Barbara Shermund at "Drawn From The New Yorker: A Centennial Celebration"

As one enters the New York townhouse which the Society of Illustrators calls home, one immediately encounters a striking art deco drawing by pioneering cartoonist Barbara Shermund. This looks to have once had a scathingly clever caption, but in the Society's own collection it bears only the descriptive title Formally Dressed Sophisticates With Long Cigarette Holders. Although it did not appear in The New Yorker and is not a part of the current show, "Drawn From The New Yorker: A Centennial Celebration," it fits right in and sets the festive mood.

Formally Dressed Sophisticates With Long Cigarette Holders
Barbara Shermund

The exhibition is curated by New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly. Shermund's nine-panel gem is from the collection of Donnelly and her husband, fellow cartoonist Michael Maslin. It was published in 1928 but seems almost contemporary in its point of view.

"You're a very intelligent little woman, my dear!"
Barbara Shermund
Original art
The New Yorker, May 19, 1928, pp. 30-31

The exclamation point pencilled on the original art does not appear in the published cartoon, where less emphasis is generally taken to be more. The magazine's creative layout displays the sequential art to maximal effect.

With a cartoon by Barbara Shermund

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1928-05-19/flipbook/030/

Here's one Shermund original with an unknown publication history:

"Yes, we're going to Europe—Henry's drinking too much"
Barbara Shermund
1930s

Image added February 16, 2025

Finally, a 1939 New Yorker cover shows a woman looking into the oval mirror on her vanity. Long ago the art was framed with a pretend oval vanity mirror, an unfortunate choice.

Barbara Shermund
Original art
The New Yorker, March 18, 1939

I do like the fact that Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund, Caitlin McGurk's 2024 monograph on the artist, shows the preliminary art side by side with the published cover. But what I don't like is the way the bottom of the published art was cropped, eliminating an elbow, makeup, and part of the artist's signature.

From Caitlin McGurk's Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins:  The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund, 2024, p. 49

https://issuu.com/fantagraphics/docs/tell_me_a_story_barbara_shermund_caitlin_mcgurk_pr

So here's the full magazine cover, including the strap on the left, as published. Really, am I asking too much? Don't answer that.

Barbara Shermund
The New Yorker, March 18,1939

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1939-03-18/flipbook/CV1/

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Michael ffolkes: Mistletoe Mistake?

Michael ffolkes's 1970 Playboy cartoon depicts a lifestyle of casual sex that was surely more male fantasy than reality. The mistletoe looks to be patched on by the artist; hence the slight irregularity in the thickness of the string where the white and yellow meet. Having mistletoe hung over the bed is a stretch, but it's the basic assumption of the cartoon. 

"Why, Mr. Bernstein, you didn't remember to kiss me."
Michael ffolkes
Playboy, January 1970, p. 258

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265502645676?...

The lit cigarette in bed was an old cliche even then, obviously intended to tell us this is a postcoital scene. Like many Playboy cartoons, it's conceived for what is today often referred to as the male gaze, he in pajamas and she with her gravity-defying breasts exposed. This cartoon raises a number of questions I don't have the answers to. Did Mr. Bernstein in fact bother to undress for sex, or did he put the pajamas on afterwards? Is she an employee of his? Is it his bed? Hers? Why give him a Jewish surname if there is mistletoe hung over the bed—or does that explain why he didn't know to kiss her? The humor hangs on a very sad, to me, assumption that both parties were willing to have sex without kissing. The Playboy lifestyle indeed!

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The CartoonStock Caption Contest #145

It's time to go with the floe in the CartoonStock Caption Contest #145. My three captions are shown below. The drawing is by Liam Francis Walsh.

"I told you I'll quit before all the ice melts."
"I might set fire to what?"
"Our days are numbered anyway."

January 5, 2021 Update:  The Winner

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George Booth: Decorating the Tree

For the December 1947 issue of Leatherneck, cartoonist George Booth illustrates how the Marines work together to decorate a Christmas tree. It would be more than twenty-one years from the time of this magazine cover before his first cartoon was to appear in the New Yorker. Today he has been one of that magazine's most beloved contributors for more than half a century.

George Booth
Leatherneck, December 1947

Alan Hale, Sr., with the ABC's of Chesterfields

George Booth
eBay Listing Accessed July 26, 2020

https://www.ebay.com/itm/LEATHERNECK-MAGAZINE-December-1947-Subic-Bay-Sand-Point-Yuletide/174053654089?hash=item288667fe49:g:JXUAAOSwJUBdl64y

George Booth
eBay Item Description

Note:  At the time of this posting, the December 1947 Leatherneck magazine remains available on eBay. I would love to hear from those with access to other rarities by George Booth from the days before his time at the New Yorker.

 

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