Three Cartoons by Al Ross: A Lunch Counter, a Library, and a Hammock

Three examples of original cartoon art by Al Ross came up for auction at Heritage on February 18. The cartoon settings are a full lunch counter, a full library, and a full hammock.

The opening bid of $1 had been placed by February 16 when I first visited the sale. Perhaps there might have been more activity if Heritage had not confused the New Yorker cartoonist with illustrator Al Rossi. Or perhaps not.

Al Ross
Heritage Auctions listing accessed February 16, 2028, one or two days before the sale

The works sold at a good price—for the internet buyer:

Al Ross
Heritage Auctions result of February 18, 2026

https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-illustration-art/pulp-pulp-like-digests-and-paperback-art/al-rossi-magazine-single-panel-gag-cartoon-illustration-original-art-group-of-3-c-1980s-total-3-original-art-/a/322607-48302.s?ic2=mybidspage-lotlinks-12202013&tab=MyBids-101116#

Al Ross
Heritage Auctions item description

The lunch counter drawing is the earliest of this trio. It was published in 1000 Jokes in May of 1954, if the notation is accurate. Today, it goes without saying, this type of gag would be shunned for its body shaming. Nevertheless, Ross has given his older women expressions which are priceless.

"Right here, Eddie, they won't dare have any dessert!"
Al Ross
1000 Jokes, May 1954 [?]

The hammock drawing was published in 1988 in The New Yorker—except for a small segment on the extreme left.

Al Ross
The New Yorker, June 27, 1988, p. 70

Al Ross
Original art
The New Yorker, June 27, 1988, p. 70

With a cartoon by Al Ross

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1988-06-27/flipbook/070/

Finally, the library drawing was published, I am told, in Books, Books, Books: A Hilarious Collection of Literary Cartoons. The 1988 collection was edited by Sam Gross and Jim Charlton.

"You know who's beginning to annoy me? Homer!"
Al Ross
Original book art
Books, Books, Books: A Hilarious Collection of Literary Cartoons, edited by S. Gross and Jim Charlton, Harper & Row, 1988

05207

A Soft and Mushy Letter From Sam Gross

An autograph letter from cartoonist Sam Gross to a Mr. Wright is dated July 11, 1980, and is a reply to a fan letter from June 30. This is the unexpected highlight of an eBay listing for a copy of An Elephant is Soft and Mushy: More Cartoons by Sam Gross (1980).  It is everything a letter from a cartoonist should be: articulate, funny, and legible.

The full eBay listing follows, but don't try to buy the book and the letter yourself. A certain blogger just may have beaten you to it.

Title page

Just look at all the publications in which Gross published cartoons in the 1960s and 1970s:

Sam Gross
eBay listing accessed September 19, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/135771333651?_skw=an+elephant+is+soft+and+mushy&itmmeta=01K5J5NDRS38AHGK0YPYQ66GF8&hash=item1f9c9a2413:g:vdoAAeSwW51oG75d&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAABAFkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1csc%2BIMEYVD8GoKo0ZRISuwZe0BxpMdH7YftA%2BbQPYt40Yh%2Fe5hN9K5DiGaE1gYCrZNO2jr%2Bk5fkQd%2BrgI%2BYtc61NNbUa8QXjJ

35fLoLIb9h1E0FxTgr4437nQWXqVGRT5grT5aMJuReh%2BjdobS2LgTv%2B6xz%2Fa2KvsJDa2KDrc4x%2BMdxhEx%2BFiJKlRfmI4HlYERtWl%2FfV1W3CPMjlitO0yFj4Jan3p4z1t2kj%2FsTLbE%2FQKhpuA%2BzQ%2FURdTts8Td42QbARrMaFkFVCFv3SK1sH1h5O5l35PBIU0cRAhWTP0z2epLy6DCCa9J3j87tU3wwRk%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR8Tc1cWsZg

Sam Gross
eBay item description

Note:  Sam Gross was an interesting guy. This blog thrives on posting original art, personalized books, and correspondence by such interesting guys. You know what to do.

