William Steig for Portage Porto-Ped Shoes

In yesterday's post, we saw a single cartoon copper tray featuring a drawing by New Yorker cartoonist William Steig to promote the National Shoe Institute in 1951. So far as we know, that was his sole contribution to the advertising campaign. But it was not his final venture into the world of shoe marketing.

In 1967, Steig made at least two drawings for a print ad campaign for the Portage Shoe Company's line of Porto-Ped shoes. That year comes from paper sellers who reveal as little as possible about the magazines from which they removed their ads. Thus titles and publication dates are not included. For what it's worth, I have not found these ads in The New Yorker.

The copy reads "If everyone's walk were a little peculiar, we wouldn't have to make such good shoes." The good shoes are priced at $19.95 to $34.95 in both ads. Inflation in the ensuing decades has since driven up prices by an average of 3.98% annually, or about 900% total, putting the shoes' retail cost at $199.45 to $349.41 in today's dollars. No wonder they could afford William Steig.

William Steig
"If everyone's walk weren't a little peculiar,
we wouldn't have to make such good shoes."
1967 advertisement for Portage Porto-Ped Shoes

https://www.periodpaper.com/products/1967-ad-portage-porto-ped-shoes-men-fashion-william-steig-cartoon-milwaukee-wi-219864-ymma3-128

Another ad from 1967 features an even more peculiar gait:

William Steig
"If everyone's walk weren't a little peculiar,
we wouldn't have to make such good shoes."
1967 advertisement for Portage Porto-Ped Shoes

Image modified September 5, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/275154580810

Note:  I would love to see other examples, if there are any to be seen, from this advertising campaign with art by William Steig. 

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William Steig: National Shoe Institute Copper Tray by Bernäd Creations

In 2023, the Charles Addams memorabilia specialist Joel Jacobus informed us here of a series of advertisements on copper trays promoting Cole of California swimwear. The trays were manufactured by Bernäd Creations with cartoons by The New Yorker's Addams, Sam Cobean, and Syd Hoff. The trays themselves are undated, but the Hoff example was specifically mentioned in a 1951 newspaper article. 

This year, Joel informed me of another vintage advertising tray he came upon featuring art by New Yorker cartoonist William Steig. The client is the National Shoe Institute and there is only one tray design known thus far. The manufacturer is again Bernäd Creations, who used Steig illustrations on other cartoon trays and cigarette boxes for commercial sale to the general public, but these decidedly were not advertising. 

Joel notes that the shoe institute tray appears to be from approximately the same time period as the Cole of California cartoon trays. "So far," he writes, "I can't find any other artists associated with it. The Steig image is of a man lying in a giant shoe with the caption, 'Can’t I just stay here tonight?'" Below that is the copy "National Shoe Institute.”

Joel continues:

The first mention of The National Shoe Institute that I can find is from 1948 in the New York Times. There were National Shoe Fairs in Chicago from at least 1938 through 1968. 

He further speculates that this tray "might have been a promotional item at the National Shoe Fair." Steig's illustration appeared in his book The Rejected Lovers, which sets the date of the tray to approximately 1951. (That's the same year as the newspaper piece noting the Hoff tray.)

The Steig copper tray is green and is currently listed on eBay:

William Steig
National Shoe Institute Copper Tray
eBay listing accessed August 31, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/157720954656?

William Steig
National Shoe Institute Copper Tray
eBay item description

The New York Times Magazine excerpted nine of the Steig book's drawings in its October 14, 1951 Sunday issue, the week prior to its publication. Under the title "On Man's Misery—Love," an uncredited author writes, "The hero of the work is man at his most pitiful. The villain is woman, who seems to combine the features of Goldilocks, a six-foot chorus girl and Lizzie Borden." 

"On Man's Misery—Love"
Excerpts from The Rejected Lovers by William Steig
The New York Times Magazine, Sunday, October 14, 1951

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/10/14/issue.html

Note:  My thanks as always to Joel Jacobus for finding this rare tray, for recognizing its uniqueness, and for feeling compelled to research the National Shoe Institute just as thoroughly as he formerly researched Bernäd Creations and Cole of California. Hats off to you, Joel, and shoes too.

The archives of Duke University libraries have a campus promotion from the National Shoe Institute for 1949 which identifies the advertising agency as J. Walter Thompson.

I would so appreciate hearing from anyone with more information about this seemingly small advertising campaign. This might include other cartoon copper trays from the promotion with drawings by William Steig or perhaps other cartoonists. Other advertising campaigns that appeared on Bernäd trays would also be of interest. 

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William Steig: Coming Home Late

It's late at night in Apartment 3K. Seventy years ago, the readers of Collier's were treated to a wonderful cartoon by a wonderful cartoonist: William Steig.

William Steig
Orignal art
Collier's, May 11, 1956

Evidently rejected by The New Yorker which would have had first crack at it, the drawing presents us with a couple uniquely suited to each other.

William Steig
Framed, orignal art

Collier's, May 11, 1956

The framed original art was listed some two months ago by Honey & Wax Booksellers of Philadelphia and it remains available at the time of this posting. 

William Steig
AbeBooks listing accessed July 21, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/Original-gag-cartoon-Colliers-magazine-Steig/32452863076/bd

William Steig
AbeBooks item description

The published cartoon is in Dick Buchanan's clip files and appeared on the blog Mike Lynch Cartoons. 

