Charles Addams: Congratulations!

A classic original New Yorker cartoon by Charles Addams was sold last fall at Heritage Auctions. Father's Day weekend seems a good time to dust it off and present it here.

Published as "Congratulations! It's a baby."
Charles Addams
Original art
The New Yorker, November 9, 1940, p. 21

In the published caption, the punctuation has been cleaned up a bit. The cartoon is reproduced in Brendan Gill's indispensable Here at The New Yorker (1975) in chapter 20. Gill tells an anecdote about a macabre caption which may have been falsely attributed to this very drawing or one like it. I won't repeat it here.

Published as "Congratulations! It's a baby."
Charles Addams
Original art
The New Yorker, November 9, 1940, p. 21

We learn from the listing that this drawing was in the collection of legendary New Yorker editor Katharine White (1892-1977). It must have been passed down to her son Roger Angell (1920-2022) and been sold off after he passed away.

Charles Addams
Heritage Auctions listing of October 6, 2023

https://fineart.ha.com/itm/pulp-pulp-like-digests-and-paperback-art/charles-addams-american-1912-1988-congratulations-it-s-a-baby-the-new-yorker-magazine-interior-illustration-november-9-/a/8137-71008.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515#

"Congratulations! It's a baby."
Charles Addams
The New Yorker, November 9, 1940, p. 21

Published as "Congratulations! It's a baby."
Charles Addams
Original art
The New Yorker, November 9, 1940, p. 21

With an illustration by Ludwig Bemelmans and a cartoon by Charles Addams

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1940-11-09/flipbook/020/

Heritage is too fond of classifying cartoons as interior illustrations. For the record, here is what should be called an interior illustration:

Illustration for "The Homesick Busboy of the Splendide."
Ludwig Bemelmans
The New Yorker, November 9, 1940, p. 20

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Gert and Dave Cooper's Charles Addams Library

No home should be without a Charles Addams library. Of course, some Addams libraries are more special than others. Gert and Dave Cooper were fortunate enough to have five books personalized for them by the master between 1976 and 1982. These five books were sold together at Bonhams last year for $4,845. Two months later they were relisted individually with Raptis Rare Books of Palm Beach for a combined total price of $7,750.

Three of these books have original Addams drawings. The featured characters are Grandmama for Mother's Day 1976 in The Chas Addams Mother Goose (1967), Pugsley for Father's Day 1978 in The New Yorker Album of Sports & Games (1958), and Wednesday for no particular 1976 occasion in that year's collection Favorite Haunts. Who says Addams wasn't a family man? There are also personalized copies of Monster Rally (1950, inscribed 1978) and Creature Comforts (1981, inscribed 1982). Here they are, in no particular order. A couple of Bonhams images and numerous images from the Raptis website are interspersed with the listings from AbeBooks.

https://www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/creature-comforts-charles-addams-first-edition-signed/

Title page

Listed on AbeBooks August 20, 2021 and subsequently sold

Charles Addams AbeBooks listing posted August 20, 2021 and sold by January 1, 2022 https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Creature-Comforts-Addams-Charles-Chas-Simon/30985552688/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=readmore_low

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/26890/lot/96/?category=list

Title page

Peter Arno https://www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/the-new-yorker-album-of-sports-and-games-charles-addams-first-edition-signed/

Listed August 20, 2021

Charles Addams AbeBooks listing posted August 20, 2021 and sold by January 1, 2021 https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/New-Yorker-Album-Sports-Games-Addams/30985552690/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=viewbook_high

Title page

https://www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/monster-rally-charles-addams-first-edition-signed/

Charles Addams AbeBooks listing posted August 14, 2021 and accessed January 1, 2021 https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Monster-Rally-Addams-Charles-Chas-Simon/30980895133/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=viewbook_low

Title page

https://www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/the-chas-addams-mother-goose-charles-addams-first-edition-signed/

Charles Addams AbeBooks listing posted August 14, 2021 and accessed January 1, 2021 https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Chas-Addams-Mother-Goose-Charles-Windmill/30980895134/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=viewbook_high

As mentioned, we have an image from Bonhams of the copy of Favorite Haunts with the drawing of Wednesday. While I haven't seen this one listed on AbeBooks, Raptis does have it available on their own website:

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/26890/lot/96/?category=list

Raptis may need to acquire a bigger scanner if they want to match Bonhams.

