My Entries in the Moment Cartoon Caption Contest for Spring 2024

Moment magazine's Cartoon Caption Contest for the Spring 2024 issue depicts an obese pharaoh of ancient Egypt visiting the doctor's office. My four captions are shown below, the last being a rewrite of the first. I think the third is the best. The drawing is by Benjamin Schwartz.

“You’ll have to fix your food pyramid.”
"Spend more time walking like an Egyptian."
"I never thought YOU would overindulge in matzo."
"Rebuild that food pyramid."

04652

Peter Arno: All Aboard the Elevator

A classic cartoon by The New Yorker's Peter Arno was sold on eBay this past Sunday:

"I told you we should have given them something for Christmas."
Peter Arno
Original art
The New Yorker, January 1, 1938, p. 16

True, we don't usually see manually-operated elevators these days, but they were once commonplace in New York apartment buildings. Arno extracts an awful lot of physical humor from the situation. Contrast the couple's awkwardness with the upright posture of the elevator operator.

"I told you we should have given them something for Christmas."
Peter Arno
Original art
The New Yorker, January 1, 1938, p. 16

Each of Arno's faces adds to the comedy.

The typed caption is affixed to the art, a no-no. The word told isn't even underlined.

Peter Arno's signature

Evidently the frame is not perfect.

Peter Arno
eBay listing ended May 12, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/276453401977

Peter Arno
eBay item description

"I told you we should have given them something for Christmas."
Peter Arno
The New Yorker, January 1, 1938, p. 16

"I told you we should have given them something for Christmas."
Peter Arno
Original art
The New Yorker, January 1, 1938, p. 16

With a cartoon by Peter Arno and a spot drawing by Susanne Suba

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1938-01-01/flipbook/016/

A copy of this issue offered on Amazon clearly shows the cartoon to be on page 14, not 16. If the photograph looks familiar, it's because the seller used a lower-resolution version of this image as the final one in the listing. This magazine listed on Amazon is no doubt one of the regional variants lacking some of the pages in the New York metropolitan edition which the magazine kept as file copies.

Page variant

https://www.amazon.com/Jan-1-1938-New-Yorker-Midgettes/dp/B00ODDX8JK

In addition, the cartoon was collected in Peter Arno's Cartoon Revue (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1941), Cartoon Cavalcade (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1943), The Penguin Peter Arno (Penguin, 1949, 1957), and no doubt elsewhere.

Peter Arno's Cartoon Revue (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1941)

Craven, Thomas, ed. Cartoon Cavalcade (Chicago: Consolidated Book Publishers, 1945 edition)

The Penguin Peter Arno (Penguin, 1957)

* * *

Spot of a woman unbuttoning by a mirror
Susanne Suba
The New Yorker, January 1, 1938, p. 17

Note:  Original cartoon art by Peter Arno comes to eBay only when it is changing hands. We can enjoy even more Arno originals here when generous collectors choose to share their art virtually here. You may take that as a hint. Thank you, and don't forget to tip your blogger.

04651

Peter Arno: Duet at the Organ

A work of original New Yorker cartoon art from 1932 depicts a wealthy man and his servant seated at the organ. It recently surfaced on eBay, where it received seven bids and was sold. Peter Arno, the artist, created a trove of cartoons which, like this one, still maintain their impact today. If you were to go back just ten years earlier to, say, 1922, you would be hard-pressed to find a cartoon by anyone that holds up this well.

"Now Chopsticks!"
Peter Arno
Framed original art
The New Yorker, October 8, 1932, p. 14

Arno carried this drawing by sea to London where it was exhibited in December of that year at the Leicester Galleries, catalogue number 71. According to a notation on the label, it was purchased by one W. G. Eyre, Esq. Eventually it found its way to Carmel, California, according to the eBay seller.

"Now Chopsticks!"
Peter Arno
Original art
The New Yorker, October 8, 1932, p. 14

Large detail

Catalogue number 71 from the Leicester Galleries show

Peter Arno
eBay listing accessed April 22, 2024, six and a half days before the sale ended

https://www.ebay.com/itm/276434890681?mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l1120&ch=osgood&euid=fae9f20e37ae447287a9409017a57cde&bu=43186000575&ut=RU&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20240422013622&segname=11021

Peter Arno
eBay item description. The date of the New Yorker issue is off by three weeks.

Peter Arno
More eBay item description business

Sold!

