Barbara Shermund: Of Another Stripe

By the Christmas season of 1942, the United States was a full year into the Second World War. Like other cartoonists, Barbara Shermund had adapted her subject matter to meet the moment. Her color cartoon for the December issue of Esquire, for example, has both the holiday season and the war for its setting.

The gag is tame by today's standards, but Shermund's adventuresome young woman still manages to scandalize the staid sales clerk. The original art was sold on eBay in May.

"Do you have any with sergeant's stripes on them?"
Barbara Shermund
Original art
Esquire, December 1942, p. 47

Shermund nicely contrasts the flatness of the pajamas with the roundness of the woman's figure. Compare the sales clerk's big, awkward hands with her petite, gloved ones.  

The fur coat befits the season while establishing her as a woman of means. Note the very different stripes on the pajamas and on the fur.

The salesman reacts with surprise to the woman's request, but his expression isn't overdone.

Pajamas are $4.95—not exactly cheap back then. Perhaps there will be a January white sale.
They are making eye contact.

She has donned makeup and jewelry for her outing.

And, of course, she wears heels as any fashionable woman would.

Barbara Shermund's signature

The December issue drawing received its OK on October 16, 1942.

"Sergeant stripes" became "sergeant's stripes" in print—an improvement.

And let's assume that stamped E is for Esquire.

Barbara Shermund
eBay listing ended May 9, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/137294137303?

Barbara Shermund
eBay item description

Shermund's original works sold in rapid succession.

"Do you have any with sergeant's stripes on them?"
Barbara Shermund
Esquire, December 1942, p. 47

https://www.ebay.com/itm/334479935671

"Do you have any with sergeant's stripes on them?"
Barbara Shermund
Original art
Esquire, December 1942, p. 47

 "Do you have any with sergeant's stripes on them?"
Barbara Shermund
Esquire, December 1942, p. 47

https://classic.esquire.com/article/1942/12/1/do-you-have-any-with-sergeants-stripes-on-them

Note:  Readers can earn their stripes by submitteing orignal art by Barbara Shermund to the blog. 

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Chon Day: Wartime Communication

An original cartoon by Chon Day was sold on eBay in early April. It has a military theme, but recalls some details from stateside.

"Please limit your call to three minutes—"
Chon Day
Original cartoon art

The eBay seller writes, "this is an old original Chon Day New Yorker editorial cartoon. Maybe it's from World War II or something? it very well could be, his work was being published in the 30s 40s 50s, all them decades." I'll buy that it's "from World War II or something." I'll go further and suggest that it's set in the Pacific Theater.

The back of the art isn't as helpful as it might be. There is certainly nothing here to suggest publication in The New Yorker, which the seller so wishes to believe. The date is written as a Monday, May 1—I can't make out the rest—but where and what year? The first of May did fall on a a Monday in 1944—that year would have to be my first guess.

Chon Day
eBay listing ended April 1, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/236723752267?_skw=signed+New+Yorker&itmmeta=01KQXEWY4Q6SQR2MGBAP04TC77&hash=item371dd5cd4b:g:pYsAAeSwX1Zprxlu&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA0GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xDJVNuOpi7dNbPINFSp3a%2Brt%2FzsgnpbtOeWJIdCEWVPPKdbbcKdERS3a4eDYy%2BBrB8%2F69a7xdaSARNDAElNWfDX1EWX%2BohnjA06Lr7vIKMGXAlQ2yOqhgHM%2F2%2Bg%2B1Qaqb6pwsuRxtncdfUurzs225XA3Gq9GlPp0Qbl2G2pnmnocNpeB5%2BD0%2FO2HXHp1bJivzAcmg7vxs12Zp4uM7a6mZZOsF50wIZzwh7VCzM%2BN1GeZFgPjO6g9CiwG4qq%2BKnd2dI%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR8ji866_Zw

Chon Day
eBay item description

Note:  Please be a good soldier and get in touch if you know just where and when this Chon Day cartoon was published. Just have the operator ring me. And don't talk all day.

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Peter Arno: Former Femme Fatale

The life of Mata Hari informs our views of the alluring secret agent as seductress to this day. In 1917, the exotic dancer was convicted as a German spy and killed by firing squad in France.

Come 1940 and a second World War, cartoonist Peter Arno revisited the idea of the femme fatale as spy, giving her a new code name and her story a decidedly different ending.

"That's Q37, in her day one of the most effective secret agents this country ever had."
Peter Arno
Original art
The New Yorker, August 24, 1940, p. 17

The original art came to light at Halls in early 2016.

