Pawing System |
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| The Sweep-'em-Off-Their-Feet Method |
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| The Heroic, or Dangers I Have Known, Method |
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| James Thurber eBay listing accessed July 8, 2026 |
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| James Thurber eBay item description |
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| The Just-a-Little-Boy System |
Thurber's series "The Masculine Approach" got its start in The New Yorker.
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| "The Masculine Approach" The Sudden Onslaught The Continental-Manners Technique The I'm-Not-Good-Enough-for-You Announcement James Thurber The New Yorker, February 12, 1938, p. 19 |
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| With cartoons by Helen E. Hokinson and James Thurber |
The entire series may be found in Men, Women & Dogs (1943) beginning on page 187. Alternatively, if you don't like reading the pages sideways, it's available online in portrait PDF format here. Or you can just read the scarf.
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Helen E. Hokinson's wonderful dog show drawing, on the page opposite the three Thurbers, balances out the magazine spread with darker tones and shading.
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| "I'm the one that should be lying down somewhere." Helen E. Hokinson The New Yorker, February 12, 1938, p. 18 |
Note: I can't thank enough the multitalented Joel Jacobus for alerting me to this eBay listing. For our purposes, Joel is a specialist in Charles Addams collectibles but he still manages to get sidetracked at times, thank goodness.
Richard A. Farrar's tie designs by or based on the works of New Yorker artists—Charles Addams, Sam Cobean, Anatol Kovarsky, Mischa Richter, Otto Soglow, William Steig, and, of course, James Thurber—were often manufactured in a variety of colors. I would love to see examples of any other varieties that are out there. Below, for example, is an old New Yorker advertisement that provides evidence of one Thurber scarf manufactured in five colors and two sizes. It has yet to be located in any variation, but I am patient . . .
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| Richard A. Farrar advertisement The New Yorker, October 31, 1953, p. 72 |
The blog archives are now home to a number of scarves by Richard A. Farrar representing the work of a variety of New Yorker cartoon luminaries in various color schemes. All of these posts may be read, studied, pondered, and reread here. I am always at the ready to add new designs and color schemes. Joel reports there is a scarf out there by Helen E. Hokinson, whose cartoon is on the page opposite "The Masculine Approach" in The New Yorker, which has yet to be imaged. Who wants to be the first to send it to me?
I like to think that every hundred posts are extra special. Let me know if you agree:
The Attempted Bloggery Centennial Posts 💯
Blog Post No. 100
Blog Post No. 200: A Shaggy Dog Story
Blog Post No. 2900: My Copies of The Ultimate Cartoon Book of Book Cartoons
Blog Post No. 3000: The Vatican Museums 2019
Blog Post No. 3100: Frank Beaven's Dickensian Christmas
Blog Post No. 3200: St. Patrick's Day 1938—Will Cotton Original New Yorker Cover Art
Blog Post No. 3300: "Give Up?" by Whitney Darrow, Jr.
Blog Post No. 3400: The 1942 Navy Relief Show Program
Blog Post No. 3500: William Steig's "What is Art?"
Blog Post No. 3000: The Vatican Museums 2019
Blog Post No. 3100: Frank Beaven's Dickensian Christmas
Blog Post No. 3200: St. Patrick's Day 1938—Will Cotton Original New Yorker Cover Art
Blog Post No. 3300: "Give Up?" by Whitney Darrow, Jr.
Blog Post No. 3400: The 1942 Navy Relief Show Program
Blog Post No. 3500: William Steig's "What is Art?"
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Tuesday, July 14, 2026
Sight Unseen: Palookaville No. 21 With an Original Drawing by Seth
A copy of Palookaville No. 21 offered by Hourglass Books caught my eye on line. Priced at $50 with AbeBooks, it offered the promise of an original drawing by Seth, albeit of a hat and a lit cigarette. I like Seth's graphic work almost as much as I dislike cigarettes. On hats, I'm personally indifferent, but I admire those men who can project a personal sense of style to the world. The hat and cigarette, I readily surmised, were a stand-in for Seth himself. There was no image of the drawing, alas, but I took the plunge and bought it anyway—sight unseen.
