My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #1009

In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #1009 from the issue of October 12, 2026, a man sits in an airplane cabin between two pandas while a flight attendant makes an announcement. The drawing is by Amanda Chung, who is new to this contest and new to the blog.

"We reserve the middle seat for emotional support humans."

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My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #1008

In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #1008 from the issue of October 5, 2026, Mr. Met stands in a sports bar and discusses the baseball postseason with a fan. The drawing is by Paul Noth.

"All this hitting has ruined the game."

This caption I'm saving for Old Timers' Day:

"Big deal. Where were they in 1969?"

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My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #1007

In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #1007 from the issue of September 28, 2026, a pig sits on stage singing and playing guitar with an audience that is a pack of wolves. My submission is shown below. The drawing is by Kate Isenberg.

"Have we all taken our Ozempic?"

These captions were a little off-key:

"Dinner is now being served out in the lobby."
"My next song is about becoming a vegan."
"This next song was requested by the deer in the back."
"My next number is 'The Song That Doesn't End.'"

October 10, 2026 Update:  The Finalists

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My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #1006

In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #1006 from the issue of September 21, 2026, a psychotherapist is talking to his patient as Godzilla appears at the office window. My submission is shown below. The drawing is by Meredith Southard.

"Why do you always see yourself as the victim?"

These captions didn't make the final cut:

"What sort of film keeps you awake at night?"
"The thousand dollars an hour includes special effects."

October 4, 2026 Update:  The Finalists

October 10, 2026 Update:  I voted for the caption from Natick.

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The CartoonStock Cartoon Caption Contest No. 210

What's up with the CartoonStock Caption Contest number 210? It features a girl talking to a firefighter while an elephant sits in a tree. That's what's up. The cartoonist is Rusty Epstein. He's new to the contest and new to the blog.

The monthly cash prize contest has new rules which I seem compelled to repeat: Five dollars will still buy up to three entries but now three additional dollars can optionally buy a fourth entry, and so on and so forth. Real cash prizes are fifty percent of the total prize pool (previously $500 was the fifty percent) 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 $275 into the first fifty-five pay-to-play contests and this fifty-sixth challenge brings my total cash outlay up to $280. So far I haven't purchased any of the new $3 entries. 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, I think, unless $3 entries are being purchased in bulk by the caption-impaired. The prize pool, as I prepared my captions in the 9:00 hour before the deadline, was already pushing up against that old thousand dollar level.

So here is my big chance to redeem myself after last month's weak showing. My three entries are shown below.

"Could you check under him for the cat?"
"Guess what happened to the swing."
"The one thing he can't remember is how he got up there."

September 27, 2026 Update:  The Winner

None of my captions made any of the lists in the judging video.

The Judges Deliberate

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My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #1005

In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #1005 from the issue of September 14, 2026, a couple who just got married has stopped to fill up the tank. The groom has just finished pumping gas. The pump indicates a price of $65.29. The woman angrily holds up a credit cared and speaks. My submission is shown below. The drawing is by Brooke Bourgeois.

"I can't exactly keep it where yours would be if you hadn't left it home."

None of the following captions were exactly a match made in heaven:

"You never told me we'd be running on empty."
"Now you tell me you're a credit risk?"
"Hasn't Daddy paid for enough?"
"What happened to the 'for richer' part?"

September 27, 2026 Update:  The Finalists

October 4, 2026 Update:  I voted for the caption from San Diego.

October 10, 2026 Update:  The Winner

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My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #1004

In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #1004 from the issue of September 7, 2026, a woman carries drinks to a seated man while her dog brings him a chessboard set up for play. The woman speaks. My submission is shown below. The drawing is by Mort Gerberg.

"I should warn you he doesn't like sore losers."

These captions weren't grandmaster moves:

"He plays for $100 a game. Here, have a drink."
"Oh, no. He just likes to fetch the pieces."

September 19, 2026 Update:  The Finalists

September 27, 2026 Update:  I voted for the caption from Tokyo.

