Saturday, October 31, 2015

Friday, October 30, 2015

My Entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #495

Here is my entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #495 for October 26, 2015. The drawing is by Drew Dernavich.


"Our cybersecurity is now squeaky clean."



November 2, 2015 Update:  The Finalists




November 16, 2015 Update:  Winning Caption



Note:  Last week Benjamin Schwartz held a psychoanalytic session in a football huddle. My caption went all Dr. Phil. Take the results of Contest #494 along to your next fifty-minute hour.

Drew Dernavich cuts a pretty good cartoon.

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Thursday, October 29, 2015

Charles Addams: Standing Morticia

A souvenir drawing by Charles Addams of Morticia was sold last week at Swann Galleries in New York. Apparently she's in one of her moods.

Charles Addams, Morticia


Swann Galleries October 22, 2015, Sale 2394, Lot 365
Hammer Price $1,200

November 14, 2016 Update: Sold again!



Swann Galleries November 1, 2016, Sale 2428, Lot 272
Hammer Price $1,900






Note:  There's further reading here about Charles Addams and it's just in time for Halloween.

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Wednesday, October 28, 2015

A Sign of Halloween

I spotted a couple of copies of this sign at work. This is a rare opportunity to share a Halloween pun.




Note:  There are a lot more blog posts here about Halloween.

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Tuesday, October 27, 2015

A Charles Addams Letter on the Freeport Jail

Admirers of cartoonist Charles Addams must have written to him about all sorts of Gothic architecture. We know that Mrs. John Walton Barrett of Freeport, Illinois informed Mr. Addams of the fate of the Freeport Jail, which burned down in 1962 under circumstances which are apparently considered suspicious to this day. She enclosed a photograph of the lost architectural gem. Mr. Addams responded graciously on New Yorker stationery and expressed his appreciation. 



27 Feb 63

Dear Mrs. Barrett

I'm very happy with the photograph and story on the Freeport Jail—a building designed by a true Gothic hand. It is now, I hope, being restored to its former magnificence
     Many thanks
      Chas Addams

Scans of the letter courtesy of David from Manhattan

It's interesting to compare Freeport Gothic to Addams Gothic. Addams freely adopted many Gothic architectural elements over the years.
Freeport Gothic
County Jail, Freeport, Ill. postcard 
Addams Gothic
Charles Addams, The New Yorker, October 31, 1988


The postcard of the Freeport Jail was recently listed on eBay. The item description explains why some residents of Freeport think the building was deliberately set on fire.
County Jail, Freeport, Ill. postcard



eBay Listing Ended September 3, 2015

eBay Item Description

eBay Bid History
The last-minute bid gets it.


The John Barrett papers were donated to the Library of Congress. Could a copy of Mrs. Barrett's original letter to Charles Addams be there?

The John Barrett papers


Note:  Once again I am grateful to David from Manhattan for his enthusiasm and for the use of his fascinating material.

Incidentally, the blog archives are full of information on Charles Addams and on what must have been one of his favorite holidays, Halloween.

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Monday, October 26, 2015

Charles Addams: Yes, The New Yorker

Once the [Addams F]amily appeared on television in 1964, New Yorker editor William Shawn banned them from the magazine, noting they were no longer appropriate for their sophisticated readership. The ban was lifted in 1987.

—Jen Carlsen
"Charles Addams's New Yorker"


Uncle Fester from the Addams Family promotes the New Yorker in an ad which appeared in Women's Wear Daily in 1973. Cartoonist Charles Addams has drawn Fester's head and collar six times. The Addams Family uncle becomes progressively more cheerful with each drawing, while the copy describes the magazine's prowess in attracting advertising dollars in increasingly glowing terms. The ad, part of the "Yes, The New Yorker" campaign, is meant to solicit advertising in the magazine from the fashion industry. It makes use of a popular Addams Family character at a time when he and the other Addams Family characters were banned from appearing in the magazine's cartoons.
Charles Addams, Advertisement for The New Yorker from the "Yes, The New Yorker" campaign
Women's Wear Daily,
January 8, 1973, page 72
Scans courtesy of  David from Manhattan


Note:  Thanks to dedicated reader David from Manhattan for having the foresight to hold onto this page from Women's Wear Daily for forty-two years! He has kept the page horizontally folded and has scanned the two halves of the page separately. Anyone in possession of similar examples or—dare one hope?— access to the original art should get in touch. Remember, no new information is too trivial.

Charles Addams is well-represented in the blog archives. Yes, the blog archives.

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Sunday, October 25, 2015

Gahan Wilson in Space

Here are two examples of original cartoon art by Gahan Wilson that are simply out of this world.

Gahan Wilson, "We're obviously not the first to land on this planet!"
Gahan Wilson, "Remember the Big Bang?"



Note:  Travel into the archives at warp speed for further blog posts about Gahan Wilson.

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Saturday, October 24, 2015

The Evolving Gahan Wilson

Cartoonist Gahan Wilson's whales reminisce about their Darwinian past.

Gahan Wilson, "That stretch we whales put in as land animals was a total waste of time!"
EBay Listing Ended August 30, 2015

eBay Item Description
eBay Bid History
One last hour bid

New Listing
Completed Listing


Note:  For further home study, simply choose your favorite blog topic:
Gahan Wilson
Original cartoon art
Whales

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Friday, October 23, 2015

My Entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #494

Here is my  entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #494 for October 19, 2015. The drawing is by Benjamin Schwartz.
"Some of us have boundary issues."


My analyst asked me not to submit this one:
"We have to get psyched."


October 26, 2015 Update:  The Finalists



November 9, 2015 Update:  Winning Caption



Note:  Last week Farley Katz took us skydiving. My caption was in free fall. See the unsplattering results of Contest #493.

These links should help you to psychoanalyze Benjamin Schwartz.  Couch not included...

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Thursday, October 22, 2015

Gahan Wilson: Something Under the Chair

Cartoonist Gahan Wilson knows there's more than one place in the house to find a monster.

Gahan Wilson, "It's just like that thing you've got under your bed only this one is for old people."

EBay Listing Ended July 7, 2015
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gahan-Wilson-original-cartoon-from-THE-NEW-YORKER-/281740964254?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item419911f19e&nma=true&si=Zv4PhLp6HocGRC23iqci2JeQ2LI%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

EBay Item Description

EBay Bid History

Gahan Wilson, "It's just like that thing you've got under your bed only this one is for old people."


Note:  This blog has more to share of Gahan Wilson's work including much original cartoon art.

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