My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #962

In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #962 from the issue of October 6, 2025, we are looking into the cockpit of a fixed-wing aircraft. The pilot, an octopus, has some words for the copilot. My entry appears below. The drawing is by the team of Pia Guerra and Ian Boothby.

"Would you like to know what happened to your sandwich?"

October 18, 2025 Update:  The Finalists

 

October 21, 2025 Update:  I voted for the caption from Waco.

 
October 28, 2025 Update:  The Winner

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My Entries in the Moment Cartoon Caption Contest for September/October 2022

I'm up in the air over Moment magazine's Cartoon Caption Contest for September/ October 2022. My eleven entries are shown below. The high-flying drawing is by Benjamin Schwarz.

"You really splurged on the flight insurance."
"The angels don't know I'm checking up on them."
"Usually I fly El Al."
"The answers to all your questions are behind a paywall at MomentMag.com."
"Richard Dawkins and I don't read each other's books."
"Your bubbie sends her love."
"Since you hate airline food too, let's go out for a nosh."
"Then who DOES get to sit in first class?"
"Don't worry about what to say. I never sneeze."
"It's just some mild turbulence. Why do you pray for divine intervention?"
"You've been slacking on the Commandments."

November 12, 2022 Update:  The Finalists

February 4, 2023 Update:  The Winner

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Personna Advertising Art by Whitney Darrow, Jr.

Aside from his calling as a cartoonist, The New Yorker's Whitney Darrow, Jr., produced a great quantity of commercial work. An undated drawing commissioned by the Leo Burnett Advertising Agency of Chicago some time between 1956 and 1980 was created for the client Personna, purveyor of high-end razor blades.

The drawing doesn't make all that much sense outside of the context of whatever ad copy it must have appeared with. A man in an apron prominently bearing the name of the Iowa Tanning Co. is chasing a football-shaped pig's head, quite plausibly a play on the word pigskin. Overhead, a couple observes from a propeller plane while the woman waves. On the ground, a small but excited quartet of onlookers shouts "Eureka!" One of these folks seems to be wearing a marching band uniform adorned with the letter Y. The tanner's face is clean-shaven, although his stubbly legs could conceivably relate to the shaving product. His sporting uniform includes a plaid cap, which seems deliberately retro.

 

"Champert, enraged, started kicking his little pigskin blimp all over the place."

"Champert, enraged, started kicking his little pigskin blimp all over the place."

Whitney Darrow, Jr
eBay listing ended July 1, 2021

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144087545679?hash=item218c49774f%3Ag%3AF5gAAOSwvb9g1I0f&nma=true&si=64J6TuENCQvl%252FEQuIbsoMEcDQlw%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Whitney Darrow, Jr
eBay item description

Note:  Original art by Whitney Darrow, Jr., is always of interest.

January 7, 2023 Update:  I have come to believe that this artwork may actually be an illustration for the column "On Campus with Max Shulman" rather than advertising art for Personna razor blades.

I'm still looking for either the Personna print ads or "On Campus with Max Shulman" columns that correspond to Darrow's original art.

April 8, 2023 Update:  And here it is! But there's a clearer image below.

https://www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/#id=mzvv0004

"Champert, enraged, started kicking his little pigskin blimp all over the place."

"Champert, enraged, started kicking his little pigskin blimp all over the place."

"Football for Shut-Ins"
On Campus with Max Shulman
The Winonan
Winona State College, Winona, MN, November 16, 1967, p. 3

https://openriver.winona.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1141&context=thewinonan1960s

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Samuel D. Erhart: Take Me Up to the Ball Game

To celebrate Major League Baseball's All-Star break, let's have a look at an original 1911 illustration from Puck by Samuel D. Erhart (1862-1937) about America's pastime. At lower left a pair of boys sneak a peak at a ball game through a hole in the wall encircling the field, while up above at least a dozen far luckier young boys get a bird's eye view of the event from a far better vantage point. The are seated—barely—on the open-air wings of a biplane, without any cumbersome harnesses or restraints. Not one boy has lost his hat to the wind. The American fascination with aviation came, apparently, without concern for safety, expense, noise, or practicality.

The illustration itself hints at the artist's broad lack of understanding of the game. There is no pitcher's mound, raising the possibility that this could be a softball game, then called "mush ball" or a variety of other names. Softball would seem unlikely, though, given the size of the crowd in attendance. The players in the field are not shown to be wearing gloves, also suggestive of "mush ball"—only the catcher's mitt is visible. There are no umpires to be seen and there is no third base coach. The runner on first base is not taking a lead, again possibly hinting at this being a softball game. The fielding position of the third baseman right against the foul line is highly suspect. Most egregiously, the right fielder seems to be positioned deep in foul territory. The game has no doubt changed a lot since 1911, but it seems probable that neither baseball nor softball were well-understood by Erhart, who may have conflated the two.

The full sheet

Detail of the game

The original art is available from the Argosy Book Store:

Samuel Ehrhart
Argosy Book Store

https://www.argosybooks.com/details.php?record=299728&jump=1&pkd_source=_newarr&utm_source=website&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=emaillists

Note:  I would like to hear from anyone who has the 1911 issue of Puck in which this illustration appeared. I am also interested in opinions about whether a baseball or a softball game has been depicted here.

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