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. 

05296

Edward Sorel: Christmas Past, Christmas Present

One of the highlights of the November 4 Illustration Art sale at Heritage Auctions was Edward Sorel's original cover artwork for The New Yorker's December 16, 1996 issue. The magazine gave it the title Christmas Past, Christmas Present. It had been in the collection of Irvin Greif.

Christmas Past, Christmas Present
Edward Sorel
Original cover art
The New Yorker, December 16, 1996

Christmas Past, Christmas Present
Edward Sorel
Framed, original cover art
The New Yorker, December 16, 1996

Bidding was strong, up at $7,000 (not including the buyer's premium) thirteen hours before the live bidding started. How high would the price go?

Edward Sorel
Heritage Auctions listing accessed thirteen hours before the November 4, 2025 sale

https://fineart.ha.com/itm/mainstream-illustration/edward-sorel-american-1929-christmas-past-christmas-present-new-yorker-cover-december-16-1996/a/8224-71066.s?ic16=ViewItem-BrowseTabs-Auction-Open-MyTrackedLots-101116

It sold for $15,000 including the premium to an online live bidder. What would our ancestors have made of that?

Edward Sorel
Heritage Auctions item description

Christmas Past, Christmas Present

Edward Sorel

Original cover art

The New Yorker, December 16, 1996

Christmas Past, Christmas Present

Edward Sorel

The New Yorker, December 16, 1996

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1996-12-16/flipbook/CV1/

I'll repost my photograph of the present work from the New York preview:

Christmas Past, Christmas Present
Edward Sorel
Framed, original cover art
The New Yorker, December 16, 1996

05165

Thomas Nast: Christmas, 1863

Thomas Nast's spread over two pages in Harper's Weekly late in 1863 presents us with images of Christmas during the Civil War. Here is a series of vignettes which show his appeal as a storyteller. 

Christmas, 1863
Thomas Nast
Harper's Weekly, 1863, pp. 824-825

How common was it to be able to get a furlough for Christmas in 1863? Was household prosperity really all that we see here? Certainly the reality must have been harsher for many, but Nast gives his readers a story they want to believe in. And his Santa Claus creation makes an appearance as well.

The print is available form Argosy Book Store.

Thomas Nast
Argosy Book Store listing accessed May 29, 2025

https://www.argosybooks.com/details.php?record=328244&jump=1&pkd_source=_newarr&utm_source=website&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=emaillists

05161

Merry Christmas from Jack Davis

If you ever wondered what original Christmas card art by Mad legend Jack Davis looks like, today is your lucky day.

Jack Davis
AbeBooks listing accessed November 15, 2025

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/Original-Comical-Drawing-Santa-Claus-Signed/32343172430/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook

Jack Davis
AbeBooks item description

05158

Chuck Jones: Deck the Halls With Boston Charlie

The original artwork for Chuck Jones's 1976 Warner Brothers Christmas card was sold on October 20 by Heritage Auctions.

Chuck Jones's signature

"Deck The Halls With Boston Charlie" is a decidedly lame take on Walt Kelly's brilliant "Deck Us All With Boston Charlie" carol from his Pogo comic strip, as it reverts back in part to the correct lyrics we all know. Nevertheless, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are in fine form at the piano, or at least Bugs is, in their musical roles from "Bugs and Daffy's Carnival of the Animals," a 1976 TV special featuring the music of Camille Saint-Saëns.

Songs of the Pogo is a songbook and album (1956) which includes the number "Deck Us All With Boston Charlie." The classic Christmas carol amended with wildly inventive lyrics returned to the strip in different versions over the years.

Chuck Jones
Heritage Auctions listing of October 20, 2025

https://comics.ha.com/itm/animation-art/illustration/original-bugs-bunny-and-daffy-duck-christmas-card-artwork-by-chuck-jones-warner-bros-1976-this-superb-original-il/a/7403-19393.s?ic16=ViewItem-BrowseTabs-Auction-Open-MyTrackedLots-101116

Chuck Jones
Heritage Auctions item description

Hammer price

https://www.musicfestnews.com/2024/12/walt-kelly-pogo-deck-us-all-with-boston-charlie/

"Deck Us All With Boston Charley"

"Bugs and Daffy's Carnival of the Animals" (1976)

05156