Anyway, there are three old newspaper clippings (one of them is dated March 27, 1949 and I suspect the other two are of a similar time period) about newspaper cartoonists Cliff Berryman (Pulitzer Prize winner and creator of the teddy bear), Ding Darling (also a Pulitzer Prize winner), and Jorge Delano. I suspect that there was once a fourth clipping about Charles Addams that has since been absorbed into the collection, leaving these three clippings, unloved, in a dark and lonesome box.Unloved? We can't have that.
I laughed at the Lorax, "You poor stupid guy! You never can tell what some people will buy." --Dr. Seuss
Saturday, February 15, 2025
Three Old Clippings
Friday, February 14, 2025
How Do You Like Your Portraits, Ernest?
The recent essay by Adam Gopnik, "Subject and Object," is a careful dissection of the famous and controversial 1950 New Yorker profile by Lillian Ross, "How Do You Like It Now, Gentlemen?" illustrated, one forgets, with a tiny pen & ink drawing of [Ernest] Hemingway by Reginald Marsh.
The long Ross Profile described her encounter with the famous author as he roamed Manhattan with Miss Ross in tow. Merely by quoting him at length (accurately as it turns out), and reporting how he moved through the day, the Hemingway in this profile comes across as a clown and a sad parody of himself. It hasn't been forgotten, as Gopnik makes clear. Published in time for the 100th anniversary issue of The New Yorker, the essay features a full-page color drawing by Barry Blitt, based, we are told in tiny print, on a photograph "courtesy Lillian Ross Estate."
Perhaps for that reason Blitt didn't sign his drawing, though a proper credit line appears beneath it. The drawing is not especially funny, something rarely said about a Blitt drawing. And to make things more interesting, in-between the Gopnik piece and Ross's original profile, she published "Hemingway Told Me Things" in the May 24, 1999 issue, about his letters and warm advice to her. This piece is illustrated with a caricature by Edward Sorel.
In 1999 Miss Ross wished to present Hemingway in a far more generous light than the 1950 piece, but forty-nine years is a long time to wait before applying damage control. Fortunately, Sorel, quietly ignoring Ross's good cheer, royally allowed himself an artist's fun with a famous author full of himself, and a still rising journalist not quite sure of what she was in for. The small background image of a photographer in the oval mirror with his flash, even reduced on the magazine page, is a masterful touch in a drawing far more elegant, accurate and funny than the Ernest in the Gopnik piece, though in fairness to Blitt, his Hemingway is clearly intended to be more illustration than target. It's unlikely that Sorel's drawing wasn't lodged in Blitt's memory; there was no reason to compete. But both artists are certainly on firmer ground than Reginald Marsh. His portrait of Ernest was left out, unfairly I think, when Simon & Schuster in 1961 reprinted the Ross profile in a very attractive clothbound 65-page book and retitled Portrait of Hemingway, the year of the author's death.
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Portrait of Hemingway by Lillian Ross |
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With an illustration by Reginald Marsh and a cartoon by Barney Tobey |
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With an illustration by Edward Sorel |
Note: My thanks to David from Manhattan for surprising me with today's piece. This is his sixty-sixth contribution to Attempted Bloggery.
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"Notice the little ruffle, which gives it that feminine touch." Barney Tobey The New Yorker, May 13, 1950, p. 37 |
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The Critics Timo Kuilder The New Yorker, February 17 & 24, 2025, p. 150 |
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Thursday, February 13, 2025
Georg Jensen Brooch #344
I purchased a sterling silver brooch by Georg Jensen on eBay last year, a gift for my valentine. It is design #344 and not especially common.
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Design #344 with the post-1945 Georg Jensen hallmark |
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Georg Jensen eBay listing ended October 20, 2024 |
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Georg Jensen eBay item description |
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Georg Jensen eBay bid history One bid with five seconds remaining. Your blogger hard at work for the sake of romance. |
Monday, February 10, 2025
Edward Sorel and Bruce McCall at "Covering The New Yorker"
"Covering The New Yorker," the exhibition now hanging at L'Alliance New York, spans some three decades of original New Yorker cover art. Edward Sorel and Bruce McCall are represented by two covers each. All works in the show are loaned by the artists or their estates unless other wise noted.
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Crush Hour Edward Sorel The New Yorker, January 31, 1994 |
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I ♥ Babel Edward Sorel The New Yorker, October 2, 1995 |
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The Cart Before the Horses Bruce McCall The New Yorker, April 28, 2014 |
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Lost Times Square Bruce McCall The New Yorker, May 31, 1999 |
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My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #932
Saturday, February 8, 2025
My Copy of The Alphabet From A to Y With Bonux Letter Z! by Steve Martin and Roz Chast
Well, it's my copy now. This copy of Steve Martin and Roz Chast's The Alphabet From A to Y With Bonus Letter Z! (2007) signed by both authors showed up on eBay three months back priced at $49, which is about half the usual ask. The seller's first photo emphasizes Martin's signature, which would be the hardest to obtain individually.
.webp)
Chast signs with a finer pen. She gets the soft focus treatment as well.
.webp)
Maybe the seller understands instinctively that you can't charge market prices without taking sharp photos.
From here on in only the pages with couplets are in focus:
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Steve Martin and Roz Chast eBay listing ended November 6, 2024 |
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Steve Martin and Roz Chast eBay item description |
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Steve Martin and Roz Chast eBay bid history One bid. Your blogger shows his stuff. |
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Friday, February 7, 2025
Barbara Shermund at "Drawn From The New Yorker: A Centennial Celebration"
As one enters the New York townhouse which the Society of Illustrators calls home, one immediately encounters a striking art deco drawing by pioneering cartoonist Barbara Shermund. This looks to have once had a scathingly clever caption, but in the Society's own collection it bears only the descriptive title Formally Dressed Sophisticates With Long Cigarette Holders. Although it did not appear in The New Yorker and is not a part of the current show, "Drawn From The New Yorker: A Centennial Celebration," it fits right in and sets the festive mood.
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Formally Dressed Sophisticates With Long Cigarette Holders Barbara Shermund |
The exhibition is curated by New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly. Shermund's nine-panel gem is from the collection of Donnelly and her husband, fellow cartoonist Michael Maslin. It was published in 1928 but seems almost contemporary in its point of view.
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"You're a very intelligent little woman, my dear!" Barbara Shermund Original art The New Yorker, May 19, 1928 |
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Barbara Shermund Original art The New Yorker, March 18, 1939 |
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From Caitlin McGurk's Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund, 2024, p. 49 |
So here's the full magazine cover, including the strap on the left, as published. Really, am I asking too much? Don't answer that.
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Barbara Shermund The New Yorker, March 18,1939 |
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