Arranging Flowers Helen E. Hokinson Proposed New Yorker Cover Art

From an auction house in Woodbury, Connecticut comes a rough watercolor illustration attributed to The New Yorker's Helen E. Hokinson (1893-1949). The interior scene shows two women, a matron and her domestic servant, using cuttings from the garden to create a floral arrangement. Though unsigned, the art is in Hokinson's characteristic style and it depicts her typical subject matter. The strap along the left edge of the artwork indicates that this piece was conceived as a potential New Yorker cover. A notation on the backing documents a plausible and exceptional provenance: it originally belonged to James Reid Parker (1909-1984), Hokinson's longtime gag writer and collaborator. The artwork was given by his widow Ruth L. Parker to a Betty Greene in 1986. 

The watercolor was offered with an estimate of $50 to $5,000, a broad range. Bidding opened at just $20.

A day and a half before the sale, the bidding had reached only $30.

Helen E. Hokinson
Schwenke Auctioneers listing accessed October 29, 2023

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/163433043_attr-h-hokinson-wc-cartoon

Helen E. Hokinson
Schwenke Auctioneers item description

It sold on October 31 for $200.

Though it was never published, the above artwork possibly could have led to a 1940 New Yorker cover coinciding with the flower show and showing us the ultimate destination of the floral arrangement:

Helen E. Hokinson
The New Yorker, March 16, 1940

04490

Helen E. Hokinson: The Gypsy Blue-Plate Special

Does one say special blue plate or blue-plate special? I've never heard anyone say "special blue plate," but the generally scrupulous editors of The New Yorker chose this syntax for the caption of a 1934 cartoon by Helen E. Hokinson, going so far as to alter the original caption presumably written by her collaborator James Reid Parker. The cartoon depicts a matron ordering from a menu in a gypsy restaurant where meals are followed by a fortune telling. Parker's caption is written in pencil on the original art, which was sold on eBay this past August. It reads, "I'll take the gypsy blue plate special and my fortune with the apple pan dowdy." The New Yorker's published caption is, "I'll take the special gipsy blue plate and my fortune with the apple pan dowdy." Today, special blue plate sounds a bit off, but both terms were coined in the 1920s and in use in 1934. Why make the change? A search of the competing terms on the Google Books Ngram Viewer may reveal the answer. It shows the 1930s to be the only time that special blue plate was preferred over blue plate special.

"I'll take the gypsy blue plate special and my fortune with the apple pan dowdy."
Published as "I'll take the special gipsy blue plate and my fortune with the apple pan dowdy."
Original art
The New Yorker, October 6, 1934, page 76

"I'll take the gypsy blue plate special and my fortune with the apple pan dowdy."

"I'll take the gypsy blue plate special and my fortune with the apple pan dowdy."

Signature of Helen E. Hokinson

The speaker's face is the most carefully reworked part of the drawing:

Helen E. Hokinson
eBay listing ended August 1, 2021

https://www.ebay.com/itm/373654733276?hash=item56ff8ec1dc%3Ag%3ADKsAAOSwSrhg9eTP&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Helen E. Hokinson
eBay item description

Helen E. Hokinson
eBay bid history
One bid in the last hour

"I'll take the gypsy blue plate special and my fortune with the apple pan dowdy."
Published as "I'll take the special gipsy blue plate and my fortune with the apple pan dowdy."
Original art
The New Yorker, October 6, 1934, page 76

Cartoon by Helen E. Hokinson

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1934-10-06/flipbook/076/

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=blue+plate+special%2Cspecial+blue+plate&year_start=1900&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3

October 30, 2021 Update:  This piece was offered at auction last year by Jonah Fine Art of Holliston, the same town in which the recent eBay seller is located. The estimate was $500 to $700. The lot was passed.

Helen E. Hokinson
Jonah Fine Art
November 1, 2020

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/HELEN-HOKINSON-I-ll-Take-the-Gypsy-Blue-Plate-Sp_C554324B6B/#

03790

Groucho Marx's Copy of The Hokinson Festival

Responding to some of my recent posts about Helen E. Hokinson (1893-1949) and her cartoons, Stephen Kroninger sent along an old press photo showing Groucho Marx (1890-1977) at home in his study. On one shelf at the far right Stephen had somehow discerned a copy of The Hokinson Festival, the 1956 cartoon collection memorializing Hokinson including a memoir by her collaborator James Reid Parker. Stephen reports that this very book is today in the library of Frank Ferrante, the actor and distinguished portrayer of Groucho.

