Monday, April 30, 2018

My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #614

You can tap your feet to my entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #614 for April 30, 2018. The drawing is by Julia Suits.
"What do you mean you haven't practiced?"



These captions were just a little out of tune:
"Play something uplifting."
"You must be Sam. Play it again."
"I seek the keys."
"Any idea what you've missed out there?"
"You called for a piano mover?"
"Do you know anything meditative?"
"You ordered a candelabra?"
"Would it be appropriate to start with some ascending scales?"
"It's a duet all right, but I wrote it for two pianos."



May 7, 2018 Update:  The Finalists


May 14, 2018 Update:  I voted for the second caption.


May 21, 2018 Update:  Winning Caption




Note: Last week cartoonist Pia Guerra made it pretty rough in the interrogation room. Even my caption needed a lawyer. Fess up to Contest #613.

There simply isn't enough about Julia Suits in the blog archives.

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Sunday, April 29, 2018

E. Simms Campbell: Paparazzi on the French Line

The violation of a young starlet's privacy is the subject of a full-page Esquire magazine color cartoon by E. Simms Campbell that appeared in 1938. A ship's cabin door has been pushed open to reveal three paparazzi outside on the deck, cameras in hand. The discarded luggage tags read CGT or Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, popularly known as the French Line. Like so many of the magazine's cartoons, the gag depends not so much on a clever turn of phrase as on a sexually suggestive situation. The awkward encounter here is one that men are supposed to find appealing, with the caption working up to the implication of nudity. This is but one example of how generations of men were encouraged to laugh at what we now consider sexual harassment.

"—Beg pardon[,] Miss Yvetti, but would you mind posing on the ship's rail—after you slip something on, of course[.]"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, 1938


Note: You know how it works here. No blog post about a published cartoon is complete without issue and page number. Help me put this one to sleep.



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E. Simms Campbell


Esquire


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Thursday, April 26, 2018

E. Simms Campbell: Blondes or Redheads?

Cutie Quips were the Sunday color pages of E. Simms Campbell's syndicated newspaper panel cartoon Cuties.

"It's a quiz show.  They want to know which has the worst temper, blondes or redheads. You answer him, dearie; you've been both!"
E. Simms Campbell
Cutie Quips, November 2, 1952

Photograph



Note:  Well, it's brunettes, of course!

Attempted Bloggery is finishing up its revue of the work of prolific cartoonist E. Simms Campbell (1906-1971). Motivated 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 obscure published cartoons such as this one. 


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E. Simms Campbell


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Attempted Bloggery supports net neutrality.

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Wednesday, April 25, 2018

E. Simms Campbell: That Awful Moment of Truth

In this full page cartoon by E. Simms Campbell, our subject, quite a substantial figure himself, here faces a triple threat, a rival with no fewer than three names followed by three formidable honorifics: Doctor of Medicine, Victoria Cross, and Member of Parliament.

Egad!

"My wife!  And the Right Honorable Percy Gilcannon Cleep, M.D., V.C., M.P.!"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, February 1937, page 179




Note:  We are now in the home stretch of our survey of the work of E. Simms Campbell (1906-1971). Readers with access to original Campbell art or to rarely-seen published cartoons may submit high-resolution scans or photographs to the blog for inclusion in a future post.


Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives

Esquire


Attempted Bloggery supports net neutrality.

Despite almost seven years of almost daily online subversion, I have been unable to get the word bloggery into any print dictionary. The word, which I was not the first to coin but was the first to overuse, is listed only in the online Urban Dictionary where it was defined in 2006 as a sort of blog blather. Even worse, to the OED it is a non-word. I therefore urge careful writers to use the noble new word bloggery whenever appropriate, particularly in print, and to forward any and all citations to those stodgy lexicographers at the OED.

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License Plate for a Microsurgeon?

Up close and personal:

"MINIMD"
New York State license plate


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License Plates


Doctors

Attempted Bloggery's Minimalist Index

Attempted Bloggery supports net neutrality.

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Tuesday, April 24, 2018

My Entries in the Moment Cartoon Caption Contest for March/April 2018

It's time to dig up my entries in the Moment Cartoon Caption Contest for March/April 2018. Moment is a magazine of Jewish news and culture. Multiple entries are permitted in this contest. The drawing is by Benjamin Schwartz.

"Why not have an oink-oink here and an oink-oink there?"
"How come Old MacDonald never wanted borscht?"
"You mean you really don't care that it's rabbit season?"
“Rabbi Angstrom? Rabbit Angstrom here. I’m afraid neither
one of us lives up to John Updike’s conception.”
"Dig, man, dig! Save a hand puppeteer!"
"We've had seven litters—what we call mitzvahs!"
"Here's my impression of Bugs Bunny reading Rabbit, Run: 'Eh... What's Updike?'"
"How much might it be worth to you if no one were to
disturb your crops through, say, Sukkot."





My first and possibly best submitted caption owes much to a classic 1965 gag cartoon by the peerless Peter Arno. The original art has been in the Library of Congress since 1977 where it remains catalogued but not yet digitized—your tax dollars at work.
"It's an oink-oink here, an oink-oink there, here an oink,
there an oink, everywhere an oink-oink."

