Not every collector, one supposes, would have asked the great Charles Addams to redraw a published New Yorker cartoon and substitute his own, the collector's, name and year of birth on a cemetery monument. Alex G. Campbell, Jr., then, must not have been your typical collector. He was a successful Kentucky horse breeder and philanthropist, and was evidently in possession of a sense of humor.
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| Chas Addams's signature |
In an undated autograph note penned on New Yorker stationery, Addams atones for the act of giving his benefactor even a joking 1976 cartoon demise. This date of death was required in keeping with the original cartoon. Generously, Addams makes it clear that he sends Campbell "best wishes for a long and happy life," i.e., one that does not end in the fateful year 1976. He does not shy away from giving himself the same joking year of death at the end of the letter, which was evidently written some time the year that the cartoon was published.
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| Charles Addams Alex Cooper auction of September 26, 2025 |
Here we see the published New Yorker cartoon above the redraw. The jogger's name in the printed drawing was a not-very-convincing N. B. Watrous with the years 1930-1976. (Campbell was two years older.)
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| N. B. Watrous 1930-1976 Charles Adddams The New Yorker, March 22, 1976, p. 26 |
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| A. G. Campbell, Jr 1928-1976 Charles Adddams Redraw after The New Yorker, March 22, 1976, p. 26 |
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| With drawings by Charles Addams and Stan Hunt |
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Meanwhile, on the other side of the spread, there's a Stan Hunt cartoon with a decidedly different atmosphere. The New Yorker evidently took great care to vary the types of drawing that faced each other on the printed page.
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| "Foster has opted for a wait-and-see policy." Stan Hunt The New Yorker, March 22, 1976, p. 27 |
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