AP photograph courtesy Stephen Kroninger

Stephen has circled the dust jacket of The Hokinson Festival and he provides a photo of his own dust jacketed copy for reference. Once you know what you're looking at, there is no mistaking it, although you might need to find yourself a jeweler's loop.

The Hokinson Festival (1956)

Stephen Kroninger's photo of his copy

So good old Groucho owned a copy of The Hokinson Festival! Naturally, I wanted to know all about it. Stephen suggested I contact Frank Ferrante to find out what he knew about the photograph and about Groucho's old cartoon book. Not a bad idea... You can pretty much infer what my queries were from Frank's gracious reply:

The photo of Groucho looks to me like late 1950s—From his home office on 1083 Hillcrest in Beverly Hills. The book was handed down to his daughter Miriam Marx Allen and from her to me. There is no signature or personalization by any party nor is there an estate stamp. There seems to be some water damage and the dust jacket is no longer. Bookstand below the publication you reference is in my living room as is the 1935 Columbia Encyclopedia that’s placed upon it. There are multiple items in his office in that photo that are now in my possession.

Terrific! With that information in hand, I contacted Steve Stoliar, author of Raised Eyebrows: My Years Inside Groucho's House. He expended some effort in the 1970s cataloguing Groucho's home library and I was curious whether he might have remembered seeing the cartoon book.

He replied:

I don't have anything to add on the Hokinson item. I wouldn't have known who she was at the time and was far too distracted by his inscribed Benchleys, Kaufmans, Perelmans, etc. His bedroom office still looked very much like that when I worked there, although the big dictionary in the wheeled stand somehow migrated into the main hallway.

On the other hand, I was gratified to learn that the press photo itself was familiar to him. Indeed Steve owns a print of it that formerly resided in the "morgue" of the Herald Examiner and he was able to provide me with the written copy that originally accompanied it. Here then is the full caption:

"Groucho's Den In New Home—

Comedian Groucho Marx settles down to business affairs of the moment in the new $250,000 home he and his wife, Eden, built so she could have a new sunken circular bathtub. The study is Groucho's domain.

Associated Press Photo."

Saturday, March 12, 1958 [Herald-Examiner]

AP photograph courtesy Stephen Kroninger

AP caption courtesy Steve Stoliar

That date would make the book only two years old in this photo. It is gratifying to know that Groucho, a world-class comedian, possessed at least one collection by Hokinson, a world-class cartoonist. As Steve notes, Groucho had a library teeming with significant work by the great prose humorists of his day. Are we at all surprised that he followed the work of Helen Hokinson too?


September 20, 2020 Update:  Stephen's two photos and four additional ones from Frank Ferrante previously appeared in The Marx Brothers Council, a private Facebook group. There was some discussion there as well. Members may access the February 12 posting here.


Note:  My thanks first go to master collagist and illustrator Stephen Kroninger who found the photo that connects Groucho Marx, my favorite comedian, with New Yorker cartoons, my great passion. His discovery is at the very limit of my eyesight; in fact I'm quite sure I never would have spotted the book even if I had the photograph enlarged and hung above my own sunken circular bathtub. This is Stephen's 33rd contribution to the blog and not the first to knock my socks off.

Thanks too go to Frank Ferrante for carefully answering all of my questions about the book. He is new to the blog today. Welcome aboard, Frank. Just don't expect to find anything about bloggery in that 1935 encyclopedia.

I can't believe my luck! Steve Stoliar just happened to be sitting on his own copy of this press photo. Many thanks to him as well. This is his fourth mention here on the blog, not that it's a competition. By the way, I greatly enjoyed the expanded audiobook edition of Raised Eyebrows narrated by Steve himself and I give it my highest recommendation.

I still have questions. For example, did Groucho ever meet Helen Hokinson? It's probably not all that farfetched. Harpo Marx and New Yorker editor Harold Ross certainly knew each other from the Algonquin Round Table, so there are no more than three degrees of separation between Groucho and Hokinson, at least if my math is right. Verifiable anecdotes wanted. 

More broadly, I would love to hear from readers who have a little something to share regarding celebrities and their cartoon books, particularly New Yorker cartoon books. If you've got the goods, drop me a line. I'd be interested in posting rare Marxiana as well, and I don't mean Karl.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Groucho Marx

Helen E. Hokinson

Miriam Marx Allen

James Reid Parker

Stephen Kroninger

Steve Stoliar

Attempted Bloggery's Eagle-Eyed Index

03379

Helen E. Hokinson's The Ladies, God Bless 'em!