"Now Chopsticks!"
Peter Arno
The New Yorker, October 8, 1932, p. 14

"Now Chopsticks!"
Peter Arno
Original art
The New Yorker, October 8, 1932, p. 14

With a cartoon by Peter Arno and a spot drawing

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1932-10-08/flipbook/014/

How did the drawing end up stateside? A 1955 photograph from the Denver Post may hold a hint. It shows a Mr. and Mrs. W. G. Eyre and daughter Jane at a reception for the British Ambassador. Perhaps W. G. specialized in international trade and had legal work that brought him to Great Britain in 1932 where he bought the cartoon and later brought him to a cocktail party for the British Ambassador.

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/guests-at-cocktail-party-
the-thomas-tulls-gave-saturday-news-photo/162374602?adppopup=true

Note:  Here in the states, Time magazine covered Peter Arno's exhibition at the Leicester Galleries. It's here, in case you missed it in 1932.

In 2016, I covered the show in my own way, trying to identify ten of the exhibition's cartoons captured in a publicity photo of Arno. You can read that one here.

I'm still looking to find a catalogue from that Arno show. It's only been 91 years. What's taking so long?

In the meantime, I'd like to hear from collectors with other original Arnos still bearing labels from the Leicester Galleries show.

I can't quite make out the signature of the New Yorker's spot artist who drew the flamenco dancer. Is it Binder? Or does it start with an M? Drop me a line if you recognize the artist. Or can dance the flamenco.

04650

Speaking of Pictures: Life Magazine on Peter Arno, 1941

In its October 13, 1941 issue, Life magazine gave its readers a generous sampling of ten Peter Arno cartoons from The New Yorker collected in his seventh book, Cartoon Revue. The looming wartime themes are evident, but there's also the 1939 World's Fair, a wedding night scenario, and a gag about aging—or is it about publicity?

Peter Arno
Life, October 13, 1941, pp. 8-9

I think Life made an obvious mistake here: placing the captions on the lower half of the page at the top of the cartoons could only have been dreamed up by an art director too concerned about "balance." The idea, I suppose, was to keep the captions from being trimmed off the lower edge of the page.

Peter Arno
eBay listing accessed April 27, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/135035220279?mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l1120&ch=osgood&euid=1dbda975180346dda416fb7e6a54111d&bu=43186000575&ut=RU&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20240427013620&segname=11021

Peter Arno
eBay item description

EBay paper sellers often don't disclose specific issue dates—I mean, why buy the two pages on offer when you could get a copy of the full magazine for probably not too much more?—but that withheld information is increasingly searchable. My own formidable Google skills gave me not only the issue date, but an additional page, numbered 11, with two more Arno cartoons. Here, I'm pleased to report, both captions are placed underneath the drawing, where they belong.

https://books.google.com/books?id=uk4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA8&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false

Note:  I've been at this game long enough to have written a few comprehensive posts on some of these classic Peter Arno cartoons, including:

"You're making a grave mistake, Miss Loesch . . . "

"Well, what's the excuse this time?"

"Why, George Carter! . . . "

As for "Well, back to the old drawing board," Paul Karasik explains why this is his candidate for the perfect cartoon here.

04649

Bob's Copy of Playboy's New Kliban

The cartoon collection title Playboy's New Kliban (1980) makes it clear that B. Kliban, as he signed his name professionally, or Hap Kliban, as he was known to his friends, had achieved the status of an artist with name recognition solely through his surname. The cover drawing, in color, shows us Cliché Island, home to a number of cartoon tropes.

"Welcome to Cliché Island . . . have a nice day!"
B. Kliban

Inside there is an inscription to one Bob with an original drawing of a caveman and a cat, both of them wearing moose antlers. Kliban signs his nickname and provides some possibly intimate information, so perhaps Bob is a good friend.

"To Bob                 
from the ever-jolly  
but psychologically fragile
                           Hap Kliban"

B. Kliban
AbeBooks listing accessed April 20, 2024

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Playboys-New-Kliban-inscribed-B-Wideview/31834744184/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook

The sellers are Bud Plant & Hutchison Books, who write, "Many of the cartoons are of their period and might no longer seem as funny as they once did." That's one way to sell it. At post time the book is still available. Have a nice day!

"Many of the cartoons are of their period and might no longer seem as funny as they once did."
B. Kliban
AbeBooks item description

04648