Otto Soglow: Four-in-Hand

It isn't often one sees a work of straight illustration by cartoonist Otto Soglow, creator of the Little King, but one such drawing with a Christmas theme turned up on eBay earlier this year. It has a central lozenge-shaped image depicting a four-in-hand being driven through a nighttime snowfall. This image is drawn supported by a metal stand and is flanked on either side by a burning candle. The seasonal illustration bears no resemblance to Soglow's typical stylized cartoons. It could very well be a magazine illustration.

Otto Soglow
eBay listing accessed January 26, 2021

https://www.ebay.com/itm/OTTO-SOGLOW-LITTLE-KING-CARTOONIST-S-ORIGINAL-MAG-CHRISTMAS-ART/233870266229?hash=item3673c10f75:g:BW0AAOSwcdJgDGpX

Otto Soglow
eBay item description

Note:  I would like to hear from anyone who can locate this illustration's place of publication.

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Peter Arno: Courtesy of Men Only?

In March of 1943, a periodical called The Artist reproduced a drawing by The New Yorker's most popular cartoonist Peter Arno. The gag had originally been meant for publication as a full page but here it appeared much smaller, somewhat ironically on the same page as an article about Punch cartoons. Most curious is an attribution stating the cartoon appeared "Courtesy of Men Only." Men Only was a British men's magazine launched in 1935. Is that where this Arno gag was first published?

Peter Arno
The Artist, March 1943, page 17

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144056651526?...

Hardly. It should come as no surprise that this Arno gag first appeared more than a year earlier in The New Yorker. The misattribution to Men Only is a bit of a mystery. One wonders where the royalty check was sent.

Spot drawing by Abe Birnbaum and cartoon by Peter Arno

Note:  At the time of posting the single page from The Artist is listed on eBay for GBP 17 plus shipping.

I would love to hear of any Peter Arno drawings that may have actually been published in Men Only.

Abe Birnbaum

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