Eldon Dedini: Marie at the Wheel

Cartoonist Eldon Dedini must have loved cars. You can see it in his annual posters for the Concours d'Elegance previously recounted in these pages. And you can see it in a less pretentious setting in a New Yorker cartoon original from 1999:

"Marie, are you still driving?"
Matted original art
Eldon Dedini
The New Yorker, March 22, 1999, p. 108

The composition is noteworthy for its horizontality, disrupted slightly by the tilt of the car. The strict vertical lines of the parking meter and the lampost stand in contrast to the crouching posture of the woman greeting Marie. The two contrasting faces, one upside-down, with their very different emotions are deftly handled. It took a lot of skill to put together this very silly cartoon.

"Not for Sale?" Do tell.

A simple notation can make a blogger's work easy:

The artist's autograph return address is on the back:

Earlier in November, the seller had wanted to start the bidding at $399, with a Buy It Now price of $585. But when there were no takers, and with the holidays fast approaching, the seller allowed the bidding to start at $175, but there was still an undisclosed reserve (of $195) and a Buy It Now price of $425. 

Eldon Dedini
eBay listing accessed November 30, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/167947445622?_skw=

Eldon Dedini
eBay item description

Sold!



Here is the drawing as it appeared in The New Yorker:

"Marie, are you still driving?"
Eldon Dedini
The New Yorker, March 22, 1999, p. 108

"Marie, are you still driving?"
Matted original art
Eldon Dedini
The New Yorker, March 22, 1999, p. 108

With a cartoon by Eldon Dedini

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1999-03-22/flipbook/108/

Note:  Every picture tells a story, as Rod Stewart likes to remind us. If you have a picture that tells a good story, such as a work of original New Yorker art by Eldon Dedini or one of his contemporaries, why not share that picture and that story here?

05181

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

05146

Bill Bush's Copy of The Dedini Gallery

A copy of The Dedini Gallery, Eldon Dedini's 1961 cartoon collection, is signed and inscribed, "Greetings, Bill!" by the artist. This Bill, we are told, is Houston-area comics collector William "Bill" Bush, Jr., who passed away in 2013. We were also told that he had been working on a history of early comic artists, one I don't think was completed or published. The Dedini book was discounted 25% by Texas-based eBay seller Space Cadets Collection for this weekend only and was sold thus.

Eldon Dedini
eBay listing accessed November 28, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/304846112625?_skw=

Eldon Dedini
eBay item description

Sold!

05141

Eldon and Virginia Dedini's Copy of Simple Speaks His Mind by Langston Hughes

A very nice surprise just turned up on the book market in Portland revealing a thread connecting the world of writing and literature with the world of cartooning and art. It comes out of the estate of Eldon and Virginia Dedini, he a cartoonist and she a painter. The volume is inscribed to the couple by Langston Hughes, the poet and activist who was a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Simple Speaks His Mind is a collection of columns that first appeared in the Chicago Defender. It was published in 1950 and personalized by the author in the year of publication as a gift from Nate and Gerry White.

Front cover

Back cover

Langston Hughes
AbeBooks listing accessed September 20, 2025

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Simple-Speaks-Mind-Hughes-Langston-Simon/32305474586/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook

Langston Hughes
AbeBooks item description

Note:  Anyone can browse the Langston Hughes book Simple Speaks His Mind via the Internet Archive here. 

I am always looking to post insights into the work of cartoonist Eldon Dedini. Sure, he's already well-represented in the archive, but wouldn't more be even better? Of course it would.

Some of the work of Virginia Conroy Dedini is on view at the Lost Art Salon here. At this writing, two of her paintings remain available for purchase. 

05070

W. B. Park: The Balanced Meal

W. B. Park's drawing The Balanced Meal is fairly diagrammatic and has no shading. Purchased by The New Yorker in 1981, it saw print in the magazine only in 1984. The original art was sold on eBay in July.