The Ladies, God Bless 'em! was published in 1950, the year after cartoonist Helen E. Hokinson died in a plane crash. She had published three cartoon collections in her lifetime; this is the first of three posthumous collections. Her gag writer James Reid Parker managed the estate. The book includes many of her cartoons from The New Yorker as well as John Mason Brown's tribute to Hokinson first published in the Saturday Review in December of 1949.

"Is there anyone here who knows anything about books?"

All of the drawings were first published in The New Yorker.
John Mason Brown's tribute to the artist first appeared in The Saturday Review of Literature.

"What ever happened to those inexpensive little                          "Is there anyone here who
                           islands off the coast of Spain?"                                     knows anything about books?"          

Facing pages from the book. The wonderful drawing on the right also appears on the dust jacket.

Helen E. Hokinson
eBay listing accessed September 9, 2020

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1950-First-Edition-The-Ladies-God-Bless-em-Helen-Hokinson-New-Yorker-Mag-Book/143720381573?hash=item217666fc85:g:iiQAAOSwIJxfNw2l

Helen E. Hokinson
eBay item Description

The two autographed books are associated with James Reid Parker. The others, from the same eBay seller, might have come from his library as well.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Helen E. Hokinson

John Mason Brown

James Reid Parker

9/11

Attempted Bloggery's Book-Smart Index

03378

Helen E. Hokinson's When Were You Built?

Last month one eBay seller concurrently listed five books by Helen E. Hokinson, two of which were signed copies associated with James Reid Parker, her collaborator and caption writer. One can only wonder whether the other three unsigned books were at one time in his library as well. At any rate, it's always worth having a look at a copy of When Were You Built? This first edition dates from 1948.

Helen E. Hokinson
eBay listing ended August 22, 2020

https://www.ebay.com/itm/143684621363?nordt=true&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2546137.m43663.l10137

Helen E. Hokinson
eBay item description

Helen E. Hokinson
eBay bid history
One bid

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Helen E. Hokinson

James Reid Parker

9/11

Attempted Bloggery's Well-Constructed Index

03377

James Reid Parker's Copy of My Best Girls by Helen E. Hokinson

When Helen E. Hokinson's cartoon collection My Best Girls was published in 1941, she and gagwriter James Reid Parker had been formally collaborating for ten years. Parker wrote the memorable captions that in part kept Hokinson such a celebrated cartoonist. Here fresh from eBay is his copy of the book, gratefully inscribed to him by Hokinson. They were of course on a first-name basis, although Parker went by the name Reid, so there it's technically a middle-name basis.

My Best Girls (1941)
Helen E. Hokinson
"I want to report a winking man"

Title page

Inscribed "For Reid with many
many thanks for his
wonderful captions,
Helen"

Note that the quotation from the unseen drawing on the far left below is by John Mason Brown. After her death in a plane crash, the theater critic would come to write an appreciation of the artist for The Saturday Review of Literature issue of December 10, 1949. His tribute appears in The Ladies, God Bless 'em! (1950) and The Hokinson Festival (1956).

The bottom caption reads in full, "We can't make up our minds whether to buy or build."
The New Yorker, May 4, 1940

Helen E. Hokinson
eBay listing ended August 8, 2020

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Autographed-1st-Edition-MY-BEST-GIRLS-by-Helen-Hokinson-Cartoon-Book-Rare-VHTF-/143678074192?hash=item2173e16d50%3Ag%3AckYAAOSwugtfLzT5&nma=true&si=0VRLNXcwB1AfKyLn9IovVbXUwvE%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Helen E.Hokinson
eBay bid history
Sold for a Best Offer of $10.99

 

                                                           
                     

Note:  The papers of Helen E. Hokinson and of James Reid Parker reside in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University. Wouldn't you like to see them? Me too. Somehow this book didn't make it over there, which ironically is the only reason so many can see it so easily today. Isn't it time for libraries to take their valuable papers out of dusty storage boxes and post digital copies online?

Attempted Bloggery would be only too pleased to document other books personalized by Helen or Reid, as I like to call them. 

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Helen E. Hokinson

James Reid Parker

Attempted Bloggery's Hungover Index

03364