Ronald Searle's 1971 Christmas Card

Miss Linda King of Swansea was mailed a Christmas card in late 1971 from Ronald and Monica Searle. It was sold on eBay in March of this year with the original mailing envelope for what I recall was a substantial sum. I seem to have neglected to record the actual sale amount, but I believe it was in the range of the starting bid. The eBay seller reported that the card is a "Ronald Searle original hand drawn pen/watercolour sketch/drawing hand made Christmas Card," then confused the matter by calling it "Possibly one of a kind." Possibly? Well, is it a hand drawn original or not?

After taking a close look at all the photos in the listing, I conclude that the card is printed, not hand drawn. The initials RS are printed too, but the French and British flags are colored by hand.

The trifold card

The trifold card

M and R, for Mô and Ronald

The cover shows a postmark of December 27.

My belief is that out-of-focus pictures add nothing to eBay listings. Or to blog posts.

Signatures of Mô and Ronald

The red braces are drawn by hand and annotated.

Mô writes in blue ink, Ronald in black.

Ronald Searle
eBay listing accessed March 12, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/394508195030?hash=item5bda8554d6:g:iJ0AAOSwhq1kDJhm&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAwKGk48BxWXqpq%2Fyc4CXxj%2FkA66grX%2FQdXKVDvViKsrGz2wsd3IdXEeYpU5tX9f%2FGHAmfNVVSRTVLTwqMxMXmR%2FIKALH0vD9wlY5mcjF8N

ooDVJYO8niuYgvfxmZaqJbDo4TmdGplhnWTOVFqf9KqvJlKKQnVG4qz%2Bqt9SZ6D%2BLTgyyt09UGfOeeSxvMlsaxXnXv2eDmHM2y6EQZB4S50AwzXKNXbjXwh6Fn%2FAut0%2F%2FV3kAR8Zljt%2Bq027Pk9XFSnRA%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR8Li3o7bYQ

Note:  To correct the eBay listing, Searle's wife Mô was the former Monica Koenig. Sorry, Maureen.

For more on Ronald Searle's extraordinary Christmas cards, see Matt Jones's 2010 post here. As of this writing, the 1971 card is not included there.

Cartoonist's personal Christmas cards would make happy additions to this blog, especially if they are not already available online. Scans are welcome. Tricolor and Union Jack optional.

04522

My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #642

Grab a fork and check out my entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #642 for December 10, 2018. The drawing is by Mick Stevens.

"It's so good you'll think it's illegal—except in New Jersey."

December 17, 2018 Update:  The Finalists

December 31, 2018 Update: I voted for the first caption. It seems everyone voted for a California entry.


January 7, 2019 Update:  The Winner

Note:  Last week cartoonist Mark Thompson brought the flock in. Go to Contest #641 and have a crook-see.

Then enjoy a slice out of the archives on the subject of Mick Stevens.

02764

E. Simms Campbell: Surprise!

Lucky for us, it seems as if every time a young woman pops out of a cake, there's a cartoonist on hand to record the proceedings. E. Simms Campbell's cartoon from the April 1961 issue of Playboy pokes fun at the one club member who has good reason to be upset. The men's faces say it all here with their appreciative ogling. Even the men in the foreground whose faces are hidden from us are shown to be giving the performance their rapt and expert attention. The woman's face, on the other hand, is not seen; her personality is not discernible but her improbable proportions are. All we are meant to know about her is that she is giving the men, save one—and presumably the magazine's readers—what they want. 

E. Simms Campbell
"My wife!"
Original art
Playboy, April 1961, page 139

E. Simms Campbell
Christie's Sale 2367, The Year of the Rabbit:  The Playboy Collection, Lot 28
New York, December 8, 2010

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5395450&lid=1

Note:  Surprise! Attempted Bloggery is looking at the work of cartoonist E. Simms Campbell (1906-1971). I seek reader scans or photographs of original Campbell art or rare published works not already available on the internet.

External Links:

E. Simms Campbell's Wikipedia Entry

E. Simms Campbell on Ink Spill

E. Simms Campbell in Christopher Wheeler's Cartoon(ist) Gallery 

E. Simms Campbell in Print: Insider Histories: Black Cartoonist E. Simms Campbell. Robert C. Harvey intervied by Michael Dooley. March 3, 2015

E. Simms Campbell on We Too Were Children, Mr. Barrie. October 6, 2012

E. Simms Campbell at American Art Archives

E. Simms Campbell on Eli Stein Cartoons.com:  "We All Have to Start Somewhere" Department. Case in Point No. 15. September 6, 2011

E. Simms Campbell in Potrzebie. October 10, 2007

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives

E. Simms Campbell

Playboy

A Blogger's Birthday Wish List

Take a look at Attempted Bloggery's Index and see what pops out!