The Balanced Meal
W. B. Park
Original art
The New Yorker, April 23, 1984, p. 113

Detail

W. B. Park's signature

W. B. Parke
eBay listing ended July 14, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/196479726826_skw=signed+Yorker&itmmeta=01J9T2QP6CHYTEKK6J334MGDTZ&hash=item2dbf1ab4ea:g:0vcAAOSwoS9mhJAG&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA0HoV

3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKlYz3l%2F5CrxAPhfrl1uJsYUWq%2BNGry7ikyy23LuxniHkqihCI55VZ8mefOScd4ILuvKT1NC9OIGkvs6cDgzv7L0AZimxrHmKvUDydBw

Gk164JC93Yh7qdT%2B4nE7VbkQ40OcwlEDx4A9gZsGu6yOzrYjF9WrvLzfZB4Amzk53Ws0fGvyLWOKXNmZTetaBljj0V%2B44qp36j3w0lBuri

VELhCnMq9fDf%2BFFkBS43CfN5Rfk%2BvXQAayl5Q%2BPEMsLkfF3Uc%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR6bj3sLOZA

W. B. Parke
eBay item description

[End of eBay listing]

The Balanced Meal
W. B. Park
The New Yorker, April 23, 1984, p. 113

The Balanced Meal
W. B. Park
Original art
The New Yorker, April 23, 1984, p. 113

With cartoons by Eldon Dedini and W. B. Park

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1983-06-20/flipbook/076/

Eldon Dedini's cartoons frequently poked fun at the generally unfunny Soviet Union. Whatever shading the Park drawing may have lacked, the Dedini on the opposite page makes up for. Neither has a spoken caption.

Lenin, Up Early, Freshly Showered, Makes His List for the Day
Eldon Dedini
The New Yorker, April 23, 1984, p. 112

04832

Eldon Dedini Illustrates French

It was news to me that cartoonist Eldon Dedini illustrated a textbook of introductory French in 1970. David from Manhattan knows a surprising amount of its history. He writes:

In 2014 eBay offered a group of six letters, part of a presumably larger correspondence from the legendary Eldon Dedini to Michael Kim, a young man he was mentoring in the 1980s. Kim went on to become a storyboard artist, writer, and director of "The Ren and Stimpy Show" and "Family Guy," the letters demonstrating Dedini's generosity with his advice for an aspiring artist. One letter, from 1984, talks about illustrating books for publishers, and to make a point about reading the fine print before signing anything, Dedini included a file copy of an old contract from Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

The book, written by a friend, Yvette de Petra, in 1968 a professor at Crown College in Santa Cruz, had the provisional title First Year College French with Dedini to provide illustrations.

When it was published in 1970, it had become a 413+ page hardbound textbook, La Clef: Introduction Au Français Elementaire, replete with photographs, prints, an appendix of full-color maps, and best of all, 22 full-page b&w drawings, plus the cover, and numerous smaller drawings, all by Dedini.

The original owner of my copy was Prof. Mary M. Rowan, who made notes, creased page corners, and is credited online as a pioneer in "the study of French convent writing."

A selection of illustrations show Dedini taking different approaches to his task, all in his recognizable style, which for the purposes of a textbook he simplified, and perhaps in a playful nod to his work in Playboy, nearly all the men and women are young, attractive and happy. 

The book also includes literary excerpts from many French luminaries, though Dedini contributed to just two: Colette, with a small drawing of her fictional stand-in, Claudine, and Anatole France, with a sketch of a schoolboy running through autumn leaves. The artist may not have been comfortable with this part of the project, or de Petra decided on another approach; the balance of the excerpts use only author photos. Dedini's contributions end on page 265, with "Faisons un rêve," which shows a young woman dreaming of a New York City visit on her own and returning via Air France safe & sound to her boyfriend. If Dedini had a dream, it may have been to finish his work and take a vacation far from college textbooks.

La Clef was published more than 54 years ago. It's out of print, and other than listings for the book, there's no information on Yvette de Petra to be found on-line. Fortunately, the correspondence between Yvette and Eldon still exists, as does the original artwork, all courtesy of the vast Dedini archives at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, an important part of the Ohio State University library system in Columbus.

Note:  Merci beaucoup to David from Manhattan. This is his sixty-fifth contribution to Attempted Bloggery. Furthermore, he finally figured out how to sneak mentions of "The Ren and Stimpy Show" and "Family Guy" into my otherwise serious blog. 

04815