Fine Dining: The Lüchow's Guest Book

The guest book of Lüchow's reveals the famous German restaurant in lower Manhattan hosted more than its share of celebrity luminaries back in the 1950s. For example, cartoonist Charles Addams dined there, already famous even some thirteen years before anyone heard of the Addams Family:

Including the signature and drawing of Charles Addams, April 11, 1951

John Ringling North, the president and director of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus is in town from Sarasota. Immediately under Charles Addams is the signature of British actor Jack Hawkins, who would prove to be one of the most popular English movie stars of the 1950s.

Including the signature and drawing of Charles Addams, April 11, 1951

 

Joe Dimaggio retired after the 1951 baseball season. This page is undated, but as the guest book dates from 1950 to 1956, it is likely from after his retirement. Jean Hersholt played "Dr. Christian" on the radio.

Including the signatures of Joe DiMaggio and Jean Hersholt

Al Hirschfeld shows up with his wife Dolly Haas in 1952. He draws caricatures of them both. Nina, 7, is presumably home with the sitter. The Hirschfelds must have dined with humorists S. J. Perelman and Fred Allen as Hirschfeld caricatures them as well. Also present is Allen's wife Portland Hoffa.

Including signatures and Al Hirschfeld caricatures of Dolly and Al Hirschfeld, S. J. Perelman, and Fred Allen, 1952

Including signatures and caricatures of Dolly and Al Hirschfeld, S. J. Perelman, and Fred Allen, 1952

While we're at it, hooray for Hollywood. So many greats of stage and screen mingle, at least on the pages of the guest book.

Including the signature and self-caricature of Alfred Hitchcock, and the signatures of Elaine Stritch, Ben Gazzara, Billie Burke Ziegfeld, Dolores Del Rio, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, and Will Rogers, Jr.

The art world turned out too:

Including the signatures of Joanne Woodward, Paul Newman, Pierre Matisse, Joan Miró, and Bill Lieberman of MoMA

https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/Lots/auction-lot/(ALBUM)-Guestbook-for-L%C3%BCchows-restaurant-containing-over-400?saleno=2502&lotNo=25A&refNo=757213

$5000 hammer price

Note:  My family ate at Lüchow's once when I was a kid. My brother and I were given Tyrolean party hats with feathers. It was great fun, but we did not get to sign the guest book. Neither did my parents. Who's sorry now, Lüchow's?

I would love to establish Attempted Bloggery as the first place readers think of when they have images of celebrity guest books to make public, particularly those that are signed by prominent cartoonists or humorists. Ditto for autograph books, scrapbooks, sketch books, and chapbooks. On second thought, never mind the chapbooks.

Thanks to Joel Jacobus for identifying the autograph of actor Jack Hawkins.

December 26, 2020 Update:  Thanks to @AlHirschfeld on Twitter (David Leopold?) for identifying Fred Allen's autograph.

January 3, 2021 Update:  Thanks to Tom Bloom for noting that both S. J. Perelman's and Fred Allen's caricatures must be by Al Hirschfeld, and for identifying Fred Allen's wife Portland Hoffa. He also identified the signatures of John Ringling North and of Jean Hersholt.

January 12, 2021 Update:  This time, Tom Bloom has identified the signature of Will Rogers, Jr.

November 26, 2021 Update:  Getty Images stocks a photo dated June 13, 2013 from the London International Antiquarian Book Fair, It shows a bookseller holding the Lüchow's guestbook page which bears the signature of Joan Miró and others. You may see the watermarked photo here.

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Robert Karsten's Fake New Yorker Cover

York, Pennsylvania artist Robert Karsten (1943-1996) never had his work published on the cover of the New Yorker, but in 1962 while still a teenager he did the next best thing: he painted a fake New Yorker cover on illustration board. Complete with New Yorker magazine logo, date (October 23, 1962), and price (25 cents), the watercolor depicts a country scene with birds sitting on telephone lines and more birds in the air. It is not really convincing as a New Yorker cover. On artistic grounds, the painting is not particularly compelling. The proportions are too long, but despite this the image is entirely above the horizon line; in other words, the viewer is looking up. The strap that should typically appear along the left edge of the image is absent, although there may or may not be a faint watercolor hint of it. 

Could this have been submitted to the magazine as a proposed cover? It's possible, but the elaborate, hand-drawn logo would seem to be an odd way of going about that. More likely it's an artistic fantasy on a New Yorker cover.

The eBay seller suggests this painting depicts a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds." As this movie classic wasn't released until 1963 and the painting lacks the requisite menace, that seems implausible.

Robert Karsten
eBay Listing Ended April 7, 2017

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1962-Watercolor-New-Yorker-Magazine-034-The-Birds-034-Robert-Karsten-1943-1996-/282417928141?hash=item41c16b97cd%3Ag%3AmpEAAOSwdGFY3-vV&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Robert Karsten
eBay Item Description

Robert Karsten
eBay Bid History
A single bidder avoids a potential bidding war by using Buy It Now.

What of the real New Yorker cover for that date? The actual magazine cover of October 13, 1962 is by Perry Barlow. It depicts a hurried player substitution between plays of a football game. The players seem very young so possibly it's a college football game we're seeing. It is raining. The loose painting technique captures the immediacy and the wetness of the moment. Barlow contrasts the energy of the players coming into the game in their fresh uniforms with the fatigue of the players coming to the sidelines covered in mud.

Perry Barlow
The New Yorker, October 13, 1962

There are no rules for what can and can't constitute a New Yorker cover, but it is useful to note that the Barlow cover conveys a specific point of view that's interesting even after we've seen hundreds of football games. Karsten's fake New Yorker cover, on the other hand, doesn't tell us much about birds sitting on telephone lines that we don't already know.

Robert Karsten
Fake New Yorker Cover, October 13, 1962

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Proposed New Yorker Cover Art

Perry Barlow

Football

Alfred Hitchcock

Attempted Bloggery's Freshly-Bleached Index

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My Entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #570

Lights! Camera! My entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #570 for May 22, 2017! The drawing is by Robert Leighton.

"Point taken, but I still prefer 'Psycho.'"

May 29, 2017 Update:  The Finalists

June 12, 2017 Update:  I voted for the first caption.


June 19, 2017 Update:  Winning Caption

Note:  Last week, cartoonist Drew Dernavich sent us a corporate cannonball. My caption misfired. See how Contest #569 made a splash.

Click the aqua link to alight on Robert Leighton in the blog archives.

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A Ronald Searle Valentine: 39 Steps...

Fans of Alfred Hitchcock thrillers will no doubt be familiar with "The 39 Steps," his 1935 classic. The title refers to a mysterious spy organization and has nothing to do with steps in the sense of stairs, but that didn't stop Ronald Searle from using the title quite literally in his own humorous drawing. This is truly Searle at his best, demonstrating his rather wry view of the male's heroic task. I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted already. Happy Valentine's Day!

Ronald Searle, 39 Steps...

Christie's July 28, 2009 Sale 5910 Lot 143

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/drawings-watercolors/ronald-william-fordham-searle-39-steps-5225165-details.aspx

Note:  There's more here to love. Just follow the links for more posts about Valentine's Day and about Ronald Searle.

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