Title page

https://www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/favorite-haunts-charles-addams-first-edition-signed/

The original Bonhams sale:

Charles Addams Bonhams, June 17, 2021 https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/26890/lot/96/?category=list

Note:  Now it's time to check your own Charles Addams library for books with original drawings. I'll be right here should you find something good.

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Reamer Keller: Father's Day Special

Contributor and cartoon aficionado Dick Buchanan has sent a Father's Day cartoon from 1953 by Reamer Keller. Dick writes, "Reamer Keller was one of the most prolific mid-century gag cartoonists, reportedly drawing 50 cartoons a week. He began in the early 1930's. His cartoons appeared in Life, Judge, Collier's, True Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, 1000 Jokes Magazine and many other magazines." Many indeed, including, as we have seen, College Humor. This mid-career example is from the Sunday newspaper insert Pictorial Review.

"It's a Father's Day special, dear. This tie and dress for $69.95."
Reamer Keller
Pictorial Review, June 21, 1953, page 8

Scan by Dick Buchanan

Note:  My thanks to Dick Buchanan for this, his fifty-fifth contribution to Attempted Bloggery. Dick is the archivist behind the cultural treasure known to fathers everywhere and those who shop for them as the Dick Buchanan Cartoon Clip Files. He makes frequent contributions to Mike Lynch Cartoons, most recently a post entitled "From the Dick Buchanan Files: Certified Vintage Gag Cartoons 1946 - 1965." Always insist that your vintage gag cartoons are certified.

Attempted Bloggery seeks additional published work by Reamer Keller.

External Links:

Reamer Keller's Wikipedia Entry

Reamer Keller on Lambiek Comiclopedia

Stripper's Guide: "Reamer Keller, Portsmouth Gift To The Pen-And-Ink Brigade, Tells How" by Wayne Paulson (Portsmouth Times, October 24, 1937) This profile is the source of the assertion that Keller produced fifty cartoons each week.

Daily Reamer

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Reamer Keller

Father's Day

Dick Buchanan

Summer

Attempted Bloggery's Manly Index

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Joe Zeis: Another Father's Day in the Harem

Today is the day all siblings should come together to remember one very special person...

"It's always like this on Father's Day."
Joe Zeis
True, June 1961, page 64

Scan by Dick Buchanan

Note: My thanks to Dick Buchanan for making a special delivery just for us this Father's Day. This post represents the twenty-seventh time Dick has contributed to Attempted Bloggery. The scan comes to us directly from the legendary Dick Buchanan Cartoon Clip Files. Dick contributes regularly to Mike Lynch Cartoons, most recently a post entitled "From the Dick Buchanan Files: Clyde Lamb Roughs 1946 - 65." Not to read it would be a crime.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Father's Day

True

Dick Buchanan

Attempted Bloggery's Overabundant Index

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Gardner Rea: Opting Out of Father's Day

All eyes are on dad in Gardner Rea's Look magazine cartoon from the June 19, 1963 issue. For this father of four, Father's Day may simply be too much of a good thing. But can he really buy his way out of it? Rea uses solid black only for the billfold, to ensure our eyes go right to the central focus of the gag.

"How much would it be worth to you just to forget Father's Day this year?"
Gardner Rea
Look, June 18, 1963, page 92

Scan by Dick Buchanan

Note: My thanks to Dick Buchanan for getting all sentimental on us in anticipation of Father's Day. This post represents the twenty-sixth time Dick has contributed to Attempted Bloggery. The scan comes to us directly from the legendary Dick Buchanan Cartoon Clip Files. Dick contributes regularly to Mike Lynch Cartoons, most recently a post entitled "From the Dick Buchanan Files: Clyde Lamb Roughs 1946 - 65." It would be criminal to miss these!

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Gardner Rea

Father's Day

Look

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Attempted Bloggery's Ready Money Index

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E. Simms Campbell and Dorothy McKay: Eight Cartoons from Esquire

A group of five color cartoons by E. Simms Campbell torn from copies of Esquire in the 1930s are listed together on eBay. As luck would have it, on the back of three of these are cartoons by Dorothy McKay. Let's have a look at how these two distinctive cartoonists helped to define Esquire's brand of humor in the 30s.