Attempted Bloggery Supports Net Neutrality

02464

My Entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #481

Here is my entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #481 for July 6, 2015. The drawing is by Will McPhail.

"I'm all for equality if I can keep my clothes on."

July 20, 2015 Update:  The Finalists

August 3, 2015 Update:  Winning Caption

Note:  Last time around,  Frank Cotham gave us a shootout in the Old West. I joined the gang that couldn't caption straight. Round up a posse and see the results of Contest #480.

Will McPhail has been seen in these parts once before.

01572

Wine, Women, and Song: More from a Blogger's Birthday Wish List

If you've been hanging out here for a while, you know what I like to get on my birthday, right? Well, once again I've surprised myself with an image of a bountiful woman jumping out of a cake. I know, it isn't a real cake and for that matter it isn't a real woman, but a man can dream. I'm much more comfortable in the world of cartoon imagery anyway.

I can't imagine this sort of thing was ever commonplace entertainment, but this gag was so ubiquitous, perhaps it wasn't all that rare. Maybe it still goes on; I really wouldn't know. The film "Under Siege" (1992) suggested it does, and much of what I know about the world today comes from Steven Seagal movies. While I never in my travels expect to see a real live woman jump out of a cake, I'm still quite happy to have encountered this little surprise so often on my special day if only here on my own blog.

The lively illustration is by Michael ffolkes and it was published on the cover of Punch for the January 20-26, 1971 issue. The cheering men, thankfully, are still older than I am. For that matter, so is Steven Seagal. Thanks, I shouldn't have!

Michael ffolkes,
Punch, January 20-26, 1971

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Punch-Magazine-Jan-26-1971-Wine-Women-Song-/120797249786?pt=Magazines&hash=item1c2013c0fa&nma=true&si=VJo29%252F7WbHpl1SY9gWmnl4%252FkT80%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Note:  The late Michael ffolkes merits more attention from your humble blogger. For now, I have only this to share with you, but it's a doozy!

Did I mention that today is my birthday? See everything on this blogger's birthday wish list here.

01055

Peter Arno's Insider: More from a Blogger's Birthday Wish List

Once again I've reached another birthday, and still I haven't ever seen a pretty young woman pop out of a cake. I don't really expect to. I must not be traveling in the right circles.

Cartoonist Peter Arno, on the other hand, would seem to have been in just the right circles, so I'll have to rely on his expertise. (The truth is, in lieu of the entertainment, I'd rather have this original artwork! --Just in case you're going shopping for me and can somehow locate it.)
 

Peter Arno, "She wants a drink of water."
The New Yorker, January 22, 1949, page 22

May 7, 2017 Update:  This New Yorker cartoon was collected in Peter Arno's Sizzling Platter (New York:  Simon and Schuster, 1949).

Peter Arno's Sizzling Platter (New York:  Simon and Schuster, 1949)
Dust jacket

https://www.fulltable.com/vts/aoi/a/arno/pasp/a.htm

Peter Arno's Sizzling Platter (New York:  Simon and Schuster, 1949)

Pages 100-101

https://www.fulltable.com/vts/aoi/a/arno/pasp/a.htm

http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=2534

0625

From a Blogger's Birthday Wish List

Sometime's it's fun to wish for what you can't have, isn't it? (Yes, I'm referring to this illustration art. What did you think I wanted for my birthday?)

Ronald William Fordham Searle (b.1920) 

Happy Birthday to You 

signed and dated 'Ronald Searle/1994' (lower left) pencil, pen and black ink, watercolour and coloured crayon, unframed 

18 x 12¾in. (45.7 x 32.5cm.) 

Price Realized

£1,528
• ($2,123)
• Sales totals are hammer price plus buyer’s premium and do not reflect costs, financing fees or application of buyer’s or seller’s credits.

Estimate

£1,000 - £1,500
• ($1,390 - $2,085)

Sale Information

Sale 9131 Lot 211
BRITISH & CONTINENTAL WATERCOLOURS,DRAWINGS & ILLUSTRATIONS 
14 June 2001
London, South Kensington

http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?from=searchresults&intObjectID=2070076&sid=56ddf3db-3cbf-4f16-94d7-3c809a8871ef

Note: I know, I know. It's been four long days since my last Searle post for Valentine's Day.

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