Thursday, June 30, 2022

Driving in South Dakota: Frank Modell and Don Martin

Frank Modell's cartoon for The New Yorker of November 25, 1950 was a good one, strong enough to be included a quarter century later in The New Yorker Album of Drawings 1925-1975. It can therefore be said to have been somewhat on the radar in the mid-to-late 1970s.

Frank Modell
The New Yorker, November 25, 1950, page 45


Modell may have concluded that Teddy Roosevelt was the funniest President on Mount Rushmore. His decision to mess with TR's facial expression is an interesting one, having the great sculpted head grimacing in reaction to his decapitation and displacement. Compare that with the couple in the car, who appear too stunned even to react.


Don Martin, whether he knew of Modell's cartoon or not, conceived a similar gag for Mad #196 dated January 1978. His challenge with Late One Afternoon in South Dakota is to decide what sort of multi-panel setup will deliver the best payoff. He decides, of all things, on some madcap signage play. 
Don Martin
Original art
Mad #196, January 1978, page 25



So, we are asked to believe that on a mountainside road with no guard rail—at least Modell does give us a guardrail—a highway department vehicle comes screeching to a halt before a convertible that is possibly already braked. The highway worker does not close the road in response to a critically unsafe condition, but instead changes the sign to read something utterly preposterous that we don't really understand until the final panel. This is a Don Martin cartoon, so in reality we probably won't question any of this nonsense. Note how Martin has the driver—and the driver's hat—do the reacting, not the stately Lincoln head. The original art went unsold at Swann Galleries earlier this month for reasons that probably have nothing to do with the missing guard rail.
Don Martin
Full page original art
Mad #196, January 1978, page 25

Don Martin
Swann Galleries Sale 2608, Lot 191, June 9, 2022



I'm certainly not going to declare a winner here, although very likely you can infer my own preference. My guess is that fans of The New Yorker will prefer Modell's cartoon, and that fans of Mad will prefer Martin's, and all's right on Mount Rushmore.

Spot drawing by Thomas Eastwood and cartoon by Frank Modell

Art by Dave—Ahem! David—Berg and Don Martin with marginalia by Sergio Aragonés







Thomas Eastwood



Note:  Who then is the funnier president, Abe Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt? 



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Wednesday, June 29, 2022

The CartoonStock Caption Contest #155

The CartoonStock Caption Contest #155 is the first from the company that is pay-to-play. Five dollars gets you three entries and a chance at a single $1,000 cash prize. CartoonStock's basic business problem with the caption contest is that it is a recurring expense that brings in little or no licensing revenue. Therefore the frequency has been halved and halved again, making the contest feel less and less relevant. The answer is to try to generate enough revenue from those playing the contest to cover expenses, and to generate more interest in the contest from the significant prize money. The new calculation for caption contestants is that it isn't worth entering the contest unless one is convinced one has a better than 1-in-200 chance of winning. Fortunately for CartoonStock, most of us caption writers are delusional about how funny our entries are. To wit, my three sidesplittingly hilarious entries are shown below. The drawing is by Shannon Wheeler.

"There's nothing to do. Next time we'll go to your place."
"We're raising him without religion."
"We're all so unflappable."



These captions didn't take wing:
"Where do you suppose they learned to be so complacent?"
"There's just not much to do on a playdate in purgatory."
"It took us many years to learn to do nothing."
"I thought there would be more to do in hell."
"Since when do we let them play with brimstone?"
"See? Good and evil CAN coexist."




July 9, 2022 Update:  The Winner


So, were my chances greater than 1:200? Evidently, everybody's were. Fewer than 150 people entered, meaning the first cash prize contest operated at a loss. It's not surprising that so few entered given the difficulty of this particular contest. Why put good money on such a long shot? Mathematically, though, I suppose my own odds were better than most, since Lawrence Wood, seven-time New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest winner, went out of his way to (mis)quote mine in his Caption Contest Commentary. I don't think the celebrated captioner's unintended edit made it any better.
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Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Blog Post No. 4000: George Booth's Last Call for Stuffed Peppers

George Booth was born on this day in 1926. At 96, he can boast of having published cartoons in The New Yorker over a fifty-three year span, from his first appearance in the June 14, 1969 issue to his latest in the current one of July 4, 2022. An example of original New Yorker cartoon art published seven years into his extraordinary run was recently sold on eBay. True, the washes have faded considerably, but that does bring out the quality of his line. The drawing features a four-man band, an angry and impatient wife, a dog, a cat, a worn area rug, and two bare light bulbs. What more could one want?

"Last call for stuffed peppers or I feed 'em to the dog!"
George Booth
Original art
The New Yorker, September 27, 1976, page 37
Pussycats Need Love, Too, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1980

"Last call for stuffed peppers or I feed 'em to the dog!"
George Booth
Original art
The New Yorker, September 27, 1976, page 37
Pussycats Need Love, Too, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1980








George Booth
eBay item description





Sold for a best offer of $550



"Last call for stuffed peppers or I feed 'em to the dog!"
George Booth
Original art
The New Yorker, September 27, 1976, p. 37
Pussycats Need Love, Too, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1980


A spot by Jeanine[?] and a cartoon by George Booth







There are many reasons why people buy particular New Yorker cartoon originals. A note sent with the piece from the previous owner reveals just one of them:
Pussycats Need Love, Too opened to the present work, and an explanatory note from the previous owner






The Attempted Bloggery Centennial Posts 💯
Blog Post No. 100
Blog Post No. 200:  A Shaggy Dog Story


Spot by Jeanine[?]




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Monday, June 27, 2022

My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #808

I must have taken a wrong turn on my way to The New Yorker  Cartoon Caption Contest #808 from the issue of June 27, 2022. My caption is shown below. The drawing is by Kaamran Hafeez.

