National Doctors' Day 2026: Gahan Wilson 1969

Tomorrow is National Doctors' Day. Let's celebrate with a 1969 Playboy cartoon by Gahan Wilson set in a physician's office. The original art was sold by Heritage in the November 4 Illustration Art Signature Auction #8224.

"We may already be too late, Mr. Parker."
Gahan Wilson
Original art
Playboy, June 1969, p. 27

The doctor's eyes are squinting—never a good sign. The patient doesn't show any good signs either.

"We may already be too late, Mr. Parker."
Gahan Wilson
Original art
Playboy, June 1969, p. 27

Verso

Sixteen hours before the live auction, the bidding was already strong. But, unlike the patient, it would get stronger.

Gahan Wilson
Heritage Auctions Mainstream Illustration listing accessed sixteen hours before the sale of November 4, 2025

https://fineart.ha.com/itm/mainstream-illustration/gahan-wilson-american-1930-2019-we-may-already-be-too-late-mr-parker-playboy-cartoon-june-1969/a/8224-71272.s?ic16=ViewItem-Auction-Open-OtherAvailable-081514

Gahan Wilson
Heritage Auctions Mainstream Illustration item description

Sold!

Finally, here's the prognosis as it appeared on the printed page:

"We may already be too late, Mr. Parker."
Gahan Wilson
Playboy, June 1969, p. 27

https://www.blackgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Gahan-Wilson-We-May-Already-Be-to-late.jpg

05233

Otto Soglow: On Strike at the Deli

Original Depression Era New Yorker art dating from 1937 by cartoonist Otto Soglow was sold last month on eBay. The sequential drawing takes us into the nitty gritty of a labor dispute at a delicatessen belonging to one E. Swartz. Will the protest be resolved?

Otto Soglow
Original art
The New Yorker, October 9, 1937, p. 27

Soglow has reoworked the last panel a little. There is some white-out in the area of the picketer's forward leg and some glue staining at the bottom of the hanging placard.

Verso

Otto Soglow
eBay listing ended July 23, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/176486041197?_skw=signed+Yorker&itmmeta=01JA75GRHZ41G1ZVP8WQDWXXJC&hash=item291763466d:g:pBoAAOSwgWRmjrhF&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKnl3XP2vwNBdXK9mSCl48A9hYw29Qlqn6EXU2A1VSRfMEnzvcGhb%2F0RFJTi7GyecDSJOi39%2FC--MrlK%2BYo%2F4r6FuidDi%

2BC3nvj5%2F0GD2ipVeaGfw0N0YlpKt7Us1CQF%2F3384j1s5C3PAXQ%2Bm%2FFwHcWq6GHr9CxzFzpzlMGDeezLu2In0SbHVu5h0AZNgv40EWtNkigrnar33CmkdyoIkBj%2FmT7Hg9N%2FTwfAwJfDb4hFa8PMJj8ziO0e15GC%2FSfpctHqXHaNO%2BJsX4phqy%2FSZ81SZVDBQpw0DOSY0798gT2xjQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4qJw-XRZA

Otto Soglow
eBay item description

[End of eBay listing]

In Soglow's final panel, the bottom of the sign that is worn reads Today's Big Special, which repeats the first words on the sign that is carried. The New Yorker's editors evidently had Soglow restore the bottom of that sign to read Local Union, as in the first panel, with a patch that is now lost. Some residual glue must have caused discoloration to that part of the paper.

Otto Soglow
The New Yorker, October 9, 1937, p. 27

Otto Soglow
Original art
The New Yorker, October 9, 1937, p. 27

With cartoons by George Price and Otto Soglow

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1937-10-09/flipbook/026/

* * *

On the other side of the page, cartoonist George Price uses shading and a more relaxed and freewheeling line to produce a very different sort of cartoon image. Here he shows a physician perched upon a laboratory table during an office visit, perhaps not such an unconventional seating choice when there is no examining table. Price, though, is making fun of a cigarette promotion which must have been very familiar at the time to the magazine's readers. Line thickness and empty white space assures that we don't miss the essential speech balloon.

"It suddenly appeared                                         

when I started working on that Old Gold contest."

George Price

The New Yorker, October 9, 1937, p. 26

The thing is, I haven't been able to find a print example of the Old Gold cigarette contest referenced in the Price cartoon. Still, I think I know a caption contest when I see one.

Note:  With the help of enterprising collectors, I would love to dedicate future posts on this blog to examples of original art by the likes of New Yorker cartoonists Otto Soglow and George Price. I would also like to add information about that elusive Old Gold contest right here.

