Charles Addams: A Legacy of Unicorns

Yesterday's installment of Bliss, Harry Bliss's syndicated single-panel cartoon, is set in a hotel room where two unicorns have just finished having sex. The female is pulling on a stocking while the male is smoking a cigarette. Two horseshoes may be seen on the floor.

"You'd better hurry—we'll miss the ark."
Harry Bliss
Bliss, December 27, 2025

The scene is contemporary and, of course, nicely rendered. Many Bliss readers may be unaware that the idea behind this gag comes from a classic drawing by Charles Addams, one of his very best:

Charles Addams
The New Yorker, March 10, 1956, p. 44

https://charlesaddams.com/print-galleryshop/unicorns

Addams, though, is not going for the belly laugh. His cartoon is not meant to be funny so much as poignant. It is full of atmosphere and emotion. Read left to right, foreground to background, it tells a moving story. The original art is in the collection of the New York Public Library.

Those branches Addams shows sticking out of the water may be echoed in Bliss's motel room painting. It's hard to say for certain. What do you think?

Unicorns and the ark are not a new idea. Curiously, there are some 15th and 17th century depictions of unicorns actually on board the ark. This begs the question of how and when they might have died off. Addams may well have been the first to depict the unicorns becoming extinct because they missed the ark.

https://www.faidutti.com/unicorn/theselicorne2.pdf

Like Bliss, Hallmark couldn't resist going for the big laugh. A unicorns-missing-the-ark card was marketed by their Shoebox division because exclamations like "Oh, crap!" just don't feel at home in the Hallmark imprint. I spotted it in the card rack at a local pharmacy in early 2020. I believe this card has since been discontinued.

https://www.amazon.sg/Hallmark-Shoebox-Funny-Birthday-Card/dp/B07TPYCMVF

https://www.amazon.sg/Hallmark-Shoebox-Funny-Birthday-Card/dp/B07TPYCMVF

Another contemporary New Yorker cartoonist, Ellis Rosen, has put his own spin on the idea—twice.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1333542411474003&set=pcb.1333542478140663

And, in acknowledgement of the pickleball trend . . . 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10163402974629851&set=gm.1314486600006935

Inevitably, there are many more examples out there, too many. I won't try to catalogue them all as there is that law of diminishing returns. As far as I can tell, The New Yorker is where it all started. Regardless of that, I don't think Addams's version will ever be equalled.

With a drawing by Charles Addams and a Profiles illustration by Abe Birnbaum

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1956-03-10/flipbook/044/

Note:  It is, of course, possible that there is some depiction of a pair of unicorns missing Noah's ark that predates the Addams drawing. If such a thing exists and anyone knows of it, please get in touch.

This is not the first time Harry Bliss has mined the work of Charles Addams. I have enumerated other examples here. 

* * *

Before we go, let me just note that Abe Birnbaum illustrates the Profiles page and he includes a piece of technology that was then state-of the art but is now obsolete:

Emory Cook
Abe Birnbaum
The New Yorker, March 10, 1956, p. 45

Modern publishing techniques do not often require column fillers, which may also be considered obsolete, but I do really miss the Newsbreaks—though not quite as much as the Addams cartoons.

Quality prints of this wonderful Addams cartoon are available from the Tee & Charles Addams Foundation, which holds the copyrigtht. Just follow the aqua link.

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Mortal Remains

Mortal Remains by Ricardo Bloch and Don Celender is a 1996 survey of four hundred creative people that asks them about their long-term plans for burial . . . and beyond. My initial reaction was to avoid this morbid but extremely personal topic.

But then I wondered.... What sort of monument would architect Frank Gehry wish for himself? What would poet Allen Ginsberg, author of the moving "Kaddish," want written on his tombstone? What about fiction writer T. C. Boyle? And finally, regarding the subject whose inclusion alerted me to this book in the first place, what are the eternal resting plans of cartoonist Roz Chast, and are they presented in the form of her matchless graveyard cartoons?

Mortal Remains
Signed by Ricardo Bloch and Don Celender

Ricardo Bloch and Don Celender
eBay Listing Retrieved September 16, 2018

https://www.ebay.com/itm/273463926862?ul_noapp=true

Ricardo Bloch and Don CelendereBay Item Description

An example of a tombstone cartoon from last year by Roz Chast:

Roz Chast
The New Yorker, January 9, 2017, page 55

https://archives.newyorker.com/?i=2017-01-09#folio=54

Note:  Well, who has a copy of this book?


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Did a GEICO Commercial Borrow from a New Yorker Cartoon?

Four months ago, cartoonist Rich Sparks made an auspicious debut in the New Yorker. The idea for this gag is unusually strong because you have to work backwards a bit to figure out what precedes the straightforward caption of "Yes?" This extra step makes the joke all the more rewarding when you get it. You do get it, right?

http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/Yes-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Prints_i14309220_.htm

Can it be mere coincidence that the new GEICO television commercial bears a striking resemblance to the setting of this brilliant cartoon? I leave that question to the discerning reader.

"It's Not Surprising"

GEICO TV Commercial

Another version published on YouTube July 27, 2016

Video replaced May 18, 2023

Here, have another look:

Rich Sparks, "Yes?"
The New Yorker, April 11, 2016, page 58

http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=2016-04-11#folio=58

https://www.ispot.tv/topic/actor-actress/wLn/jillian-lebling

Note:  If, after all this, you really, really, really don't get this cartoon, you can read the explanation I offered to someone on Twitter here.

