Eldon Dedini: Season in the Sun

Out of the Playboy Archives comes an original color cartoon by Eldon Dedini. It was published in the issue of December 1970. Set, one assumes, in Los Angeles at a swimming pool overlooking the Valley, it offers a stunning view.

"I still can't get used to a Christmas without snow."
Eldon Dedini
Original art
Playboy, December 1970

Caption and Eldon Dedini's signature
Playboy, December 1970

The piece was sold by Julien's Auctions of Gardena on August 26. The presale estimate was $800 to $1,200.

Eldon Dedini
Julien's Auctions listing for August 26, 2025

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/Playboy-Eldon-Dedini-Cartoon-Illustration-97-c-DD3461A947?utm_term=cartoon&utm_source=alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=keywordalerts&utm_content=group-noapp&utm_term=354156

Eldon Dedini
Julien's Auctions item description

The published cartoon looks similar to the artwork:

"I still can't get used to a Christmas without snow."
Eldon Dedini
Playboy, December 1970

https://pipeandpjscomics.wordpress.com/tag/howard-shoemaker/

"I still can't get used to a Christmas without snow."
Eldon Dedini
Original art
Playboy, December 1970

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Ronald Searle: Holidays Artist and Model

A 1989 ink drawing (with just a little bit of colored pencil) by Ronald Searle celebrates Santa's eye for the arts. The original work from the collection of Irvin Greif was sold last month in the Illustration Art sale at Heritage Auctions.

Searle's ink technique is dazzling, as always. Santa's brushwork may be in the same league:

More than sixteen hours before the sale, the bidding was at $725. The auction house's estimate was $1,500 and up. Whatever became of having a high estimate too?

Ronald Searle
Heritage Auctions listing accessed sixteen hours before the sale

https://fineart.ha.com/itm/mainstream-illustration/ronald-william-fordham-searle-british-1920-2011-reindeer-1989-ink-on-paper-12-1-2-x-11-3-4-inches-318-x-298/a/8224-71267.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515

Ronald Searle
Heritage Auctions item description

In the live bidding, the low estimate was met and exceeded.

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Ronald Searle: A Beefeater Is Served

In a 1996 Ronald Searle ink and watercolor drawing, we see a beefeater in a restaurant being served dinner by a bull. The meal is not very filling and not very beefy and he is not very happy. A pencil notation on the front of the artwork indicate that it is one of two drawings made for a Town and Country article on London restaurants. It was sold last month at Heritage Auctions in the  Illustration Art sale.

Searle's art is always better viewed full size:

On the back of the original is an unfinished ink drawing over pencil that was never erased. It depicts a well-to-do man in period attire being attacked by hungry books with cartoon eyeballs and sharp teeth. It's intriguing.

The bidding was strong some sixteen hours before the sale, with a solid $3,100 bid ($3,875 with the premium).

Ronald Searle
Heritage Auctions listing accessed sixteen hours before the sale

https://fineart.ha.com/itm/pulp-pulp-like-digests-and-paperback-art/ronald-william-fordham-searle-british-1920-2011-beefeater-1996-watercolor-and-ink-on-paper-14-3-4-x-14-1-4-inches/a/8224-71268.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515

Ronald Searle
Heritage Auctions item description

But the price was to go still higher in the illustration art sale during the live bidding:

Note:  Was this beefeater illustration actually published? Was the drawing of the dandy attacked by books ever finished? If you have access to print images of either of these, please get in touch.

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Ronald Searle: One-Armed Bandit

Ronald Searle's drawing of a gambler joylessly working a slot machine is from the pictorial "Las Vegas: Home on the Range." It appeared in Holiday magazine's issue of June 1960. The original 65-year-old art was sold four weeks ago at Heritage Auctions.

The online presale activity was enthusiastic, bringing the bid price up to $5,200 just thirteen hours before the sale. 

But the bidding went no further.

Ronald Searle
Heritage Auctions listing ended November 4, 2025

https://fineart.ha.com/itm/mainstream-illustration/ronald-william-fordham-searle-british-1920-2011-las-vegas-holiday-magazine-interior-june-1960-ink-on-board-20-x/a/8224-71070.s?ic10=ExpandedResults-ItemImageDesc-040215

Ronald Searle
Heritage Auctions item description

The drawing, as originally published in Holiday:

Ronald Searle
"Las Vegas:  Home on the Range"
Holiday, June, 1960, p. 89

https://ronaldsearle.blogspot.com/2020/05/gamblin-towns.html

It took up a full page in the oversize magazine:

The article is listed in the table of contents as starting on page 88:

Note:  For further reading and pictures, see Perpetua, the Ronald Searle Tribute blog created by Matt Jones—specifically the post called "Gamblin' Towns."

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My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #970

In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #970 from the issue of December 1, 2025, the setting is a library (or maybe a bookstore). A librarian with a cart is talking to a woman in the Psychology section while they look at the Grim Reaper browsing nearby in the Self-Help section. The librarian speaks. My entry appears below. The drawing is by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell.

"I'll start wheezing and lead him to the travel section."

These captions needed to be shelved:

"Why shouldn't he want to work more efficiently?"
"He'll never find anything to replace chess."
"I wouldn't mind some new life goals."
"He should be working on his people skills."

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