05045

Bernard Schoenbaum: Elder Statesman?

A cartoon by Bernard Schoenbaum set in a doctor's office was published in The New Yorker issue of August 7, 1995.

"The Presidency? By all means, go for it!"
Bernard Schoenbaum
Original art
The New Yorker, August 7, 1995, p 67

One wonders why Schoenbaum is mocking the political ambitions of the elderly patient, whom he depicts unflatteringly, aged and pot-bellied, wearing only his drawers and socks. This is no doubt a dig at Bob Dole, who was eventually to receive the Republican presidential nomination in 1996 at age seventy-three, running against the incumbent Bill Clinton, who would be a relatively spry fifty.

It is strange that The New Yorker's style guide insists on capitalizing the word presidency.

Bernard Schoenbaum
eBay listing ended May 24, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/276746401667?_skw=bernad+Yorker&itmmeta=01K21291F6BPNQRHHNG9P1N6EJ&hash=item406f5ef783:g:Sk8AAOSw2qxnQWDR&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA8FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1c%2B9yqTT6eahwqA49CUFvT6dRJSeL%2F3gAl4JDJV9Xaa8YNYp9a%2FfmFUIRlZ7323AqPGWtlzDWVsJRZe%2FV0z6QyCtor3zCb%2Bd

xNvX0m6%2BjMCytJS1C7NU%2BdBRuxiwZodLIpkAApTUVzceMOpNhOkF1ONNWQ%2FCZOO2EvMIBj9kptbRlOZO%2FPHm1mOUVZ4z64MZJHusZf7r5MnBLKw%2BTln%2FW%2BBffOzXw2luD1HkkU8FoRKExGbJA2B9l7rgPa3UKz7fzX%2BOkb5Ewr36dFk%2FHwlqu8cCW%2F%2BUWsaSpRmVgiXKdiC8w%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5yYpKKQZg

Bernard Schoenbaum
eBay item description

"The Presidency? By all means, go for it!"
Bernard Schoenbaum
The New Yorker, August 7, 1995, p 67

"The Presidency? By all means, go for it!"
Bernard Schoenbaum
Original art
The New Yorker, August 7, 1995, p 67

With cartoons by Edward Frascino and Bernard Schoenbaum

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1995-08-07/flipbook/066/

* * *

The cartoon sitting on the opposite page of The New Yorker, by Edward Frascino, takes us to the other end of the age spectrum.

Jack and Jennifer
Edward Frascino
The New Yorker, August 7, 1995, p 66

Note:  I'm still young enough either to run for president or to post images of original art by Bernard Schoenbaum. Please support my efforts by sending campaign contributions or images of your Schoenbaum art.

05025

The CartoonStock Cartoon Caption Contest No. 189

In the CartoonStock Caption Contest number 189, a doctor engaging in high risk, unhealthy behavior is talking to his patient in the examining room.

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 $170 into the first thirty-four pay-to-play contests and this thirty-fifth challenge brings my total cash outlay up to $175. Having achieved runner-up status with two previous entries, I've collected $200 from CartoonStock, so I'm still playing with the house's money, thank goodness. In fact, so few contestants enter that the odds may generally be considered favorable even for us less-gifted caption writers. My three entries are shown below, above the break. The cartoonist is Peter Kuper. 

"How about something to warm your insides?"
"I don't see any red flags."
"Any second-hand exposures?"
* * *
"And you don't look like much of a patient."
"I didn't get my break."
"Have you considered vices?"
"Take it from me."

February 22, 2025 Update:  The Winner

The Judges Deliberate

Video added March 9, 2025

04870

W. B. Park: Of Clinical Interest

It took some eight years for W. B. Park's drawing, purchased by The New Yorker in 1987, to be published in the magazine. The setting is a doctor's office where a patient is experiencing a conversation one doesn't ever want to have.

