This week I floated a caption to The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #789 from the issue of January 31, 2022. My entry is shown below. The drawing is by Christopher Weyant.
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| "I don't suppose you left any Red Bull for me?" |
February 7, 2022 Update: The Finalists
February 21, 2022 Update: I voted for the caption from Melrose.
March 6, 2022 Update: The Winner
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Did readers of College Humor really identify with the injured football player in Kirk Stiles's cartoon from the January 1940 issue? The unsympathetic coach seems to be a caricature of the trainer who wants to win at all costs. Is it believable and, more importantly, is it funny? Finally, is it worthy of two exclamation points?
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| "Tie score, three yards to go for goal—and you break a leg!!" Kirk Stiles College Humor, Vol. 11, No. 1, January 1940 |
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There have never been any good pandemics. British illustrator Hilda Cowham (1873-1964) published an undated drawing inscribed Mistress & Maid: If she thought her life was in danger. The perceived danger is that of infection. The art depicts a mistress peeking her head out from behind a smallpox curtain while her maid holds up to her face a bottle crudely labeled disinfectant (with spelling corrected) to protect herself. The illustration seems to refer to the smallpox pandemic of 1870-1874, possibly in the setting of London. The original is offered for 325 GBP on AbeBooks.
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| Mistress and Maid: If she thought her life was in danger Hilda Cowham |
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| Hilda Cowham AbeBooks listing accessed January 29, 2022 |
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| Hilda Cowham AbeBooks item description |
Note: This work has printer's markings indicating that it was published. Now the only question is where and when—and who can figure it all out.
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| "Good morning, sir—I represent the law firm of Lolly, Mire and Fish..." Alan Dunn Tarnation [?] |
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| Alan Dunn's signature |
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| Alan Dunn TLS |
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| Alan Dunn eBay listing ended August 31, 2020 |
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| Alan Dunn eBay item description |
Beginning around 1946, the young Frank Modell served as assistant to New Yorker cartoon editor James Geraghty. Working at The New Yorker, he acquired some early original works by Peter Arno that had never been published in the magazine. Possibly, some of these forgotten works were left unclaimed in the office, or they may have been gifts received personally from Arno.
Now we see that Modell also came to possess an early original drawing by Charles Addams. Apparently, this also was submitted to The New Yorker but not published. The cartoon, somewhat elongated in its proportions, shows two hunters involved in an unusual head-on car accident, no pun intended. The estate of Frank Modell attempted to sell this original at Bonhams, twice. The auction house listing does an admirable job of summarizing other Addams cartoons on similar subjects. In June, the drawing was given an estimate of $6,000-8,000. Unsold, it was offered again in December with a lower presale estimate of $5,000-7,000. The minimum bid was set at $5,000 but once again the Addams work did not find a buyer.
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| Charles Addams Bonhams, December 15, 2021 |
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| Charles Addams Hammer price Swann Auction Galleries June 9, 2022 Illustration Art sale |
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This week I tried to fit a caption to The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #788 from the issue of January 24, 2022. My entry is shown below. The drawing is by E. S. Glenn.
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| "I'm just surprised they have you working from home." |
February 1, 2022 Update: The Finalists
February 7, 2022 Update: I voted for the caption from Renfrew.
February 21, 2022 Update: The Winner
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| Syd Hoff eBay listing accessed January 22, 2022 |
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| Syd Hoff eBay item description |
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| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_and_the_Dinosaur |
Thirsty? A license plate spotted in central New York has a suggestion for you.
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| "DRINKMLK" New York State license plate |
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Ronald Searle's vintage advertisement for Max Factor Gentlemen's Cologne makes full use of the cartoonist's penchant for drawing thin, elongated figures that can inhabit a narrow magazine column. The cologne is good enough, apparently, to counter the cigarette Searle has placed in the young man's hand. The ad showed up recently on eBay and appeared in Esquire at least twice, in May and November of 1965. Another Searle ad for the product appeared in the June issue, here with a different couple and with the gentleman this time smoking a cigar. Go figure. The ad copy for both reads, "Who knows what the day will bring when you start with Max Factor for Gentlemen?" The question mark is mine.
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| Ronald Searle eBay listing accessed January 19, 2022 |
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| Ronald Searle eBay item description |
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| https://classic.esquire.com/search?QueryTerm=Max+Factor |
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I went three rounds in the CartoonStock Caption Contest #147. My submissions are shown below. The pugilistic drawing is by Liam Francis Walsh.
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| "I can't believe you would hit a man with glasses." "Fine, you can have your damn baby back." "Shouldn't you be wearing kid gloves?" |
February 1, 2022 Update: Seven-time New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest winner Lawrence Wood, in his Caption Contest Commentary, mentioned one of my entries—twice. This is the fifteenth contest in which he's chosen to remark on one of my captions.
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| https://www.cartoonstock.com/blog/fighting-father-caption-contest-commentary-with-lawrence-wood/ |
February 2, 2022 Update: The Winner
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On New Year's Day, I came across an AbeBooks listing for the very first issue of The New Yorker, dated February 21, 1925. I was immediately taken aback by the asking price, an absurdly low $4.39.
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| The New Yorker AbeBooks listing accessed January 1, 2021 |
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| Two current eBay listings of the first issue of The New Yorker, preceded by the 1953 reprint |
The title of the AbeBooks listing was "The New Yorker, February 21, 1925 (Volume 1)." There was no accompanying photo. Listed authors were Ralph Barton, Marc Connelly, Rea Irvin, George S. Kaufman, Alice Duer Miller, Dorothy Parker, and Alexander Woollcott. Those were indeed the advisory editors listed on the first issue's masthead. The listing's specific details were all absolutely correct, but the price was too good to be true. Who was I not to take a shot at it? I placed my order sight unseen. Ten days later, the package was in my hands.
Here then are the contents:
The New Yorker Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Album 1925-1950 was published in 1951 and reissued in paperback in 1986, some sixty-one years after the first issue's publication. How a scuffed copy of this paperback edition was erroneously listed as a copy of the original 1925 magazine is beyond me, but it strikes me as more careless than malicious. The book has a $1.00 price pencilled on the half title; the $4.39 price I paid included postage. For what it's worth, I did not previously own a copy of the paperback.
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It's time to unpack my entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #787 from the issue of January 17, 2022. My caption is shown below. The drawing is by Tom Toro.
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| "I hope this trip will be a new beginning." |
These captions were too primitive:
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| "Did you pack my loincloth?" "I'm not bringing any screens." "I'm not just packing heat." |
January 29, 2022 Update: The Finalists
February 1, 2022 Update: I voted for the caption from Doylestown.
February 7, 2022 Update: The Winner
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