William Steig
Collier's, May 11, 1956

https://mikelynchcartoons.blogspot.com/2018/01/from-dick-buchanan-files-william-steig.html

William Steig
Orignal art
Collier's, May 11, 1956

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Nelson Rockefeller's Copy of The Lonely Ones by William Steig

New Yorker cartoonist William Steig's book of drawings The Lonely Ones was published in 1942. The book has a foreword by The New Yorker's drama critic Wolcott Gibbs. Steig inscribed a copy to Nelson Rockefeller, the son of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and the grandson of the founder of Standard Oil. Nelson Rockefeller was an avid art collector and patron of the arts. An AbeBooks listing of the book informs us that Rockefeller kept a woodcarving by Steig on his desk in New York. Steig wrote, "Best wishes to / Nelson Rockefeller / from / William Steig / I hope you like these / drawings." Did the future Governor of New York and Vice President of the United States appreciate them? The AbeBooks seller, First Edition Rare Books, LLC, of Cincinnatti, notes that "This copy appears unread"—so, asked and answered.

William Steig
AbeBooks listing accessed June 29, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Lonely-Foreword-Wolcott-Gibbs-Steig-William/32467844220/bd

William Steig
AbeBooks item description

Note:  William Steig's woodcarvings are new to me. In 1939, Time magazine wrote about an exhibition of these pieces here. His Proud Woman from 1941 is in the collection of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum here. An example appears on Artsy here. There is another on Reddit here. Now, does anyone have a photograph of the one Nelson Rockefeller kept on his desk?

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William Steig: Marriage in the Balance

Another original New Yorker cartoon by William Steig, this one from 1969, was sold by Second Story Books on May 17. It had been collected by Neil and Susan Sheehan, she a writer for the magazine. One imagines they both appreciated the singular perspective on marriage the artist expressed in this drawing. 

William Steig
Original art
The New Yorker, November 22, 1969, p. 57

William Steig's signature

The price was $500. It was quickly sold.

William Steig
AbeBooks listing ended May 17, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/art-prints/ORIGINAL-1969-NEW-YORKER-CARTOON-Signed/32447225940/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook#&gid=undefined&pid=1

The drawing looked great in print.

William Steig
The New Yorker, November 22, 1969, p. 57

William Steig
Original art
The New Yorker, November 22, 1969, p. 57

With cartoons by Edward Koren and William Steig

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1969-11-22/flipbook/056/

* * *

The Motion Picture Association of America introduced its voluntary film rating system in November of 1968. The four original ratings were G (for general audiences), M (for mature audiences), R (restricted, persons under age 16 not admitted without a parent or guardian), and X (those under 16 not admitted). Edward Koren's cartoon, on the page opposite the Steig, provides the artist's take on the new ratings one year in.

"It looks like an ⓧ rating to me."

Edward Koren

The New Yorker, November 22, 1969, p. 56

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William Steig: Headstrong Husband

A 1970 New Yorker cartoon original by the great William Steig remained in the collection of Neil and Susan Sheehan for well over five decades, it seems. Then, along with a few other Steig drawings of theirs, it appeared suddenly on the market last weekend and was sold within twenty-four hours. At least we got to see it before it passed back into obscurity.

William Steig
Framed, original art
The New Yorker, January 10, 1970, p. 20

William Steig's signature

The price was $500.

William Steig
AbeBooks listing ended May 17, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/art-prints/ORIGINAL-1970-NEW-YORKER-CARTOON-Signed/32447228712/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=img

Careful readers may have noticed that this week's posts include no fewer than three Steig drawings featuring disembodied heads. Coincidence? Not exactly. Yesterday's post was a variation on this same theme as Steig worked through the idea in his New Yorker submissions. As for Tuesday's post with that knight raising the severed head, well, these things happen.

Oh, yes. Here's how today's drawing looked in The New Yorker:

William Steig
The New Yorker, January 10, 1970, p. 20

William Steig
Framed, original art
The New Yorker, January 10, 1970, p. 20

With drawings by William Steig and Charles Saxon

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1970-01-10/flipbook/020/

* * *

It can be no accident that the simple, direct contours of the emotionally overwrought Steig drawing are contrasted on the page opposite with the lush tones and genteel manner of the cartoon by Charles Saxon, who here is conscripted to play superego to Steig's id, if you will. 

"It seems to me that you've simply got to be for
or against sex these days."
Charles Saxon
The New Yorker, January 10, 1970, p. 21

So there you have it: a cartoon depicting surreal, raw anger and one with politicized, unsexy talk of sex, both spanning a single spread in The New Yorker back in January of 1970. 

By the way, I don't recall any other New Yorker artist so casually having his character self-decapitate as Steig has done here. For that matter, who else has resorted to this Saxon trick of placing a face at a dinner party between the candles in a candelabra? For the cartoonists, it's all about the faces.

Ah, there are such riches to be found in these back issues.

05270

William Steig: The Scolding That Doesn't End

From the collection of Neil and Susan Sheehan comes an imaginative and absurd New Yorker drawing by William Steig. Published in 1969, the drawing was listed online this past weekend by Second Story Books and was promptly sold.

William Steig
Original art
The New Yorker, November 8, 1969, p. 167

William Steig's signature

The work was offered on AbeBooks for $500. 

William Steig
AbeBooks listing ended May 17, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/art-prints/ORIGINAL-1969-NEW-YORKER-CARTOON-Signed/32447222280/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=readmore_low

William Steig
AbeBooks item description

The original art has sustained considerable toning, but the image appears forever young on the pages of the magazine. Not the same can be said for Steig's couple.

William Steig
The New Yorker, November 8, 1969, p. 167

William Steig
Original art
The New Yorker, November 8, 1969, p. 167

With a spot drawing by Mario Micossi and a cartoon by William Steig

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1969-11-08/flipbook/166/

* * * 

"The Art World" spot drawing
Mario Micossi

Note:  For those who remember William Steig chiefly as the creator of Shrek!, that children's book wasn't published until 1990, twenty-one years after this drawing.

05269