Showing posts with label Dracula. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dracula. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

The CartoonStock Cartoon Caption Contest No. 178

In the CartoonStock Caption Contest #178, Count Dracula gazes into a tailor's mirror. The rules of the monthly cash prize contest have not changed (and neither has my description of them): five dollars buys up to three entries. Real cash prizes are $500 for first place and $100 for each of five runners up. As of this writing, I've put $115 into the first twenty-three pay-to-play contests and this twenty-fourth challenge brings my total cash outlay up to $120. Having achieved two previous runner-up entries, I've collected $200 from CartoonStock, so I'm still playing with the house's money, thank goodness. In fact, so few contestants enter that the odds are generally favorable even for us less-gifted caption writers. My three entries are shown below. The cartoonist is Seth Fleishman.

"Better yet, how does it feel?"
"Why not try a selfie?"
"Perhaps you need some time to reflect."




April 14, 2024 Update:  The Winner




                                   Video added April 7, 2024
The Caption Contest Judges Deliberate


Lawrence Wood
chose my "time to reflect" caption (11:39) for his top ten list, but it wasn't one he chose to defend. He writes:

Bob Mankoff chose my selfie caption but then said he didn't like it very much (12:55). Thanks, Bob. Wood didn't consider it worth mentioning.



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Wednesday, October 6, 2021

Edward Gorey: A Costume Design for Dracula

Edward Gorey (1925-2000) designed the sets for the 1977 stage production of "Dracula," but it was that play's costume design for which he won a Tony Award. The original art for Jonathan Harker's costume design belonged to the actor Alan Coates, who played the character on the Broadway stage. It was sold at Swann Auction Galleries in 2010.
 


Edward Gorey
Swann Auction Galleries, June 8, 2010
Hammer Price
https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/Lots/auction-lot/EDWARD-GOREY-Costume-Design-for-Jonathan-Harker-Dracula?saleno=2216&lotNo=80&refNo=633569




Edward Gorey
Swann Auction Galleries, June 8, 2010
Price Realized with Buyer's Premium









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Tuesday, September 4, 2018

William Steig: Cause for Divorce

The American Magazine ran a recurring feature from the late 1930s to the mid-1940s called Cause for Divorce. It consisted of short press clippings from around the country documenting, we are told, how the eccentric behavior of one married partner had led the other partner to seek divorce. The source of these clippings was uncredited. Each divorce case was accompanied by a humorous illustration, often the work of William Steig, but occasionally of Syd Hoff or Jay Irving. Examples of this feature from 1942, each wonderfully illustrated by Steig, convey a consistently amusing, if obviously simplistic, understanding of the failure of marriages.

William Steig
Cause for Divorce:  Husband Gets the Bird
The American Magazine,
January 1942, p. 102

Image added August 25, 2024



William Steig
Cause for Divorce:  Can Woo a Moose But Not His Wife
The American Magazine, 
February 1942, p. 124
Scan by Dick Buchanan



William Steig
Cause for Divorce:  Love Lost in Jungle
The American Magazine, 
March 1942, p. 116

Scan by Dick Buchanan


William Steig
Cause for Divorce:  Husband's Hamming Wrecks Home
The American Magazine, 
October 1942, p. 64

Scan by Dick Buchanan



 William Steig
Cause for Divorce:  Not the Man He Used to Be
The American Magazine, 
December 1942, p. 127

Scan by Dick Buchanan





This feature appeared in other issues as well, at least as early as April of 1938 and at least as late as August of 1944, quite possibly with other issues not enumerated below.

http://www.philsp.com/homeville/fmi/s/s4078.htm#A98710


August 25, 2024 Update:  I added the January 1942 installment from the Internet Archive.


Note: Once again I extend my thanks to Dick Buchanan for providing all these beautiful scans. This is Dick's thirty-first contribution to Attempted Bloggery, but who's counting (besides me)? Dick curates the legendary Dick Buchanan Cartoon Clip Files. He also contributes regularly to Mike Lynch Cartoons, most recently a post entitled "From the Dick Buchanan Files: Women Cartoonists: Barbara Shermund, Hilda Terry, Mary Gibson and Dorothy McKay 1935 - 1952." Maybe I should tell Dick about my love for the Oxford comma.

Readers with other published examples of the Cause for Divorce feature or, even better, with loved, honored, and cherished originals, should send scans here for likely inclusion on the blog. Other works by William Steig, Syd Hoff, or Jay Irving are of course welcome too.

As noted, Cause for Divorce was also illustrated at times by Syd Hoff. A single fine example is posted on sydhoff.org.


Jay Irving's work has yet to appear on this blog.



Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

William Steig


Syd Hoff


The American Magazine


Dick Buchanan


Attempted Bloggery's Irreconcilable Index


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Saturday, October 21, 2017

Frank A. Munsey's Copy of Dracula by Bram Stoker

American newspaper and magazine publisher Frank A. Munsey was lucky enough to receive a signed copy of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula inscribed by the author on the day of publication. The seller now offering this volume on eBay surmises, "Undoubtedly, Stoker presented the book to Munsey in an unsuccessful hope that Munsey would serialize Dracula in one of his magazines." Munsey created a number of popular ten-cent pulp magazines, discovering a brand new market. He was also something of a novelist himself. The book has been rebound and is currently listed at $52,000. Too rich for my—ahem!—blood.



Inscribed "Frank A. Munsey/from Bram Stoker/22-6-97"


Dracula title page
Has anyone heard of Stoker's four earlier books?





Bram Stoker
eBay Listing as of October 21, 2017

Bram Stoker
eBay Item Description




Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives

Bram Stoker

Signed,Books


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Friday, October 20, 2017

Dracula: The Definitive Edition, Signed and Numbered by Edward Gorey

Dracula:  The Definitive Edition of the Bram Stoker classic was published in 1996 with an introduction and appendices by Marvin Kaye and with illustrations by Edward Gorey. The deluxe edition and lithograph are each signed and numbered by the artist. The edition is limited to 750 numbered copies and 26 lettered copies. Copy #638 was listed on Abe Books on August 8 and subsequently sold.







Bram Stoker
Abe Books Listing Beginning August 8, 2017

Note that the synopsis and review refer to two other very different editions of Dracula
Sold
January 1, 2018 Update:  Shown below are additional images found on AbeBooks of the unlimited edition, signed.

Signed by Edward Gorey

Edward Gorey's illustrations were originally published in Dracula, A Toy Theatre (1979).

Jonathan Harker



Note:  Your blogger is batty for scans and photographs of uniquely-signed books and original art by Edward Gorey.


Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives

Edward Gorey

Bram Stoker

Signed, Limited Editions


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Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Gahan Wilson: The Count

A fine copy of Gahan Wilson's "...and then we'll get him!" is currently listed on eBay. It features the artist's original drawing of a certain well-known Count. The drawing is described as covering two pages, but only one is shown. The book is available with But It Now for $395.

Gaian Wilson, "...and then we'll get him!" with an original drawing

eBay Listing Copied October 19, 2015

eBay Item Description



Note:  Well, by now I'm sure you'd like to see more more work here by Gahan Wilson, cartoonist of the macabre.

Check out other signed books featuring original drawings. It's a surefire crowd-pleaser.

The archives even contain a few posts about Count Dracula himself. Sorry if there's nothing here about Count Chocula.

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Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Where to Prepare for Halloween

If you must know, this is where I go to get my Dracula costume ready for Halloween.

Fang Cleaners


Note:  What's this?  Attempted Bloggery is making fun of someone's name? Say it isn't so! See more eerie Halloween posts to reassure yourself that this is a rarity.

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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Edward Gorey's Grand Curtain for Dracula

Edward Gorey took a playful delight in the macabre. A photograph of his Grand Curtain from "Dracula" signed by the artist was sold at Swann Galleries in May. (Would someone please tell Swann that "Dracula" wasn't a musical?) Actor Jeremy Brett, who starred in Edward Gorey's "Dracula" from 1978 to 1979, complicates matters by posting a photo of the stage curtain which shows the design in reverse. To my eye, the orientation in the photo signed by Gorey is correct.


Swann Galleries, May 7, 2014, Sale 2349, Lot 286

Jeremy Brett's photo of the stage curtain

Note:  Not to worry! More posts about Edward Gorey's art may be found all over this blog.

Save some time for the Halloween posts as well.

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Thursday, July 31, 2014

Edward Gorey's "Dracula" Theater Posters

This lot from Swann Galleries consists of a book and several posters related to Edward Gorey's "Dracula" (1977). I was lucky enough to see Frank Langella in this atmospheric production which ran on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre in the late 1970's. Note how in the theater posters the sky's dark negative space forms the silhouette of a vampire bat with the macabre full moon serving as the deathly face.

Edward Gorey, A Toy Theatre:  "Dracula," 1979

Edward Gorey, "Dracula" poster, Shaftesbury Theatre, 1979

Edward Gorey, "Dracula" poster, Martin Beck Theatre, 1977

Edward Gorey, "Dracula" poster, Curran Theatre, 1978



http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullcatalogue.asp?salelot=2349+++++287+&refno=++689144&image=3

"I Love New York" TV commercial excerpt
Frank Langella

"I Love New York" TV  Commercial
Broadway (2 of 5)


Note:  Don't miss my other blog posts about Mr. Gorey's artwork.

There is also quite a bit here about Broadway.

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