My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #920

In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #920 from the issue of November 4, 2024, dinner is served—and so is the entertainment. My submission is shown below. The drawing is by Liza Donnelly.

"We've learned to work as a team."

This caption was less popular with two out of three of my family members:

"He has no kitchen skills."

November 17, 2024 Update:  The Finalists

November 23, 2024 Update:  I voted for the caption from Providence.

December 1, 2024 Update:  The Winner

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Peter Arno: Mother's Little Helper

Peter Arno would occasionally intersperse a few more serious drawings among the brilliant cartoons in his published collections. One can't imagine they ever got anywhere near the reception that his gag cartoons did, but he no doubt was seeking some sort of artistic validation. One such drawing is Mother's Little Helper which appeared in his 1949 book Sizzling Platter. The execution is somewhat gritty and the title is evidently meant ironically. The influence of Georges Rouault is apparent.

The ink and wash drawing came up for auction in Westchester on December 10. The estimate was $1,000 to $1,500.

Peter Arno's signature

The handwritten title

Peter Arno
Clarke Auction Gallery listing accessed December 2, 2023

https://clarkeny.com/auctions/?a=317&search=lot%2080

Lot 80 was indeed sold, but not for all that much. Bidding reached just one half the low estimate.

The sober artwork is reproduced in Peter Arno's Sizzling Platter (1949) on page 70 opposite a buoyant circus drawing. 

Mother's Little Helper                                                                    Circus Lady       
Peter Arno's Sizzling Platter, pp. 70-71

https://www.ebay.com/itm/233754611406?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=O4VJuWDDSW6&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=EMAIL

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My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #818

Is it too soon to celebrate my entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #818 from the issue of September 12, 2022? My caption is shown below. The drawing is by Liza Donnelly.

"Who says we need a reason?"

September 19, 2022 Update:  The Finalists

September 26, 2022 Update:  By the process of elimination, I voted for the caption from Mesa.

October 7, 2022 Update:  The Winner

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Peter Arno: Ringling Bros.–Barnum & Bailey Circus Magazine 1942

Visitors to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1942 could purchase a 15-cent program with a color cover illustration by the New Yorker's most popular cartoonist, Peter Arno, who served as "art director" for "Circus King" John Ringling North, a fellow Yale man in the Class of 1926. That cover showed a pair of cartoon elephants standing upright and embracing playfully, not unlike many an Arno human couple. Inside the magazine, as the program was called, readers would find five full-page Arno cartoons on circus themes and some subject illustrations as well. Two of the cartoons—those featuring the bearded lady and the elephant's hindquarters—would later be collected in Peter Arno's Man in the Shower (1944). An eBay listing offers a few key interior views of the Circus Magazine, here generously supplemented by additional pages from other eBay listings as well.

Peter Arno
Ringling Bros.–Barnum & Bailey Circus Magazine 1942

 Fifteen cents—a bargain!

The contents page begins by noting five cartoons by Peter Arno. The theme of the 1942 show was "Gayety!" 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RINGLING-BROS-BARNUM-BAILEY-CIRCUS-MAGAZINE-1942-featuring-Peter-Arno-/254197507316

A better image from another source:

Image added September 2, 2023

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/Vintage-1942-Ringling-Bros-Barnum-Bailey-Circ-391-c-0F044209E6?utm_source=alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=keywordalerts&utm_content=233668

Let's start with the five cartoons first, noting right off that Arno didn't always leave all that much to the imagination:

"His wife says he eats firecrackers in bed."

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RINGLING-BROS-BARNUM-BAILEY-CIRCUS-MAGAZINE-1942-featuring-Peter-Arno-/254197507316

"Now, Arthur!  No more remarks like that!"

Arno also contributed interior illustrations:

"The Human Side of the Circus" by Edwin C. Hill

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1942-Ringling-Bros-Barnum-Bailey-Magazine-War-Years-Peter-Arno-Pin-Up-Cartoons/352046063442?hash=item51f7949f52:g:2ncAAOSwRDtZwowO

"It's an Old Family Custom" by John B. Kennedy
Camel cigarettes advertisement

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RINGLING-BROS-BARNUM-BAILEY-CIRCUS-MAGAZINE-1942-featuring-Peter-Arno-/254197507316

Program of Displays, Nos. 2 and 3

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1942-Ringling-Bros-Barnum-Bailey-Magazine-War-Years-Peter-Arno-Pin-Up-Cartoons/352046063442?hash=item51f7949f52:g:2ncAAOSwRDtZwowO

"Work Refreshed"                                         Display No. 4 "Holidays
Coca-Cola 1941 advertisement                               Display No. 5 The Shyrettos

Image added September 2, 2023

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/Vintage-1942-Ringling-Bros-Barnum-Bailey-Circ-391-c-0F044209E6?utm_source=alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=keywordalerts&utm_content=233668

Program of Displays, Nos. 7 and 8

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1942-Ringling-Bros-Barnum-Bailey-Magazine-War-Years-Peter-Arno-Pin-Up-Cartoons/352046063442?hash=item51f7949f52:g:2ncAAOSwRDtZwowO

Trio of "North Starlets"
Mary Jane de Young         Lee Wallenda         Dorothy Burt

The program also carries a lot of advertising, especially cigarette ads, so we'll start with them first. Students of design may wish to ponder what ploys are being used in the Raleigh ad to direct the reader's eye to the advertising copy. Extra credit will be given to anyone who can find both of them.

