Touchdown Mickey

Walt Disney's "Touchdown Mickey" is an animated short released eighty years ago in 1932. Are we surprised to learn that Mickey Mouse is the most popular player on his football team? Even the hot dog vendor and his hot dogs cheer for Mickey. So let's all admire Mickey's fighting spirit as he avoids the worst of the fray and concentrates on reaching the end zone. For me, the short is marred by what I take to be an unfortunate black-face gag in the closing moments.

Walt Disney Studios, "Touchdown Mickey" 1932 Layout Drawing
 Bonhams Los Angeles
December 21, 2008

http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/16151/lot/1657/?search_query=1&division=None&passages=True&earliest_first=True&country=None&past_sales=past&back_to_year=2003&sale_no=None&top_level_department=None&department=None&query=Touchdown+Mickey&create_facets=True&value_data_currency=GBP

Walt Disney Studios, "Touchdown Mickey" 1932 Layout Drawing

 Bonhams Los Angeles Auction Listing

December 21, 2008

http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/16151/lot/1657/?search_query=1&division=None&passages=True&earliest_first=True&country=None&past_sales=past&back_to_year=2003&sale_no=None&top_level_department=None&department=None&query=Touchdown+Mickey&create_facets=True&value_data_currency=GBP

Walt Disney Studios, "Touchdown Mickey" (1932) Video Still 2:51

Walt Disney Studios, "Touchdown Mickey" 1932 Layout Drawing
 Bonhams Los Angeles
December 21, 2008

http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/16151/lot/1657/?search_query=1&division=None&passages=True&earliest_first=True&country=None&past_sales=past&back_to_year=2003&sale_no=None&top_level_department=None&department=None&query=Touchdown+Mickey&create_facets=True&value_data_currency=GBP

Walt Disney Studios, "Touchdown Mickey" 1932 Poster Reproduction

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TOUCHDOWN-MICKEY-FOOTBALL-POSTER-WALT-DISNEY-/350322149128?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5190d3c708

"Touchdown Mickey" (1932)

Walt Disney Studios

0598

Clyde Fans Picket Line

From the Scott Eder Gallery in Brooklyn comes this original preliminary artwork to Clyde Fans, Book 2 by Seth (Gregory Gallant). For this page, the factory's owner is silhouetted within his car and faceless, while Seth has chosen to linger over the faces of the picketing men.

Seth, Page 23 of Preliminary Artwork to Clyde Fans, Book 2 from Palookaville No. 20

The Scott Eder Gallery

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SETH-Palookaville-20-Preliminary-ORIGINAL-ART-Clyde-Fans-/121025825719?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&nma=true&si=VJo29%252F7WbHpl1SY9gWmnl4%252FkT80%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Seth, Preliminary Artwork to Clyde Fans, Book 2 from Palookaville No. 20
EBay Item Listing Ended November 29, 2012

The Scott Eder Gallery

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SETH-Palookaville-20-Preliminary-ORIGINAL-ART-Clyde-Fans-/121025825719?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&nma=true&si=VJo29%252F7WbHpl1SY9gWmnl4%252FkT80%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Seth

Page 23 of Preliminary Artwork to Clyde Fans, Book 2 from Palookaville No. 20

The Scott Eder Gallery

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SETH-Palookaville-20-Preliminary-ORIGINAL-ART-Clyde-Fans-/121025825719?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&nma=true&si=VJo29%252F7WbHpl1SY9gWmnl4%252FkT80%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

April 17, 2021 Update:  The finished page:

Seth
Clyde Fans (2019)

Image added April 17, 2021

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/thursday-may-2-2019-seth-caitlin-cronenberg-and-more-1.5118685/in-his-sprawling-comic-clyde-fans-cartooning-legend-seth-gives-the-mundane-a-mystic-significance-1.5118692

0597

Moebius Skull

Here's a drawing that's clearly related to a published drawing by Moebius (Jean Giraud). How often do you see ink drawings on eBay described as "Genuine drawing, not a print (AT ALL)?" I suspect the reason for the seller describing it this way is it's extremely close similarity to a published drawing which includes a second major figure on the left. Perhaps the way it's signed with blue marker ink when it's drawn in black ink is also behind the seller's wording. The seller writes that it "seems to be a preparatory sketch for a painting that eventually I found googling a little bit." I googled a little bit myself but couldn't find this "painting." I did find the other drawing though, all over the place.

The seller states this is a drawing by the artist "of his futuristic way to see towns and landscapes." Really? I'd call it more of a surrealistic skull. The areas of the maxilla where the two figures connect in the published drawing seems unfinished here. The horizon line on the left seems a little messy too. It sold for $2,550 last month.

http://jedalexander.blogspot.com/2012/03/moebius-1938-march-10th-2012.html

The eBay listing:

Moebius Skull, eBay Winning Bid

December 14, 2012

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Moebius-large-ORIGINAL-DRAWING-of-futuristic-town-signed-RARE-/110988031508?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d766f614&nma=true&si=VJo29%252F7WbHpl1SY9gWmnl4%252FkT80%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Moebius Skull, eBay Item Description

December 14, 2012

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Moebius-large-ORIGINAL-DRAWING-of-futuristic-town-signed-RARE-/110988031508?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d766f614&nma=true&si=VJo29%252F7WbHpl1SY9gWmnl4%252FkT80%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

0596

Ronald Searle's Tower of Light

Ronald Searle's Tower of Light depicts an exhibition from the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair. The Electric Power and Light Companies' Exhibit demonstrated our abundant energy resources by wasting as much of them as conceivable. A similar exhibit had been at the 1939 New York World's Fair.