Peter Arno
The New Yorker, February 20, 1965, page 37



Here's an excerpt from the fine catalogue work done by the Library of Congress:
Sometimes truth is funnier than my captions.


Glossary of Jewish Humor:  Pigs and rabbits are never kosher. Borscht is made from beets. Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom is the protagonist of John Updike's four Rabbit novels. His appearance in two of my submitted captions was the result of a suggestion—a challenge really—by fellow caption contestant Gerald Lebowitz. A mitzvah is literally a commandment, but in common usage it's a good deed to perform. Sukkot is the harvest festival.


May 14, 2018 Update:  The Finalists

July 12, 2018 Update:
 Winning Caption




Note:  Benjamin Schwartz is far and away the number one Caption Contest cartoonist on this blog. You can dig up all my past entries in the Moment Cartoon Caption Contest. See my take on Jewish humor.

Do you know the definition of a compulsive cartoon caption contest blogger? It's one who preserves every cartoon caption contest he ever entered. Visit my previous triumphs and travesties.


Attempted Bloggery supports net neutrality.

Despite almost seven years of almost daily online subversion, I have been unable to get the word bloggery into any print dictionary. The word, which I was not the first to coin but was the first to overuse, is listed only in the online Urban Dictionary. To the OED, it is a non-word. I urge careful writers to use the word bloggery whenever appropriate, particularly in print, and to forward all citations to the OED.

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Monday, April 23, 2018

My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #613

I confess, I confess! Have mercy on my entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #613 for April 23, 2018. The drawing is by Pia Guerra.

"It's called good cop, bad clown."


I'm pleading the Fifth on these captions:
"Talk or the doggie bites it."
"Your alibi is about to go pffft."
"We're prepared to offer you a sentence

in dog years."


April 30, 2018 Update: The Finalists


May 7, 2018 Update:  I voted for the third caption.


May 14, 2018 Update:  Winning Caption



Note:  Last week cartoonist Tom Toro brought Charles Darwin to a crime scene. My caption was an unnatural selection. Investigate Contest #612.

This is Pia Guerra's first appearance on this blog. There's no going back, Pia.

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Sunday, April 22, 2018

Today's Walk: A Sucker for Spring

I'm a sucker for spring.





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Ronald Searle: Traffic

A press photo of a Ronald Searle illustration entitled "Traffic" depicts automobile congestion in Midtown Manhattan. The photo is dated 1970, the year of the first Earth Day, when environmental considerations were on everyone's mind. 

Ronald Searle
Traffic
Press Photo, Sunday, March 1, 1970
Historic Images
Verso


Note:  I would like to hear from anyone who knows where this press photo was published, preferably with a scan or photograph of the newspaper page. A copy of this photograph without the watermark or an image of the original artwork would also be appreciated.


May 5, 2018 Update:  A comment left below by Matt Jones, author of Perpetua, the matchless Ronald Searle Tribute blog, indicates that Searle's original color art was published in Venture magazine's 1966 feature "Manhattan on the Rocks."



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Earth Day

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Saturday, April 21, 2018

Today's Walk: Berm Collapse

A small part of the pathway has collapsed into the canal.

Berm collapse

Berm collapse into the canal


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E. Simms Campbell: In Search of a Smoke

Some calamity apparently has struck the apartment of a well-dressed young man in a February 1937 black and white Esquire cartoon by E. Simms Campbell. The cause may be found in the caption. The man's vest and dark pants emphasize his verticality which contrasts with the many diagonal lines signifying the room's disheveled state.

"I thought sure I had another cigarette!"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, February 1937, page 189



The reverse of the page is notable for an advertisement featuring a different vice. Otard Cognac's copy includes a double-limerick by Ogden Nash.


Another rhyming ad from the campaign:
Ode to Otard by Ogden Nash
O is for Otto
Otard Cognac Advertisement, c. 1937




Note:  We are now in the home stretch of our survey of the work of E. Simms Campbell (1906-1971). Readers with access to original Campbell art or to rarely-seen published cartoons may submit high-resolution scans or photographs to the blog for inclusion in a future post.


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Ogden Nash

Esquire

Advertising

Attempted Bloggery supports net neutrality.

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Friday, April 20, 2018

E. Simms Campbell and Syd Hoff Back to Back in Esquire, April 1937

A uniformed chauffeur betrays an inappropriate predilection for old world military pageantry in a somewhat clunky cartoon from the April 1937 Esquire. This was a time when German militarism was on the rise and about to engulf Europe and subsequently much of the world. It seems a messy vein to be mining for a cartoon in an American men's magazine, but then who among us has never wished for a little sprucing up? At the bottom right, one can just make out the signature of Esquire's top cartoonist, E. Simms Campbell.

"Positively not[,] Joseph—I thought we thrashed that out last year[.]"
E. Simms Campbell
Esquire, April 1937, page 58


On the opposite side of the page is a Syd Hoff cartoon about what police call disturbing the peace.
"See? It ain't no dog howling!"
Syd Hoff

Esquire, April 1937, page 57
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/1937-ESQUIRE-MAGAZINE-Comic-Page...




