My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #635—Almost

I didn't get to submit my entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #635 for October 15, 2018 before the deadline. It would have been one of these four, quite possibly the last one. The drawing is by Christopher Weyant.

"Would you like to hear my anonymous op-ed piece for the Times?"
"Do you mind if I use a straw?"
"Well, then, what exactly ARE you looking for?"
"Could you pick up the check? I can't reach my wallet."

October 22, 2018 Update:  The Finalists



October 29, 2018 Update:  I voted for the third caption.


November 5, 2018 Update:  Winning Caption

Note:  Last week cartoonist Liza Donnelly put a hot dog stand on top of a pyramid. My caption couldn't handle the geometry. Fill yourself up on Contest #634.

Then polish up on my previous blog posts about Christopher Weyant.

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Garrett Price's Blind Date

A pair of showgirls consider an unconventional double date prospect in an original New Yorker cartoon by Garrett Price published in April of 1939. As we "read" the drawing from left to right, and from foreground to background, we arrive finally at the butt of the joke. The editorial staff has tightened up Price's handwritten caption making it shorter, more colloquial, and a bit clearer.

Garrett Price
"Do you want a blind date for dinner?"
Published as "Want a blind date after the show?"
Original art
The New Yorker, April 19, 1939, page 20

Garrett Price's signature and inscription "To Stanley/BEST OF LUCK" with a small drawing of a horseshoe. It appears Stanley's name was initially misspelled and then whited out.

Detail of showgirls

Detail of pantomime horse

Caption

Verso

Garrett Price
eBay Listing Ended July 21, 2017

http://www.ebay.com/itm/garrett-price-original-New-Yorker-magazine-illustration-art-blind-date-/182558972786?hash=item2a815cdb72%3Ag%3AKlEAAOSwtGlZCmQ1&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Garrett Price
eBay Item Description

Garrett Price

"Do you want a blind date for dinner?" 

Published as "Want a blind date after the show?" 

Original art 

The New Yorker, April 19, 1939, page 20

Garrett Price

"Want a blind date after the show?"
The New Yorker, April 19, 1939, page 20

http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1939-08-19#folio=020

Note:  The essential phrase blind date could have been held until the very end of the line which would have saved the payoff for last, just as the drawing does. Still, that might have made for a more awkward phrasing, no? Something like "After the show, want a blind date?" Not quite as natural.

Remember Stanley? Two days ago, this blog featured a delightful drawing by Otto Soglow from Stanley's collection via the same eBay seller. Stanley, whoever he was, had a good eye for cartoon art, although it might be said he did not always maintain his originals in the best condition.

Attempted Bloggery seeks scans or photographs of original New Yorker artwork by Garrett Price and others that someone like Stanley might appreciate.

Fun fact:  My parents met on a double-blind date. (The other couple couldn't stand each other.)

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives

Garrett Price

Original New Yorker Cartoon Art

Valentines

Attempted Bloggery's Well-Paired Index

Attempted Bloggery Supports Net Neutrality

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Barbara Shermund at the Zoo

A Barbara Shermund color cartoon is dated August 1955. The New Yorker, of course, was published weekly at the time and Esquire, with which Shermund was then associated, was a monthly magazine. The monthly date is  just one reason such a cartoon should not be identified as having been published in the New Yorker, not even by an enterprising eBay seller. The other reasons are the use of color, which never appeared in the New Yorker's 1950's gag cartoons, and the fact that Shermund did not publish in the weekly magazine after 1944.

The cartoon itself gives a jaded young woman's comically-exaggerated view of the kind of man one might encounter on a blind date. If this is indeed from Esquire, I'm a little surprised this gag would resonate with the editors and readers of a men's general-interest magazine, but I suppose they were interested in seeing an available woman's perspective. My parents themselves met on a double blind date back in this era. The other couple with them couldn't stand each other.

The other possibility is that this cartoon appeared in Pictorial Review, a weekly syndicated Sunday newspaper supplement.

"I'm going on a blind date tomorrow night--did I tell you?"
Barbara Shermund
Framed original art
 Pictorial Review[?], August 1955

"I'm going on a blind date tomorrow night--did I tell you?"
Barbara Shermund
Framed original art
 Pictorial Review[?], August 1955

Barbara Shermund
eBay Listing Ended February 27, 2014

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Barbara-Shermund-Original-New-Yorker-Cartoon-/161233218669?pt=Art_Paintings&hash=item258a3fac6d&nma=true&si=UB68sj2DvLx%252F9kdb54zXrlCgzYs%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Barbara Shermund
eBay Item Description

January 12, 2019 Update:  This cartoon does not appear in Esquire's online database, so I am provisionally reassigning it in the above caption to Pictorial Review. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who can document its complete publication history.


Note:  A related post on Barbara Shermund appeared here yesterday.

Older posts about St. Patrick's Day may be seen here. St. Patrick is said to have driven the snakes out of Ireland. They could use him in Guam.

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