Showing posts with label 1959. Show all posts

Monday, December 28, 2020

The Ronald Searle Calendar: 1959

The Ronald Searle Calendar for 1959 collects some of the English cartoonist's popular gags from the 1950s and doles out two each month. The calendar's cover reuses the illustration on the dust jacket for Merry England, etc. (1956), but this time without any red ink. At least one drawing of St. Trinian's schoolgirls is included. The drawings are reproduced in two tones, black and shades of blue. The item is uncommon today which is surprising as it must have been difficult to throw away when 1960 came around.

The Ronald Searle Calendar: 1959
eBay listing ended November 27, 2020

https://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-RONALD-SEARLE-CALENDAR-1959-Illustrated-VINTAGE-24-CARTOONS-St-Trinian-039-s-/133581720040?hash=item1f1a1749e8%3Ag%3Ag4UAAOSwJiBftoY%7E&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

The Ronald Searle Calendar: 1959
eBay item description

03987

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Ronald Searle: Molesworth at Christmass

Nigel Molesworth, the imaginative chronicler of St. Custard's prep school, has a great gift for misspelling. He is the 1950's-era creation of writer Geoffrey Willans and illustrator Ronald Searle. At a Christie's South Kensington sale in 2001, the artist, presumably, sold the 1959 drawing Molesworth: Coo, Gosh, Christmass. Christie's corrected the obvious misspelling of the holiday, a sure sign that they weren't in on the joke. Nigel wears a paper crown from a Christmas cracker, a longstanding English tradition, as any fule kno.

Ronald Searle, Molesworth: Coo, Gosh, Christmass, 1959

Christie's South Kensington, Sale 2281, Lot 229, December 6, 2001

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/ronald-william-fordham-searle-molesworth-coo-gosh-3851642-details.aspx?from=searchresults&pos=6&intObjectID=3851642&sid=99f821d2-a1eb-4f1f-9aa8-b09cdbe752b8&page=1&lid=1

Lot Description

Note: Further reading:
Ronald Searle
Christmas
Winter

01723

Friday, April 27, 2012

Some Like it Hot Film Poster

What's in a title? Writers Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond were not native speakers of English, yet they understood the nuances of the language so well that they could deftly produce brilliant screenplays. I doubt that either of them could have heard the nursery rhyme "Pease Porridge Hot" while growing up, yet the title of "Some Like it Hot," one of the funniest movies ever, is certainly derived from this. In the dialogue from the movie, though, the title phrase specifically refers to a musical preference for syncopated jazz. Or does it?

The vintage 1959 film poster from Billy Wilder's "Some Like it Hot" tells a different story about the title's meaning, one that has nothing to do with peas porridge or syncopated rhythms. Mother Goose would be proud.

Some Like It Hot

1959, United Artists, U.S. one-sheet -- 41 x 27 in. (104 x 69 cm.), linen-backed, (A-)

Price Realized May 2, 2012

£1,375

($2,229)
Sales totals are hammer price plus buyer’s premium and do not reflect costs, financing fees or application of buyer’s or seller’s credits.