Donald Reilly: Life Can Be Good

In an original New Yorker cartoon from the summer of 1978, Donald Reilly's boater muses on how "Life can be good . . ."

"Life can be good, I've found. It all depends on the product,
the media mix, and the demographics."
Donald Reilly
Framed original art
The New Yorker, August 21, 1978, p. 27

It's a very breezy, loose drawing.

Donald Reilly's signature

The handwritten caption

Hmm. Is the mite included for scale?

Donald Reilly
eBay listing ended May 23, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/294647743603?_skw=signed+Yorker&itmmeta=01K26BM1S185R71396XZA8CJ7X&hash=item449a5fc473:g:o4YAAOSwUVBhtAvV&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA0FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1eFPYSOqLno447W%2B2OBisseB2qi6M%2FAcHEB1hmo2yIHUvlmnPv0b0REDgMt4I237HMk%2B

%2FzTF7wRdJRcwrU0hnPEOsRkOokmWm2cnlNiHaFwF4%2FgNFvbWbjmS%2BkCk%2FmQADwLQwXfmZa5Xe9SRwAScKrne%2F9A6cfMLExslXNzNGChroAz6NHgtHTFf3NujWMvOqZS3Pv9WyctvvxjnRjzI2j4YAdsvL9bb693Q%2FshY82S4Eryll3vaLUnhaRUNeSAMm4%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9yc0MuRZg

The eBay seller may have misspelled the name of this piece's original owner. It seems to have come from the collection of American expressionist painter Harry Shoulberg (1903-1995).

Donald Reily
eBay item description

[End of eBay listing]

"Life can be good, I've found. It all depends on the product,
the media mix, and the demographics."
Donald Reilly
The New Yorker, August 21, 1978, p. 27

"Life can be good, I've found. It all depends on the product,
the media mix, and the demographics."
Donald Reilly
Framed original art
The New Yorker, August 21, 1978, p. 27

With drawings by Dana Fradon and Donald Reilly

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1978-08-21/flipbook/026/

* * *

The clever cartoon on the page opposite is by Dana Fradon.

"Do you know what your problem is? You can only

move one square at a time."

Dana Fradon

The New Yorker, August 21, 1978, p. 26

Checkmate!

05027

Charles Saxon at "Drawn From The New Yorker: A Centennial Celebration"

As the commercial airline industry boomed in the postwar period, affluent Americans did more traveling abroad, particularly in Europe. The New Yorker went with them. Charles Saxon's 1966 magazine cover depicts two older couples taking a gondola ride in Venice, a gentle subversion of our romantic expectations.

Charles Saxon
Original art
The New Yorker, June 25, 1966

Charles Saxon
The New Yorker, June 25, 1966

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1966-06-25/flipbook/CV1/

The original cover art is on display at "Drawn From The New Yorker: A Centennial Celebration" at the Society of Illustrators. The exhibition, curated by Liza Donnelly,  also includes a print of a classic Saxon cartoon from the mid-seventies. No one captured the upper classes and their attitudes quite like Saxon.

"It was nice. Hard times give everyone such a sense of camaraderie."
Charles Saxon
Print
The New Yorker, April 7, 1975, p. 33

"It was nice. Hard times give everyone such a sense of camaraderie."
Charles Saxon
The New Yorker, April 7, 1975, p. 33

With a chess spot by TG and a cartoon by Charles Saxon

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1975-04-07/flipbook/032/

* * *

Note:  I know I asked this once before, but who is the spot artist TG?

Spot drawing of chess pieces
TG
The New Yorker, April 7, 1975, p. 32

04898

Eight Caricatures of Stephen Sondheim

There's another lot in Doyle's recent Stephen Sondheim sale that caught my attention. It contained eight caricatures from the composer's estate. The songwriter kept many framed likenesses of himself. Some are original art and some are reproductions.

Martin Kreloff

 

Naturally one of the original works caught my eye right away, an original mock-New Yorker cover. The unsigned caricature here is, alas, not a good likeness. The rhyming dictionary may well have been one of Sondheim's tools, but he could hardly have relied on it enough to merit its inclusion front and center. This seems to detract from his accomplishment, which countless other musical composers with countless other rhyming dictionaries could hardly approach. The chess board on which the master writes music has gotten the dark and light squares all wrong, the graphic equivalent of a lyric that doesn't quite scan. I suppose this was something made as a personal gift and never actually submitted to the magazine, but anything's possible. The presence of the frame, at least, suggests That Sondheim himself was pleased with it, as he must have been pleased with all these pieces.

Trog (Wally Fawkes)

John Minnion

The lyrics in the Squigs picture are from "Anyone Can Whistle," "A Little Night Music," "Company," "Sweeney Todd," "Marry Me a Little", "Into the Woods," and "Sunday in the Park with George." There  may be other shows represented as well.

Justin "Squigs" Robertson

Stephen Sondheim
Doyle sale of June 18, 2024

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/eight-caricatures-of-stephen-sondheim-237-c-14c4435b61?objectID=189111447&algIndex=upcoming_lots_prod&queryID=892c36dd40f196a000e9db97625bc6e7

Stephen Sondheim
Doyle item description

Note:  I have yet to identify half these artists. Any help would be appreciated.

04676

The CartoonStock Cartoon Caption Contest No. 177

In the CartoonStock Caption Contest #177, the white knight is on the witness stand as the trial is played out on a chess board. The rules of the monthly cash prize contest have not changed and neither has my description of them: five dollars buys up to three entries. Real cash prizes are $500 for first place and $100 for each of five runners up. As of this writing, I've put $110 into the first twenty-two pay-to-play contests and this twenty-third challenge brings my total cash outlay up to $115. Having had two previous runner-up entries, I've collected $200, so I'm still playing with the house's money, thank goodness. In fact, so few contestants enter that the odds are generally favorable even to us less-gifted caption writers—and chess players. My three entries are shown below, above the break. The cartoonist is Bob Eckstein.

"Did you or did you not take the black queen for all she was worth?"
"What kind of pervert forks the queen and the king?"
"How can you claim to begin on a white square and yet end up on black?"
* * *
"The witness will refrain from jumping . . . to conclusions."
"And what heinous action did you take when the Queen's Gambit was declined?"

March 16, 2024 Update:  The Winner

The Caption Contest Judges Deliberate

04598

My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #801

This week, I contemplated my move in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #801 from the issue of May 9, 2022. My entry is shown below. The drawing is by Adam Sacks.

"That settles it. We just go to Hell's kitchen."

 

May 21, 2022 Update:  The Finalists

May 28, 2022 Update:  I voted for the caption from South Burlington.

May 30, 2022 Update:  The Winner

03951

Barney Tobey: Chess Players

Barney Tobey's drawing of two men playing chess was originally sold by the Nicholls Gallery in New York to a collector in Lansing. It may or may not have been included in his 1976 exhibition there. It is apparently an illustration or spot drawing but its publication history is uncertain. It was offered on eBay in August at $599, then the price was raised $1,000. It was sold in September for an undisclosed best offer price.

There is liberal use of white out.

Barney Tobey's signature

Based on the pencil lines, Tobey relocated his signature slightly to the right.

Barney Tobey
eBay listing ended September 5, 2021

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284420875897?hash=item4238ce2679%3Ag%3Amt4AAOSwigRhGbIz&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Barney Tobey
eBay item description

The drawing was offered on eBay at two different price points, subsequently sold for an unknown amount.

Note:  I would appreciate hearing from anyone who can shed more light on this piece.

03828