Saturday, March 31, 2018

Ted Key: Ready for Easter

Cartoonist Ted Key brings an imaginative use of color to a mostly black and white cartoon. It was published in The Saturday Evening Post of  April 17, 1954.
"Eggs dyed?"
Ted Key
The Saturday Evening Post, April 17, 1954
Scan by Dick Buchanan




Note:  My thanks to Dick Buchanan for providing us with this scan from the legendary Dick Buchanan Cartoon Clip Files. Dick contributes regularly to Mike Lynch Cartoons, most recently a fab post entitled, "From the Dick Buchanan Files: Favorite 50s Gag Cartoons 1950 - 1959." He's cooking with gas, Daddy-O!

Ted Key, the creator of Hazel, is new to the blog. Ink Spill includes him in the One Club, an exclusive group of cartoonists who have published one and only one cartoon in the New Yorker.

 Does anyone have the page number for this cartoon? Enquiring minds and obsessive-compulsive bloggers want to know.


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Friday, March 30, 2018

National Doctors' Day 2018

On March 30 we celebrate National Doctors' Day. In a 1957 New Yorker cartoon, Peter Arno salutes physicians not only for their ability to maintain a professional demeanor but for their willingness to make house calls.
Peter Arno, The New Yorker, November 2, 1957, page 41
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Thursday, March 29, 2018

Blog Post No. 2500: E. Simms Campbell in Color—Esquire Cartoons from 1935

On Amazon, a seller has taken a number of issues of Esquire from 1935 and carefully removed full-page cartoons, of which there are many, selling them as individual cartoon "prints." We have already seen that some issues of the magazine had as many as four full page black and white cartoons by African-American cartoonist E. Simms Campbell and now we find the same for the color cartoons. His specialty was drawing attractive women, often in little or no clothing, but his range is surprisingly broad. Here are the 1935 color cartoons offered for sale on Amazon.
In April, we see a young couple for whom things already are not going well:
"Damn!  Can't you even cook?"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, April 1935, page 43


Campbell's "Harem Girls" were a popular recurring feature in Esquire. Here a bravura illustration entices us with...the merchandise.
"Sorry, buddy—you'll have to deliver them at the trade entrance[.]"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, April 1935

The information on the above issue date comes not from Amazon but from the Comic Art Fans site, which has the original art:
"Sorry, buddy—you'll have to deliver them at the trade entrance[.]"
E. Simms Campbell
Original art
Esquire, April 1935
The Illustrator in America, page 212
Ex-collection Walter Reed


A Pacific island cartoon has one of Campbell's better captions. The original artwork to this gag was sold at Illustration House on November 4, 2000. The date of the issue comes from there.
"You'd think the damn fools never saw baskets before[.]"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, May 1935, page 78




As already demonstrated, the "Harem Girls" series gave rise to some disturbing scenarios of how the women were regarded by the sultan as property. Was this ever funny?
If found, please return to Abdul Ullah
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, June 1935, page 41




Oh, come on. You know what he means...
"It's nothing—just the usual reaction[.]"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, August 1935, page 173



 Campbell's artwork gets the spelling of tattooing right, but the caption drops a t. What's fascinating, though, is how an African-American cartoonist treated racial humor in a magazine aimed predominantly at white men. One wonders to what extent Campbell created his own gags and whether gag writers were involved.
"—of course there's an extra charge for tat[t]ooing in reverse[.]"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, September 1935, page 41





Most juries don't want to be sequestered.
"Are you going to lock us up for the night, Your Honor?"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, September 1935, page 53




Not jailbait:
"That's just what I'm afraid of—that you are old enough[.]"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, September 1935, page 71






Cartoons about sexual assault are alarmingly common in men's magazines of this time period. Some cartoons, like this one, require the reader to figure out the line that precedes the caption.
"—but lady—I ain't got no sister[.]"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, September 1935, page 93





Gags about drinking to excess, even on the job, were also commonplace.
"Whom do you call in a case like this?"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, October 1935, page 65



The following cartoons are from 1935, but for now they lack an issue date.


Showtime:
"I don't see any parade[.]"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, 1935



Smart kids, those Esquire readers.
"They said they were developing some film[.]"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, 1935

The sultan needs some me time.
"Thank God for onions!"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, 1935, page 30







How about that? Unfortunate dialect features prominently in this one.

"What a coincidence—so youse from the south too?"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, 1935, page 34
What exactly has Mr. Jacobs been up to? We close with some revivifying humor...
"Tell me about Mr. Jacobs in the morning—you'll find
smelling salts and iodine on the table[.]"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, 1935, page 34


Note:  At post time, all of these cartoons are available for purchase on Amazon. Simply follow the aqua link below each image.

Youse know what? Attempted Bloggery has been looking at the work of cartoonist E. Simms Campbell (1906-1971) for a good few weeks now. Interested readers can help carry on this worthy endeavor by submitting high-resolution scans or photographs of original Campbell art or of obscure published works like these. I would be happy to add to this post additional color Campbell cartoons from Esquire issues dated 1935.