As much as I like Seth's graphic novels, I can't say I've ever read Palookaville. It is, give or take, an annual forum presenting the artist's work in progress. This one was published in October 2013. From the two gentlemen on the cover, this book evidently contains some material from Clyde Fans. The bookseller confirms this.
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| Seth AbeBooks listing |
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| Seth AbeBooks listing ended June 15, 2026 |
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| Seth AbeBooks item description |
So, you may well ask, how did it go? Well, the bookseller searched high and low for this one, he wrote me, but he was unable to locate it. Perhaps he sold it previously and lost track of it. He was as nice as could be, refunding my money for this book as well as for another book by Seth, George Sprott (1894-1975), that I ordered and that he did indeed have on hand, although perhaps in imperceptibly lesser condition than advertised. So, no complaints on my end, except that I can't show you the drawing in Palookaville No. 21 as I proudly add the book to my library. When I started this post, I didn't intend for it to end so anticlimactically, but that is sometimes the nature of these Sight Unseen musings. Perhaps I'll have something better to show off when that copy of George Sprott arrives . . . any day now.
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Monday, July 13, 2026
My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #997
In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #997 from the double issue of July 6 & 13, 2026, a subway train in an outdoor station bends upwards and out of view. A man wearing a baseball cap speaks to a woman on the platform, indicating the train with his thumb. My submission is shown below. The drawing is by Olivia Noble. Her work is new to the caption contest and the blog.
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| "That's not our train. It's for the upwardly mobile." |
These captions were on the wrong track:
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| "It's the uptown express." "It's the latest from SpaceX." "Metal fatigue." |
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Sunday, July 12, 2026
License Plate for Keeping On the Weight?
Okay, that's certainly not what this tag is all about, but it's my post title and, like rice, I'm sticking to it.
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| "XTRARICE" New York state license plate |
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Saturday, July 11, 2026
Barbara Shermund: Of Another Stripe
By the Christmas season of 1942, the United States was a full year into the Second World War. Like other cartoonists, Barbara Shermund had adapted her subject matter to meet the moment. Her color cartoon for the December issue of Esquire, for example, has both the holiday season and the war for its setting.
The gag is tame by today's standards, but Shermund's adventuresome young woman still manages to scandalize the staid sales clerk. The original art was sold on eBay in May.
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Pajamas are $4.95—not exactly cheap back then. Perhaps there will be a January white sale..webp)
They are making eye contact.
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She has donned makeup and jewelry for her outing.
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And, of course, she wears heels as any fashionable woman would.
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The December issue drawing received its OK on October 16, 1942.
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"Sergeant stripes" became "sergeant's stripes" in print—an improvement.
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And let's assume that stamped E is for Esquire.
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Shermund's original works sold in rapid succession.
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| "Do you have any with sergeant's stripes on them?" Barbara Shermund Original art Esquire, December 1942, p. 47 |
Shermund nicely contrasts the flatness of the pajamas with the roundness of the woman's figure. Compare the sales clerk's big, awkward hands with her petite, gloved ones.
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The fur coat befits the season while establishing her as a woman of means. Note the very different stripes on the pajamas and on the fur.
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The salesman reacts with surprise to the woman's request, but his expression isn't overdone.
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They are making eye contact.
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| Barbara Shermund's signature |
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| Barbara Shermund eBay listing ended May 9, 2026 |
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| Barbara Shermund eBay item description |
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| "Do you have any with sergeant's stripes on them?" Barbara Shermund Esquire, December 1942, p. 47 |
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| "Do you have any with sergeant's stripes on them?" Barbara Shermund Original art Esquire, December 1942, p. 47 |
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| "Do you have any with sergeant's stripes on them?" Barbara Shermund Esquire, December 1942, p. 47 |
Note: Readers can earn their stripes by submitteing orignal art by Barbara Shermund to the blog.
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