Raleigh cigarette ad

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1942-Ringling-Bros-Barnum-Bailey-Circus-Magazine-w-Peter-Arno-/202441421968

Philip Morris, as we've seen opposite Displays Nos. 2 and 3, offers some reassuring medical news without any regard for whether it's truthful:

"You see, Philip Morris superiority for the nose and throat is recognized by eminent medical authorities."

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1942-Ringling-Bros-Barnum-Bailey-Circus-Magazine-w-Peter-Arno-/202441421968

Chesterfields are advertised on the back cover with a patriotic wartime theme:

"They Rate the Best"
Chesterfield cigarettes advertisement

There are ads for beverages too:

Borden's Hemo
Not a promising name for a product

Even bacon:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RINGLING-BROS-BARNUM-BAILEY-CIRCUS-MAGAZINE-1942-featuring-Peter-Arno-/254197507316

And oil:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RINGLING-BROS-BARNUM-BAILEY-CIRCUS-MAGAZINE-1942-featuring-Peter-Arno-/254197507316

Peter Arno
eBay Listing Accessed January 13, 2020

https://www.ebay.com/itm/274199976658?ViewItem=&item=274199976658

Peter Arno
eBay Item Description Accessed January 13, 2020

Note:  Did you know this blog is the home to more than 125 posts about Peter Arno? He's a fascinating and nearly inexhaustible subject. Readers are invited to contribute original art and published rarities that will help to shed more light on this giant among New Yorker cartoonists.

The particular spelling of gayety, the theme of the 1942 circus, is an odd but not unheard-of choice today and it was a particularly odd but not unheard-of choice in 1942 as well.

Gaiety vs Gayety

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=gaiety%2Cgayety&year_start=1800&year_end=2010&corpus=0&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cgaiety%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cgayety%3B%2Cc0

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Peter Arno

Circuses

Elephants

Spring

Attempted Bloggery's Three-Ring Index

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Karl Haendel: New Yorker Cartoon Drawing #27

In 2007 artist Karl Haendel appropriated his twenty-seventh New Yorker cartoon, mining the work of cartoonist David Sipress for at least the second time. A 2004 work, New Yorker Cartoon Drawing #9, appropriated Sipress's "Bad dog" drawing. As with other drawings in the series, Haendel makes large graphite renderings of published New Yorker cartoon images. His process may or may not involve a light box or a projector; these renderings do not appear to be done freehand.

This drawing is one of five framed pieces that make up the Mazel Tov group. The phrase is Yiddish meaning good luck or congratulations. The Jewish theme suggested by the title may also apply to the inclusion of the lyrics to Bob Dylan's "Jokerman." The grouping was offered for sale at Sotheby's in 2013 where it apparently did not find a buyer:

Karl Haendel
Mazel Tov Group (2006-2007)
Sotheby's 2013

The work currently resides at the Henry Art Gallery of the University of Washington, Seattle.  The artist's installation view from a 2019 exhibition is notable for placing the New Yorker drawing and the Dylan lyrics well below eye level.

Karl Haendel
Mazel Tov Group (2006-2007)
Installation View, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington

Joe Milutis's commentary on the grouping articulates the "multiple themes" to be discovered here:

https://henryart.org/exhibitions/karl-haendel-mazel-tov-group#page-navigation-overview

The museum's commentary doesn't even mention cartoonist David Sipress; it speaks only of "a Jewish-American themed cartoon from The New Yorker." That's odd because Haendel does nothing to hide the identify of the cartoonist; the signature is copied directly from his source material. The cartoon was first published in December of 2006 so Handel no doubt selected it when it was quite fresh.

David Sipress
The New Yorker, December 4, 2006, page 68

Karl Haendel
New Yorker Cartoon Drawing #27 (2007)

Cartoon by David Sipress

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/2006-12-04/flipbook/068/

Could there be some autobiographical element to Haendel's appropriation of this cartoon mixing the Jewish and Christian holiday traditions? Haendel didn't meet Emily Mast until 2009, which was two years after he completed the Mazel Tov Group. His wedding ceremony in 2011 was performed by a friend of the bride in "a ceremony that included Jewish traditions."

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/fashion/weddings/emily-mast-karl-haendel-weddings.html

Karl Haendel

Sotheby's New York Contemporary Art, March 7, 2013

https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2013/contemporary-art-n08967/lot.140.html

Bob Dylan
"Jokerman"
From Infidels (1983)

February 5, 2020 Update:  David Sipress writes of this piece for NewYorker.com's Culture Desk in a piece called "Stop, Thief! My Cartoon Gets Appropriated." His essay was posted yesterday and it marks the first time this blog is mentioned on the New Yorker's website—it's literally parenthetical: "(According to the cartoon-related Web site Attempted Bloggery, to date Haendel has appropriated at least twenty-seven New Yorker cartoons.)" Let's just hope I've been fact checked on this.

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