The Esquire cartoons in the latter part of this post have years and page numbers, but alas no month. Please help me out if you can. I am, after all, a stickler for these things.




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Wednesday, March 28, 2018

E. Simms Campbell: USO Calling

The United Service Organizations (USO) was founded in 1941 to improve the morale of the United States Armed Forces. USO centers were opened at home and abroad. The Camp Shows began in October 1941 and were to become famous for entertaining the troops with celebrities such as Bob Hope. E. Simms Campbell's timely color cartoon from the December 1941 issue of Esquire imagines—what else?—a showgirl with a very personal stake in the new organization.

"U. S. O. calling—have you made your donation yet?"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, December 1941, page 128?





Note:  Let's put on a show! Attempted Bloggery continues its revue of the work of prolific cartoonist E. Simms Campbell (1906-1971). Readers are invited to submit high-resolution scans or photographs of original Campbell art or perhaps of forgotten published cartoons such as this one. 

Did I get the page number right? Remember, no detail is too small.


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Tuesday, March 27, 2018

E. Simms Campbell: The Bikini Milestone

A problem with many of the older Esquire cartoons, including not a few of those by the talented E. Simms Campbell, is that their primary purpose doesn't seem to be to make us laugh. A case in point is a color cartoon set at the beach from the February 1953 issue.

 The reaction expressed on the face of the woman in the two-piece bathing suit indicates that something utterly shocking has been said to her by the young girl, yet the printed caption—". . . And when will I be old enough to wear a two-piece bathing suit?"—seems benign in the extreme. It's cute maybe in an "out of the mouths of babes" kind of way, but no male Esquire reader was really looking for a gag about innocently disarming words spoken by a little girl. Instead this gag is very much about stealing a peak at the woman in her bikini—it's February back home after all—and enjoying the stunned and surprised reaction that leaves her speechless. In other words, this is more or less a hybrid of a pin-up and a gag cartoon, and the gag suffers for it.

". . . And when will I be old enough to wear a two-piece bathing suit?"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, February 1953, page 33





Note:  Well, that about covers it! Attempted Bloggery continues its survey of the work of artist E. Simms Campbell (1906-1971). Ambitious readers—that's you—can assist incurable bloggers—that's me—by providing high-resolution scans or photographs of outstanding original Campbell art or perhaps of rare published cartoons—such as this one. 


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Monday, March 26, 2018

My Entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #609

Bite into my footlong entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #609 for March 26, 2018. The drawing is by Michael Maslin.

"It's an express to the Canyon of Heroes."



This one didn't pass mustard:
"Well, where did you think it got its name?"



April 2, 2018 Update:  The Finalists


April 9, 2018 Update: I voted for the first caption.

April 16, 2018: Winning Caption
Note:  Last week cartoonist Drew Dernavich steamed up the old church organ. My caption was better-suited to a Wurlitzer. Join in the chorus to Contest #608.

 Grab your MetroCard and take a ride through my posts about Michael Maslin.

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Sunday, March 25, 2018

Flower Show: Roger Duvoisin Preliminary New Yorker Cover Art

Roger Duvoisin's oil on canvas of the flower show at the Grand Central Palace in New York may have been painted at the opening of the 1937 flower show. By the time it was revised and published on the cover of The New Yorker, there were only three days remaining in the show. The composition was revised significantly between the preliminary and the finished art. Most importantly, as observed by the seller on eBay, a strip of brown ceiling was added at the top of the image so that the upper gallery would not be obscured by the magazine's logo. The pagoda in the center of the exhibition space has acquired a brown door, presumably to unify the prominent color in the ceiling and in the columns at the borders of the work.
Roger Duvoisin
Preliminary art
The New Yorker, March 20, 1937

A great many elements were changed between the preliminary and the finished art.

Roger Duvoisin
The New Yorker, March 20, 1937

Roger Duvoisin
Preliminary art
The New Yorker, March 20, 1937

Roger Duvoisin's signature

Detail

Detail

Detail

Detail

Detail


Back of frame

Roger Duvoisin
eBay Listing Ended October 16, 2015

Roger Duvoisin
eBay Item Description



Roger Duvoisin
Preliminary art
The New Yorker, March 20, 1937

Roger Duvoisin
The New Yorker, March 20, 1937

The New Yorker, March 20, 1937, page 6



The Annual Flower Show at the Grand
Central Palace in New York City




Note:  The 44th annual Macy's Flower Show begins today at Macy's Herald Square and runs through April 6. The Grand Central Palace closed in 1953 and was demolished in 1964. Today the site is occupied by 245 Park Avenue.

 Attempted Bloggery seeks out the work of artist Roger Duvoisin (1900-1980) as well as other examples of preliminary New Yorker cover art—that is, roughs—by any and all New Yorker artists. Please submit high-resolution scans or photographs to the blog's handy email address. 

I report sales prices when I am able. Posts with the keyword price? are lacking this essential information. To those who know, please fill me in, if you don't mind.

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