Showing posts with label St. Patrick's Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St. Patrick's Day. Show all posts

Friday, March 13, 2026

Milton Caniff: A Leprechaun

It's generally a good idea to avoid making unfounded assumptions, particularly online. Nevertheless, I would guess that a fan named Mike Mongan wrote to the popular comic strip artist Milton Caniff back in the day, and requested, perhaps, a souvenir. I further imagine he was not disappointed with the color artwork he received in reply. Whatever the story, though, the drawing of a winking leprechaun, pipe in mouth, seems a fitting work to bring out ahead of St. Patrick's Day. Caniff has embraced an unfortunate stereotype, and that leprechaun appears to be rather inebriated. What we have then is a smoking, winking, drinking leprechaun—or so I would assume.



Milton Caniff
AbeBooks listing accessed April 11, 2025

Milton Caniff
AbeBooks item description




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Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Blog Post No. 3200: St. Patrick's Day 1938—Will Cotton Original New Yorker Cover Art


A number of the covers—Irvin's of 3/31/34 and 11/21/36, Cotton's of 3/19/1938—would certainly be considered unprintably racist now...
—John Updike
The Complete Book of Covers from The New Yorker 1925-1989 
Will Cotton's New Yorker cover for St. Patrick's Day of 1938 is one of the magazine's most notorious. An Irish police officer encounters a drunken black man who passed out on the steps of a brownstone while still wearing his St. Paddy's Day regalia, an empty bottle resting between his legs. Lee Lorenz commented on it in 1997 when he was the magazine's cartoon editor:
Will Cotton's covers, skillfully executed in pastel, are memorable for their elegance and gentle wit. He was a gifted caricaturist, and his portraits of people were always warm, never grotesque. In contrast, the cover accompanying this article, which depicts an Irish cop looking at a homeless black man (3/19/38), manages to abuse both the Irish and blacks.
—Lee Lorenz
The New Yorker, "Cover Stories"
December 15, 1997, p. 124


I don't know whether the black man is indeed homeless or simply unable to make it to his home while under the influence. The cover derives its humor from unfortunate racial stereotypes rendered in rich pastels. The original art, now on the market, shows Cotton's beautiful rendering of a not-so-beautiful subject to be very well-preserved.
Will Cotton
Original art
The New Yorker, March 19, 1938


Cotton's gift inscription to illustrator R. Roberts Baldwin directly on the cover art doesn't in any way diminish the political incorrectness of the whole affair. It does seem to imply that "Baldy" was the model for the Irish cop.
Inscribed [to R. Roberts Baldwin] "To Baldy (the figure on the
                                                                left)
from               
W. Cotton"

Will Cotton's signature

Will Cotton
The New Yorker, March 19, 1938


 The original art is offered by Between the Covers of New Jersey for $22,000. The rare book dealer's description of the item, which includes a more extended quotation from Lee Lorenz, is well worth reading.
Will Cotton
AbeBooks Listing Accessed February 22, 2020

 Note:  One thing we like here at Attempted Bloggery is original cover art from the New Yorker magazine. New examples are welcome. Feel free to share any you might have lying about. The other thing we like is corned beef and cabbage.
Can this 3,200th post really be the first opportunity here to mention the art of Will Cotton? How on earth did that happen? The original art remains available for sale at the time of this posting.

The Attempted Bloggery Centennial Posts 💯
Blog Post No. 100
Blog Post No. 200:  A Shaggy Dog Story
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Saturday, March 17, 2018

Chuck Miller: Green Reminder

Here's a timely, last-minute reminder provided via some original Playboy cartoon art by Chuck Miller published in the February 1962 issue. As a public service, Attempted Bloggery would like to remind its readers not to venture out there without wearing the requisite green on St. Patrick's Day.

Chuck Miller
"My Lord! If it wasn't for me you'd all go out half dressed!"
Original art
Playboy, February 1962, page 122

Chuck Miller
Christie's Sale 2367, The Year of the Rabbit:  The Playboy Collection, Lot 31
New York, December 8, 2010
By the way, did you notice how difficult it is to render the foreshortening of the housekeeper's arm when it is extended directly at the viewer? I thought not.


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Thursday, March 17, 2016

Barney Tobey's St. Patrick's Day Parade

Don't you love a parade? Barney Tobey commemorates the St. Patrick's Day Parade in this 1962 New Yorker cartoon.

"When you need a cop, there's never one around."
Barney Tobey
The New Yorker, March 17, 1962, pages 46-47


Note:  You have your marching orders. Check out the archives for other posts about St. Patrick's Day and about cartoonist Barney Tobey.

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Sunday, March 17, 2013

James Montgomery Flagg St. Patrick's Day Covers for Life

From the old Life magazine, here are three St. Patrick's Day covers by James Montgomery Flagg dating from 1907 to 1909.


James Montgomery Flagg, Life, March 7, 1907


James Montgomery Flagg, Life, March 19, 1908


James Montgomery Flagg, Life, March 18, 1909


Note:  See an original Monty Flagg illustrated letter or two on the blog here.

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Saturday, March 17, 2012

For St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all! This New Yorker cover by Charles E. Martin shows the sidewalk along Fifth Avenue, looking south. Central Park is behind the wall on the right. St. Patrick's Cathedral is a number of blocks ahead and on the other side of the avenue.

Charles E. Martin, The New Yorker, March 13, 1965

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