Halls, 16th March 2016

https://issuu.com/jammdesign/docs/h107-085_listing/44

Given a presale estimate of 600-800 GBP, it sold for a healthy 2,100 GBP.

https://www.lotsearch.net/artist/peter-arno/archive?orderBy=dollarBasedPrice-startPrice&order=ASC&perPage=50&page=1

The buyer, in all probability, was London illustration dealer Chris Beetles. The work was included in the catalogue for Beetles's annual The Illustrators sale for 2016:

Chris Beetles The Illustrators 2016 Catalogue

https://issuu.com/chrisbeetles/docs/the_illustrators_2016_cover_text_co

Michael Maslin's biography Peter Arno: The Mad, Mad World of The New Yorker's Greatest Cartoonist had just been published, and it was cited by Beetles under Further Reading.

A scanned image shows some of the details. Arno's plaza seems German or Prussian. The two paired men, military and civilian, walk in lock step. That uniform of the man in front is impressive right down to the spurs. As we read left to right, the men lead our eyes to Q37 herself, in widow's garb, looking after her six children. The big joke is not merely the number of progeny but that they represent so many different races. Such racial caricatures were deemed acceptable in the pages of The New Yorker of 1940 by the editorial staff, the readership, and the advertisers. 

"That's Q37, in her day one of the most effective secret agents
this country ever had."
Peter Arno
The New Yorker, August 24, 1940, p. 17

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166922564572?mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l1120&ch=osgood&euid=d2fd7229aaae45b9

163679d70c0ff7d&bu=43186000575&ut=RU&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20240817013610&segname=11021

Here then is how the cartoon appeared in the magazine:

A spot drawing and a cartoon by Peter Arno

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1940-08-24/flipbook/016/

* * *

Horse in a blanket
Spot drawing
Artist Unidentified
The New Yorker, August 24, 1940, p. 1

Note:  I would appreciate hearing from anyone who retains a price list from the Chris Beetles 2016 catalogue for The Illustrators show. The item in question is no. 119. 

Also, the spot artist's initials may be recognizable to someone in the know.

Do I need to keep asking for original art by Peter Arno to display in these pages? Yes, I think I do.

05219

George Price: A Wartime Letter

Original New Yorker art by cartoonist George Price is prized by collectors for its depiction of an assortment of characters—sometimes eccentric, often of limited means—living out their lives among the bric-a-brac they have accumulated. This sort of humor, mingling as it does personalities, settings, and objects, requires a deft touch. A drawing of his from early 1943 shows Price in great form, delivering equal parts humor and poignancy, capturing some of the true emotions experienced on the home front during World War II.  

"He's homesick."
George Price
Original art
The New Yorker, February 6, 1943, p. 19

He wrote the two-word caption at the upper left; it was to be printed underneath on the wife's side of the drawing. The economy of words among the proliferation of lines is striking. The blue coloring indicates where the Ben Day process would produce shading in the printed cartoon.

Detail with caption

The signature in black india ink remains bold, but the inscription to John, the original giftee, has faded considerably over eight decades.

"All best wishes
to John —
George"

One might very well ask why, on December 10, this exceptional framed and matted drawing sold at auction in Philadelphia for only $100. To be fair, the auction house Barry S. Slosberg's estimate started out low, $100 to $200, and it proved accurate. The piece, which so well reflected the mood of the country during the Great War, may not resonate so strongly with many today, although any parent should understand. Finally, the market is inefficient, and some collectors who love this kind of art may not have seen this piece come to auction. For them, they may just have to wait eighty-three more years for another chance.

George Price
Barry S. Slosberg, Inc., listing of December 10, 2025

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/Framed-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Signed-1651-c-7ECAE3D607?utm_term=new%20yorker&utm_source=alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=keywordalerts&utm_content=365084&utm_term=365084

George Price
Barry S. Slosberg, Inc., item description

For all its complexity, the drawing looks very clean on the printed page. Price knows how to tell a story visually: the couple seated apart but sharing the news from overseas, the photograph of the son in uniform on the wall, the peeling plaster, the hungry cat, the nailed floorboards, and . . . everything else.

"He's homesick."
George Price
The New Yorker, February 6, 1943, p. 19

"He's homesick."
George Price
Original art
The New Yorker, February 6, 1943, p. 19

With cartoons by Leonard Dove and George Price

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1943-02-06/flipbook/018/

* * *

On the page opposite, Leonard Dove's cartoon about obtaining credit in time of war provides an interesting contrast with Price's. The shading is heavier, the setting is less surprising, and the caption is, of course, a lot wordier. 

"Frankly, Mr. Courtney, it isn't only the government regulations—we like prompt payment also."
Leonard Dove
The New Yorker, February 6, 1943, p. 18

In one of those quirky mistakes that pop up from time to time in the database, The Complete Cartoon of The New Yorker (2004) erroneously attributes the Price cartoon to Dove as well. The confusion persists to this day in the Condé Nast Store's online listing of "He's homesick."

https://condenaststore.com/featured/hes-homesick-leonard-dove.html?srsltid=AfmBOoqAEp6OdKoOp33ltwKx4lrtL49yjtqFAxLPfgJ6MLemwS6zPlyM

Newsbreak Q&A:

Whenever I enjoy a given snappy rejoinder such as this one, I wonder if it was perhaps written by E. B. White.

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