Note:  E. Simms Campbell (1906-1971) is the object of this blog's current obsession, the most recent obsession having been devoted to cartoonist Syd Hoff (1912-2004). Attempted Bloggery will continue to survey the work of Campbell and will occasionally return to Hoff as well. Readers with access to original art or to rarely-seen published works by either of these artists may submit high-resolution scans or photographs to the blog.


Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives

Syd Hoff

Esquire



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Monday, April 16, 2018

My Entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #612

Chalk up another entry for me in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #612 for April 16, 2018. The drawing is by Tom Toro.

"I see the crime scene is still evolving."


April 23, 2018 Update:
The Finalists



April 30, 2018 Update:  I voted for the first caption.


May 7, 2018 Update:  Winning Caption




Note:  Elementary, me dear Reader. Investigate Tom Toro's work from previous blog posts here.

Last week, cartoonist Ellis Rosen rediscovered flight. My caption did a belly flop. Take a dive into Contest #611.


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Sunday, April 15, 2018

Today's Walk: Early Spring

Today was cold, windy, and overcast.

A fallen tree threatens some power lines.

Cherry trees

Forsythia

Daffodils

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Esquire Cartoon Window Signs, 1935-1937

Magazine covers are designed to sell magazines; that's clearly their job. Window signs produced for Esquire in the 1930s used a different promotional tack, taking advantage of the popular, full-page, color cartoons that appeared abundantly in each issue. Up to two such small posters or window signs were produced for issues of the monthly magazine in the mid to late 1930s to promote newsstand sales. The editors selected only one or two of the color cartoons from each issue for use on these signs, giving an indication of which particular artists and cartoons they thought could best promote their magazine. It was a strategy that might well have given Esquire a competitive advantage against those magazines which ran only black and white cartoons.

An Abner Dean gag selected for this purpose in October 1935 seems an unlikely candidate for this sort of display. The old joke is about a father's fecundity, but the setting is somewhat morbid. Dean's work was often odd, to say the least. (A more traditional handling of this sort of gag may be seen in the first Dorothy McKay Esquire cartoon here.)
"Mama, what kind of a man was Daddy?"
Abner Dean
Window Sign/Poster for Esquire, October 1935



Rodney deSarro's lustful old lady may anticipate Buck Brown's later Granny cartoons that were to appear in Playboy.
"But lady, when I knocked on your door, I only
asked for a dime[.]"

Rodney deSarro
Window Sign/Poster for Esquire, February 1936



Another gag by deSarro depicts a cruise ship's staff nervously trying to reclaim a stateroom after the cruise has ended. The gag appears to be cropped for use on this window sign, cutting off the artist's signature.
"Do you think, sir, we might tell them, sir,
that the cruise is over?"

Rodney deSarro
Window Sign/Poster for Esquire, April 1936



A Dorothy McKay gag takes us to the waiting room of a maternity ward where we get to watch a stunned new father drop his hat. This time it is McKay's turn to have her signature unceremoniously cropped. 
"Well, Mr. Hotchkiss! I guess you hit
the jackpot this time!"

Dorothy McKay
Window Sign/Poster for Esquire, April 1936



Shh! An uncaptioned cartoon by E. Simms Campbell depicts the ship's captain engaged in some clandestine work.
E. Simms Campbell
Window Sign/Poster for Esquire, May 1936

Rodney deSarro's captain on shore leave has found a novel use for a hula skirt. The oval format works well on the window sign and preempts any attempt at cropping.
"She loves me—she loves me not!"
Rodney deSarro
Window Sign/Poster for Esquire, June 1936



The "Harem Girls" cartoons by E. Simms Campbell were popular from the very first issue of the magazine. Men trying to make a go at a relationship with a woman must have been amused at the sultan's excesses.
"Make it ten!"
E. Simms Campbell
Window Sign/Poster for Esquire, July 1936



In another Abner Dean gag, a sailor on a life raft has some second thoughts.
"Sometimes I almost wish I'd rescued that blonde
instead of the Harvard Classics!"

Abner Dean
Window Sign/Poster for Esquire, July 1936



Another of Campbell's "Harem Girls" gags bears a striking similarity to the one in yesterday's post.
"I'll be away for two weeks—sort of look
after things while I'm gone[.]"

E. Simms Campbell
Window Sign/Poster for Esquire, August 1936



Gilbert Bundy's young lady exercises her due diligence...
"Oh!  Yes I'll be here[,] Mr. Van Gates—I'm
reading the most interesting book[.]"

Gilbert Bundy
Window Sign/Poster for Esquire, September 1936


...While Barbara Shermund's old man sees no need to be hasty.
"Of course I love you—but there's such a difference in our ages—we ought
to wait a few years[.]"

Barbara Shermund
Window Sign/Poster for Esquire, July 1937



Note:  That's it for now. I'd love to hear from anyone with other examples of these window signs featuring vintage Esquire cartoons. Examples of original artwork by any of these artists are always welcome here as well.

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