October 4, 2026 Update:  The Winner

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John Anderson's Copy of Think Good Thoughts About a Pussycat by George Booth

White Fox Rare Books and Antiques of New York City is offering a very special copy of George Booth's Think Good Thoughts About a Pussycat (1975). The half-title page is signed and inscribed with an original drawing of a cat happily enjoying "A VERY GOOD THOUGHT."

In the description, the bookseller has mistaken the printed self-portrait of Booth's mother Maw Maw for an unsigned sketch captioned Mad Man. We all make mistakes.

Booth has provided the full title page with its own printed dog sequene.

Here's a master class in how to draw a cartoon and write a caption so good that it will one day give a cartoon collection its title:

"I want you to start thinking good thoughts about someone new at our house.
I want you to start thinking good thoughts about a pussy cat."

George Booth
AbeBooks listing accessed September 4, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Inscribed-original-ink-sketch-Think-Good/32490882428/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook

George Booth
AbeBooks bibliographic details

Note:  Books like this one with an original drawing by George Booth are always of interest here. Readers are encouraged to send scans for potential inclusion in future installments.

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Wallace Wood for Portage Porto-Ped Shoes

"The Abominable Squeaks." So reads the copy of a 1960s-era magazine advertisement for Portage Porto-Ped Shoes. Four vignettes by the formidable Mad magazine artist Wallace Wood depict the untold embarrassment of being the man whose shoes make too much noise. The bridegroom advancing nervously down the aisle, the doctor making night shift rounds on the hospital ward, the game hunter stealthily seeking his prey, even the zookeeper failing to mind his oversized charge—none are spared the indignity of these "abominable squeaks."

The shoes are now priced from $29.95 to $34.95, with the lower-end shoes more expensive than what was quoted in the, presumably earlier, 1967 pair of ads we saw in yesterday's post. Those, of course, were illustrated by The New Yorker's William Steig. Wood is the only cartoonist I have found other than Steig who contributed to these Porto-Ped ads and this single page is the only example I have located for him. But there could be others.

Wallace Wood
The Abominable Squeaks.
1960's-era advertisement for Portage Porto-Ped Shoes

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265845343823

Note:  As my sneakers silently convey me through the lands of vintage advertising and illustration, I am eager to hear of additional cartoon ads by Wallace Wood, William Steig, or perhaps others from this Portage Porto-Ped Shoes campaign.

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William Steig for Portage Porto-Ped Shoes

In yesterday's post, we saw a single cartoon copper tray featuring a drawing by New Yorker cartoonist William Steig to promote the National Shoe Institute in 1951. So far as we know, that was his sole contribution to the advertising campaign. But it was not his final venture into the world of shoe marketing.

In 1967, Steig made at least two drawings for a print ad campaign for the Portage Shoe Company's line of Porto-Ped shoes. That year comes from paper sellers who reveal as little as possible about the magazines from which they removed their ads. Thus titles and publication dates are not included. For what it's worth, I have not found these ads in The New Yorker.

The copy reads "If everyone's walk were a little peculiar, we wouldn't have to make such good shoes." The good shoes are priced at $19.95 to $34.95 in both ads. Inflation in the ensuing decades has since driven up prices by an average of 3.98% annually, or about 900% total, putting the shoes' retail cost at $199.45 to $349.41 in today's dollars. No wonder they could afford William Steig.

William Steig
"If everyone's walk weren't a little peculiar,
we wouldn't have to make such good shoes."
1967 advertisement for Portage Porto-Ped Shoes

https://www.periodpaper.com/products/1967-ad-portage-porto-ped-shoes-men-fashion-william-steig-cartoon-milwaukee-wi-219864-ymma3-128

Another ad from 1967 features an even more peculiar gait:

William Steig
"If everyone's walk weren't a little peculiar,
we wouldn't have to make such good shoes."
1967 advertisement for Portage Porto-Ped Shoes

Image modified September 5, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/275154580810

Note:  I would love to see other examples, if there are any to be seen, from this advertising campaign with art by William Steig. 

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