05069

J. B. Handelsman: Why Mr. Dobkin Is Not Walt Whitman

In yesterday's post on New Yorker cartoonist J. B. "Bud" Handelsman, I asked for additional pieces of original art to share here. Longtime contributor David from Manhattan came through with a fine New Yorker drawing. He writes:

The cartoon, 11" x 8", is from Feb. 2, 1987. I bought this years ago on eBay, with Condé Nast the seller for a client who owned that iconic Sam Gross frogs' legs cartoon that brought $30,000 at auction. The attraction for me was the poetry reference in the caption, though taking the photo I was reminded of the artist's care in making sure each man's clothing was rendered in a different shade, even managing a hint of brown in the prosecutor's suit and gray blue in the stubborn gentleman in the witness chair.

"Walt Whitman may well have contradicted himself, Mr. Dobkin, but chances are he wasn't under oath at the moment."
J. B. Handelsman
Original art
The New Yorker, February 2, 1987, p. 75

Detail of the witness

Detail of the judge and attorney

Here's what we see in print:

"Walt Whitman may well have contradicted himself, Mr. Dobkin, but chances are he wasn't under oath at the moment."
J. B. Handelsman
 The New Yorker, February 2, 1987, p. 75

"Walt Whitman may well have contradicted himself, Mr. Dobkin, but chances are he wasn't under oath at the moment."
J. B. Handelsman
Original art
 The New Yorker, February 2, 1987, p. 75

With a spot drawing by Tom Funk and a cartoon by J. B. Handelsman

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1987-02-02/flipbook/074/

* * * 

Spot drawing
Tom Funk

Note:  For those who don't recognize the poem "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman, the relevant lines are:

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

My thanks to David from Manhattan for keeping the discussion of J. B. Handelsman going with today's post. This is David's sixty-seventh contribution to Attempted Bloggery and they're all worthwhile.

Let me repeat my call to action since it met with such success yesterday. There is a lot of original art by Bud Handelsman in private collections and very few blogs willing to put it out there for the world to see. Remember, this is a big blog. It can contain multitudes. 

04942

Rob's Copy of The Art in Cartooning

The book is The Art in Cartooning:  Seventy-five years of American Magazine Cartoons, published in 1975. The original owner was named Rob and he had the good sense to get his copy at a signing with multiple cartoonists present. The four who signed and decorated his book were Gahan Wilson, Sam Gross, Marvin Tannenberg, and Bill Woodman. The cover art is, of course, by Charles Saxon.

Inside the book, the cartoonists play off each other's sketches, top to bottom. Wilson starts it off in his macabre manner with a drawing of a waiter serving his customer: "This what you asked for, sir?" Gross changes the culinary subject to frog legs, a convenient reference to his most famous cartoon, which appeared in the National Lampoon: "No, you yo-yo / He asked for frogs legs." Tannenberg supplies a missing frog leg on his self-portrait with "What's this craziness with frog's legs[?]"

What's on the menu? Woodman takes us out of the dining room and into the kitchen where a chef is in the preliminary stages of preparing dinner. With a full page (or at the very least half of one) to himself, Woodman shines.

The Art in Cartooning
eBay listing ended August 2, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/204890575268?epid=2911644&itmmeta=01J4AZMZ64DACWYWKGTV6M9R3X&hash=item2fb46e11a4:g:WtwAAOSwzFtk1BCX&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8Oz%2F1S0dmyDe7H2Y4X6i22p5vCV7MZPCQyGxvEkZG5ra%2FNVuozwauT2KyCj15RYCcZGnvvG%2BHesoDlO%2BeCG1o6lb7%2Fd9YyEpCAFKBEWvVU7MMJ%2FMfcu97t

ufa%2FsdO6hSiLkl%2BWilTk1Y812aAo4LHrmgo%2BbaDGqVtOvcBiuoCKhRgjaDlZXYAgeErEl1GOGEUE1SeZ5S2jyjWegGW4LCNAq604XGAk6g5ic%2Bir6deftQunh03Mz5%2BI5VINWjXvFa9PU8vjP6leJfp56vbEzI9ujeR%2BrJtxG7Wpwl%2F%2ByFVNLqmZPiYMo2t0WgvtCOHKL9DQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5Tz09-iZA

The Art in Cartooning
eBay item description

A best offer of $175 was not accepted. A counteroffer of $195 nevertheless sealed the deal.

Note:  This is the tenth very special copy of this book to appear here on the blog. Scans or photos of other personalized copies from book signings of yore are welcome.

04708