"We missed Roswell because he won't ask directions."



These captions wouldn't fly:
"How many does yours sleep?"
"How many can you abduct?"
"By the time we arrived at the spaceport, this was all they had."
"No one on earth seems to notice."
"We have the most abductees."
"We can do the medical experiments on board."
"At least the Air Force isn't looking for US."
"You never could blend in."





July 9, 2022 Update:  The Finalists




July 22, 2022 Update:  I voted for the caption from Issaquah.


July 25, 2022 Update:  The Winner





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Sunday, June 26, 2022

Richard Taylor Goes to War

The June 9 auction of Illustration Art at Swann Galleries included three works by Richard Taylor dating from the second World War, none of them known to be published, but all likely intended for The New Yorker. The proposed cover art of a "Worried Hitler" clearly dates from a time when the war was going badly for Germany, presumably between late 1943 and early 1945. The cover was rejected.

Richard Taylor
Proposed New Yorker cover art


The lot also includes a proposed New Yorker cartoon:
"The Captain says he'd like the potatoes with their jackets on."



That rough for The New Yorker needed a little editorial work on the caption, which it received. The drawing was reworked as well, changing the setting to one far more claustrophobic, and surely more true to life. Still, it is hard not to admire the sweeping view of the rough.
"The Captain thinks it would be nice to have them boiled in their jackets tonight."
Richard Taylor
The New Yorker, February 24, 1940, page 21
"The Navy Relief Show" program, Madison Square Garden, March 10, 1942, page 71







One assumes this cartoon was also intended for The New Yorker:
"I certainly wish my family wasn't so damn sure I'd been sent to Iceland."

Richard Taylor
Swann Galleries
Hammer price

A spot drawing by David Preston and a cartoon by Richard Taylor
https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1940-02-24/flipbook/020/

Bowling spot by David Preston



Note:  In 2014, Michael Maslin wrote about editor Harold Ross's determination not to put "specific people," i.e., recognizable individuals, on the cover of The New Yorker. There were, apparently, only three exceptions to this, two for Halloween issues, and all included images of Hitler's face. This is a good time to review the Ink Spill post here. Nowadays, of course, the magazine puts images of specific individuals, especially political figures, on innumerable covers. Many of these soon lose their relevance when the context of the week's current events is forgotten.


While I'm pretty certain none of these drawings were published in the form seen here, I can never be absolutely certain, particularly with that last gag, which might have appeared anywhere. I would like to hear from anyone who can prove me wrong or add something of relevance to this post or, indeed, to any post in the archives.




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Saturday, June 25, 2022

For a Small House by John Held, Jr.

It's time for us to review the June 9 auction of  Illustration Art at Swann Galleries. The sale included an original 1930 book illustration by John Held, Jr.

For a Small House
John Held, Jr.



Swann's listing gave us the publication history and dutifully described the art, but now longtime contributor David from Manhattan has come through and really done his homework. David reports:


The drawing in the most recent Illustration Art sale at Swann was originally described as having Held's signature hidden by the matte. A request to have the back opened for inspection proved definitively that it was not signed. However, the lot description of the drawing as coming from page 72 of a book, Saturday To Monday, was not only accurate, but for any collector interested in The New Yorker, rather fruitful.






The author, Newman Levy, was an early contributor to the magazine, starting with the second issue in February 1925. The book here was a volume of verse poking fun at weekend guests, generously illustrated by the artist with twenty-five drawings plus the dust-jacket, and who was given a co-author credit for his troubles. Only one of the drawings show Held's signature. The Swann lot was for a poem, "For a Small House."

Levy was no Dorothy Parker, but he was popular with the editors, contributing poems, fiction, profiles, "Talk" pieces and a short article on the New York transit situation listed in the archives as "No Department." Several of the Saturday To Monday poems appeared in 1929 under the running title "Weekend Verses." Prior to the start of the magazine, Levy collaborated with Rea Irvin on two volumes of verse, Opera Guyed and Gay But Wistful.


Opera was especially successful, its shelf life extending to decades. The same can't be said for Saturday, which had two printings its first year (1930), then quiet. It was never reprinted. Levy's name disappeared from the magazine for more than a decade, but two poems were published in the early fifties. Only a day after the auction I was able to locate a sound copy of Saturday from a dealer who in the past has been reliably fair with his prices and accurate in his descriptions.




Jonn Held, Jr. 
Hammer price $1,800





Note:  It seems I can never thank David from Manhattan enough. This is his fiftieth contribution to Attempted Bloggery. 


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Friday, June 24, 2022

Mark Towner's Copy of The Art of Walt Disney by Christopher Finch

Christopher Finch's The Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdom (1973) is a classic Disney history. Mark Towner's copy of the 1983 reissue has a full page illustration of Chip by Bill Justice. It is also signed by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, two of Disney's Nine Old Men, but that page doesn't merit a photograph on AbeBooks.


The Art of Walt Disney:  From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdom
AbeBooks listing accessed April 24, 2022


Once again, as with yesterday's post on a rare misbound and signed Edward Gorey collection, the seller's price has been discounted over the past two months, here by $225 down to $900. My conjecture, based solely on these two examples, is that booksellers are finding it harder to move big ticket items during the bear market. Thus inflation in consumer staples may result in some deflation on the luxury goods end.

The Art of Walt Disney:  From Mickey Mouse to the Magic Kingdom
AbeBooks listing accessed June 23, 2022
AbeBooks listing accessed April 24, 2022https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=449933956&searchurl=spo%3D30%26sortby%3D17%26kn%3D%2522Bill%2BJustice%2522%26p%3D2%26sp%3D1&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp2-_-image7





Note:  I am a big fan of the 1973 edition of the Christopher Finch book. Much of my knowledge of Disney lore comes from this source.




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