First off, for 1939, this E. Simms Campbell "Harem Girls" swipe at Hitler seems disappointingly tame:

E. Simms Campbell
"It's Adolph Hitler. He wants to know if he can borrow some dancers[.]"
Esquire, July 1939, page 42

This gag cartoon from 1939 retains some political relevance today:

E. Simms Campbell
"He won't pay for the oil. He said it was stolen from him anyhow!"
Esquire, August 1939, page 35

In a Father's Day gag, Dorothy McKay's sly saleswoman (on the flip side of the Hitler cartoon) wants to know a little too much about the children's young father. The size of the family says it all.

Dorothy McKay
"Well, now, let's see—what does your daddy do in his spare time?"
Esquire, July 1939, page 41

The "Harem Girls" are back again, this time in a labor dispute that leaves the sultan flummoxed. This gag would have mirrored some of the widespread social upheaval during the Great Depression. As a practical matter, though, are the women in the harem really employees?

E. Simms Campbell
[Harem Girls on Strike]
Esquire, August 1934, page 39

On the other side of the page, Dorothy McKay illustrates one of the hazards faced by susceptible swim instructors. Her female bather appears less glamorous than Mr. Campbell's typical women.

Dorothy McKay
"He was teaching me to swim[.]"
Esquire, August 1934, page 40

Swim instructors aren't the only ones with a weakness for attractive women, it seems. Here Mr. McGregor works closely on his student's form:

E. Simms Campbell
"—but when do I hit the ball[,] Mr. McGregor?"
Esquire, July 1937, page 72

On the opposite side of the page, Dorothy McKay's priest attempts to return a foul-mouthed parrot to the pet shop. Just look at his body language!

Dorothy McKay
"That's the reason I sold him to you, Reverend—I thought you'd reform him[.]"
Esquire, July 1937, page 71

The final cartoon in the set pretends to leave everything to our imagination but we all know exactly what's going on, don't we? This seems a good time to ask a basic question about gag cartoons: Why have them in color? If the color doesn't add to the joke, does it add to the atmosphere enough to justify its use? Does color need to be justified at all? To help you decide, here's a cartoon with almost nothing but atmosphere:

E. Simms Campbell
"Don't look now of course, George—but the moon is simply marvelous tonight!""
Esquire, September 1939, page 71

E. Simms Campbell
eBay Listing Ended January 25, 2018

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1930s-Esquire-Magazine-Full-Page-Cartoons-E-Simms-Campbell-5-pgs-ESQ5-/323003424076?hash=item4b34811d4c%3Ag%3AZpkAAOSwcgNZCl8q&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

E. Simms Campbell
eBay Item Description

Note:  Perhaps you've noticed. Attempted Bloggery is looking at the work of cartoonist E. Simms Campbell (1906-1971). I seek scans or photographs from readers of original Campbell art or rare published works not already available on the internet. Sure, I'll take work by Dorothy McKay as well. I'm not so particular.

Do we need more color cartoons today? Certainly color cartoons can be lovely to look at, but why are the world's best cartoons in black and white? Or are they? Your opinions are welcome in the comments section. Simply scroll down and you'll find it. I promise.

External Links:

E. Simms Campbell's Wikipedia Entry

E. Simms Campbell on Ink Spill

E. Simms Campbell in Christopher Wheeler's Cartoon(ist) Gallery 

E. Simms Campbell in Print: Insider Histories: Black Cartoonist E. Simms Campbell. Robert C. Harvey intervied by Michael Dooley. March 3, 2015

E. Simms Campbell on We Too Were Children, Mr. Barrie. October 6, 2012

E. Simms Campbell at American Art Archives

E. Simms Campbell on Eli Stein Cartoons.com:  "We All Have to Start Somewhere" Department. Case in Point No. 15. September 6, 2011

E. Simms Campbell in Potrzebie. October 10, 2007

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives

E. Simms Campbell

Dorothy McKay

Playboy

Attempted Bloggery's Colorful Index

Attempted Bloggery supports net neutrality.

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