"Mr. Wilkins, I believe that your condition is going to get us both into the 'Journal of the American Medical Association.'"
W. B. Park
Original art
The New Yorker, December 4, 1995, p. 52

Detail, left

Detail, right, with W. B. Park's signature

W. B. Park
eBay listing ended September 29, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/196479717432?_skw=Rare+Original+The+New+Yorker+Illustration+Drawing+Published%2C+signed+%26+Fine&itmmeta=01JFEAMZEVH3MXN1T7X4TH9RRT&hash=item2dbf1a9038:g:WQQAAOSwjcpmhI3C&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAABAHoV3kP08IDx

%2BKZ9MfhVJKktkT%2FG%2FeIk3XOS1cJr9n0huGweK%2BlMBbzZAoCVlJ2iM4iGtHEtK33LpByRAeMkwH1hsmJIhnPhthUQ0zD4CDZzCYOJJ%2FKkN3tWN15jgXfdNltgHj8YkJgwApN5QaISwZpelAlg5yFhQVqCoUZIw05Ne0nT7w7B9w5SOMEyE%2F9feQUOt%2BaIW%2FmbbsS

yAsNIidb%2FGd0%2FTcHjqaQoNluVWQ1HdfLIdpuPzBmQ0uHPFchN3t%2FCRObt6BtZyO0qAiB0vYigrQ5tvwjPApF4df5r5lJdv4NRVVP%2Brl75UScKRyfIY9RdFnfArfnCy4FiUd%2BbtAA%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR8D308r7ZA

W. B. Park
eBay item description

"Mr. Wilkins, I believe that your condition is going to get us both into the 'Journal of the American Medical Association.'"
W. B. Park
The New Yorker, December 4, 1995, p. 52

"Mr. Wilkins, I believe that your condition is going to get us both into the 'Journal of the American Medical Association.'"
W. B. Park
Original art
The New Yorker, December 4, 1995, p. 52

With a cartoon by W. B. Park and an advertisement for Starbucks

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1995-12-04/flipbook/052/

Incidentally, Park's Wikipedia page offers us an intriguing explanation of why his work stopped appearing in The New Yorker in 2000 although the statement has been tagged as citation needed. Are any citations for this likely to be forthcoming?

W. B. Park's Wikipedia page accessed December 22, 2024

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._B._Park

04838

W. B. Park: Doctors' Dollars

After years of our perusing cartoons together here, I hope we can agree that the most misguided New Yorker drawings of all are the ones that attempt to find humor at the expense of us beleaguered doctors. To be sure, the very worst of this genre of cartoon must be W. B. Park's ill-conceived 1998 slander against the profession, which I purchased on eBay in July, evidently by mistake, and certainly against any sound judgment, medical or otherwise.

Cartoons which try to get a cheap laugh from physician avarice such as, for example, Richard Taylor's wrongheaded "wrong bag" cartoon, the original of which I somehow also possess, should have no place in the magazine, and that goes especially for Park's thoughtless, amateurish, and pathetic attempt at humor at the expense of hard-working doctors fighting the good fight. I would assume that any self-respecting collector of New Yorker work would want nothing to do with an ill-conceived piece like this, yet somehow I of all people bought the original art for $160, an exorbitant price, but as low as the seller would go below the $205 ask. Surely I have better things to do with my money.

"Sure, we doctors make a lot of money. But, don't forget, we spend a heck of a lot, too."
W. B. Park
Original art
The New Yorker, February 13, 1998, p. 31

W. B. Park's signature

W. B. Park
eBay listing ended July 11, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/204866903789?_skw=Yorker+signed&itmmeta=01J9JCFPRVYHAG2X5V0HTH0WPN&hash=item2fb304deed:g:rpgAAOSwnRdmhJGY&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA0HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKm16TgobPTHtsXYxPAUtWjYc5FtDHJe7jQxVfaCHxiqimISGVhV4MhaNb%2BIwCojskz2eZ3y6QBuek

Arc3jaN4ut3H7CG9nsKpiCSj%2B45a3v5h0NijcxHTx9rB1vrVIw1SnTQ85NSbTRQ1zZdneUbdLhAlo8EunBQ5Y%2B3UDvk%2FEF5LbnsG0KwWXTEHhkN5hK7POvoYyFqIdlD0rsrBWkRSpi3%2Bv4R7IV7m6CxEp8mEeGmeSPy4QfHMq9BiekY4CVOn4%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR8LsvszMZA

W. B. Park
eBay item description

"Sure, we doctors make a lot of money. But, don't forget, we spend a heck of a lot, too."
W. B. Park
The New Yorker, February 13, 1998, p. 31

"Sure, we doctors make a lot of money. But, don't forget, we spend a heck of a lot, too."
W. B. Park
Original art
The New Yorker, February 13, 1998, p. 31

With cartoons by William Haefeli and W. B. Park

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1998-04-13/flipbook/030/

In contrast, The New Yorker portrays the aspiring business tycoon with relative sensitivity:

"Don't disturb Daddy. He's busy visualizing unparalleled success in the business world and, by extension, a better life for us all."
William Haefeli
The New Yorker, February 13, 1998, p. 30

04831