I'm just about certain this illustration was published in the July 1964 issue of Holiday magazine, just as I was pretty much certain I had a copy of it around here somewhere at Blog Central. I'd like to tell you that my home is an immaculate archive of scholarly research material, but it would be more accurate to say I can never find anything when I need it.

Swann Galleries gave this piece an estimate of $6,000 to $9,000, which is rather pricey for Searle in the American market. The hammer price was just above half the low estimate. Absentee bidding below half the low estimate is not permitted at Swann.

You might like to see how Charles Addams handled a similar subject in 1973 here.

Ronald Searle, Tower of Light
Presumably in Holiday, July 1964

Searle, Ronald. From Frozen North to Filthy Lucre. New York: Viking Press, 1964, Page 69.

Ronald Searle, Tower of Light
Swann Galleries, January 24, 2013

 http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2300+++++250+&refno=++671037&saletype=

Last month Swann Galleries offered this poster of the attraction at auction. Note how lackluster this 1965 image is compared with Searle's:

Expo--New York, 1965
Follow the Tower of Light to the "Brightest Show on Earth" at the New York World's Fair

http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2297+++++496+&refno=++661843&saletype=

The following poster is currently offered on eBay for $400. It's a fairly staid corporate rendering, with nowhere near the wattage of Searle's watercolor.

Rudolph Assoc. NYC, Tower of Light, New York World's Fair 1964-1965
Electric Power and Light Companies' Exhibit

 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-1964-Tower-Light-NYWF-New-York-World-s-Fair-Poster-/320831418823

February 23, 2013 Update:  Now the price has gone up to $600 but there is the Make Offer option.

Image Added May 26, 2013

The Singing Tower of Light was part of the earlier 1939-1940 New York World's Fair:

Westinghouse Print Ad for the Singing Tower of Light at the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1939-New-York-Worlds-Fair-Westinghouse-Tower-Print-Ad-/150502885097#vi-content

 595

Alain's Halting Command

On July3, 1943, The New Yorker published this wartime cartoon of a sentry who finds himself intimidated by an imposing American tank. The original artwork was sold three months ago on eBay. The seller has incorrectly attributed the drawing to cartoonist Alan Dunn. It is actually the work of Alain (Daniel Brustlein) who included this drawing in his 1957 anthology Steeplechase.

Alain, "Halt!--please."
Original Artwork for The New Yorker, July 3, 1943, Page 17
Alain's Steeplechase. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957, Page 103

Alain, "Halt!--please."
Original Artwork for The New Yorker, July 3, 1943, Page 17
Alain's Steeplechase. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957, Page 103

 Alain, "Halt!--please." eBay Item Description

Sold October 20, 2012

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Cartoon-art-for-the-New-Yorker-By-Alan-Dunn-signed-RARE-/160901144941?pt=Art_Drawings&hash=item257674a16d&nma=true&si=E8sqr5T1Ol7skfXMFhzdqWsJpdo%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Alain, "Halt!--please."
Original Artwork for The New Yorker, July 3, 1943, Page 17
Alain's Steeplechase. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957, Page 103

[End of eBay Listing]

Alain, "Halt!... Please."
The New Yorker, July 3, 1943, Page 17

Alain, "Halt!... Please."
The New Yorker, July 3, 1943, Page 17

0594

Alan Dunn Rationing Humor

On America's home front during the Second World War, the rationing of canned goods began in early 1943. Each individual received 48 ration points in coupons each month which could then be used to allow the purchase of a limited quantity of canned food. Rationing was deemed necessary to limit the canned goods sold in stores so that food could be shipped to the troops overseas. It also helped to conserve the scarce metal used in cans.

http://www.ameshistoricalsociety.org/exhibits/events/rationing3.htm

In March of 1943, The New Yorker published  a drawing by cartoonist Alan Dunn concerning the newly-imposed rationing of canned foods. The shopkeeper's assistant Murphy treats the points as cash equivalents--they weren't--and does not appear to understand that the points are meant to limit one's consumption and therefore could not be discounted.

The  original artwork to this cartoon was sold on eBay in October.

Alan Dunn, "No, no, Murphy! You haven't quite got the idea."
Original artwork for The New Yorker, March 6, 1943, Page 28

Alan Dunn, "No, no, Murphy! You haven't quite got the idea."
Original artwork for The New Yorker, March 6, 1943, Page 28

Alan Dunn's Signature

Alan Dunn, Rationing, eBay Winning Bid and Item Description
October 20, 2012

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Cartoon-art-for-the-New-Yorker-By-Alan-Dunn-signed-RARE-/160901147833?item=160901147833&ViewItem=&nma=true&si=E8sqr5T1Ol7skfXMFhzdqWsJpdo%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Alan Dunn, "No, no, Murphy! You haven't quite got the idea."
Original artwork for The New Yorker, March 6, 1943, Page 28

 [End of eBay Listing]

Alan Dunn, "No, no, Murphy! You haven't quite got the idea."
The New Yorker, March 6, 1943, Page 28

Alan Dunn, "No, no, Murphy! You haven't quite got the idea."
The New Yorker, March 6, 1943, Page 28

****

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/ww2-rationing/5934

0593