This is the first appearance of Rich Sparks on this blog. I eagerly await the appearance of more of his work in the pages of the New Yorker, while I'm sure he eagerly awaits his royalty check from GEICO.


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George Price's Jack of All Trades

It has become commonplace for us to blame unsuccessful men for showing a lack of initiative in their work. Well, here's a situation where that's clearly not the case. In the days before the gas station mini-mart, it's hard to conceive of anything this poor service station owner could do to drum up more business. And just look at the price of gasoline!

George Price's marvelously detailed 1952 New Yorker cartoon tells its rather expansive story with his usual exacting line work, competent one-point perspective, and a lot of signage. The original artwork has changed hands at least twice in recent years, and it has undergone some restoration along the way. The earlier sale was at Skinner in 2010.

George Price, "At least you have to give him credit for trying."
Original artwork for The New Yorker, June 28, 1952, page 18

https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2517B/lots/608 

George Price, "At least you have to give him credit for trying."

Original artwork for The New Yorker, June 28, 1952, page 18

https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2517B/lots/608 

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I'm not sure exactly when or for how much, but this same piece was also offered by Taraba Illustration Art, certainly more recently. The discolored paper overlay bearing the signature has now been treated by a paper conservator. Note how much better it looks now.

George Price, "At least you have to give him credit for trying."
Original artwork for The New Yorker, June 28, 1952, page 18

Caption

George Price, "At least you have to give him credit for trying."
Detail with signature

Taraba Illustration Art Listing

http://www.tarabaillustrationart.com/art159.shtml

George Price, "At least you have to give him credit for trying."

The New Yorker, June 28, 1952, page 18

George Price, "At least you have to give him credit for trying."

The New Yorker, June 28, 1952, page 18

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A Year of Blogging

Welcome to my blog, one man's ongoing, angst-ridden quest to find solace in a tormenting world. Just kidding! Don't quote me on that.

Today marks the first anniversary of my first and only attempt at blogging. Over this past year there have been some 375 posts, which is just slightly more than one for each day, although to be truthful I did not actually remember to publish a post each and every day. At any rate, today this site is bigger and bloggier than ever and, yes, you can quote me on that.

Attempted Bloggery moves from topic to topic all the time, and perhaps that is one reason why few readers find it consistent enough to be worth following publicly. Indeed, this blog has won very few followers, only 17 to date from the entire bustling planet, but, on the other hand, there have been almost 80,000 page views in this inaugural year. To keep that number in perspective, animator Andreas Deja's outstanding blog Deja View has gotten one million page views in its first year and earned 3252 followers. You see, the competition is fierce. In short, search engines lead folks here every day, but despite the more than 350 daily page views, few have chosen to follow my blog publicly. That's OK, and, hey, lurkers are always welcome here.

There aren't too many blogs quite like this one, as far as I can gather. What I choose to share is, I suspect, a large part of the blog's appeal, certainly more so than whatever I have to say about any of it. In short, I write about what I like, and fortunately or unfortunately, that can be quite divers. I believe that not a few of the subjects I write about deserve a blog of their own, and indeed some topics do have one or even several blogs devoted to them elsewhere. The thing is, for the most part what I'm writing about is fairly obscure. I'm sure there may be a few dozen people out there who feel passionate about any particular subject, but for the most part I don't see myself muscling in on areas already well-covered by existing blogs.

For those who arrived here only recently, I'm afraid there is a lot to review over the past year, maybe too much. If you choose, of course, you are welcome to delve into the archives, but to get you up to speed quickly, all you really have to do is take a look at this brilliant New Yorker cartoon by Tom Cheney entitled Life. It pretty much sums up my view of the proceedings here to date. If memory serves, the original artwork was sold a few years ago through the Cartoon Bank for $1,800. Worth every penny, I'd say.

Tom Cheney, Life,
The New Yorker, August 11, 2003, Page 46

Tom Cheney, Life,
The New Yorker, August 11, 2003, Page 46

There you go! Now you're all set for the coming year!

Note:  Just in case you missed my very first blog post a year ago, you can still catch it here.

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Shannon Wheeler Dreams Up a Cartoon

Yesterday, The New Yorker's cartoon editor Bob Mankoff posted an article about the role of dreams in the creation of cartoons. Cartoonist Shannon Wheeler has discussed his own creative process in coming up with the excellent "Spoiler alert" cartoon. When I met him at MoCCA Fest 2012, he gave me permission to publish his preliminary sketch here along with his description of how he uses his own dreams.

On February 20, Mr. Wheeler wrote:

This is the rough for this week's NY'er cartoon. I write a lot of cartoons as I'm on the edge of sleep. I wake up enough to draw it super rough. To submit it to the NY'er I do a much more rendered drawing. I like the directness, simplicity, and energy of the original sketch - often I like it more than the final drawing.

Shannon Wheeler, "Spoiler alert" preliminary sketch  for
The New Yorker, February 27, 2012, Page 86

Shannon Wheeler, "Spoiler alert."
The New Yorker, February 27, 2012, Page 86

http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/Spoiler-alert-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Prints_i8717172_.htm

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