In The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #999 from the issue of July 27, 2026, a couple seated in their living room look up at a giant hole in a wall where an elephant has just gone out. The man speaks. My submission is shown below. The drawing is by Tom Toro.
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| "Enough with the dad jokes." |
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| "Now what do we avoid talking about?" |
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Among his many accomplishments, cartoonist Thomas Nast was largely responsible for establishing the elephant as the symbol of the Republican Party. He first introduced a pachyderm labeled "The Republican Vote" in a Harper's Weekly cartoon from the November 7, 1874, issue. The parable of "The Ass in the Lion's Skin" is from Aesop, not Shakespeare.
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| The Third-Term Panic. "An Ass, having put on the Lion's skin, roamed about in the Forest, and amused himself by frightening all the foolish Animals he met with in his wanderings."—Shakspeare or Bacon. Thomas Nast Harper's Weekly, November 7, 1874, p. 912 |
Two weeks later, he revisited the idea, showing the hapless Republican elephant "Caught in a Trap—The Result of the Third-Term Hoax." Nast, a Republican, was reacting in both cartoons to unfounded speculation that Ulysses S. Grant would run for an unprecedented third presidential term in 1876. Argosy Book Store has a copy of the November 21 page in its inventory.
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| Caught in a Trap—The Result of the Third-Term Hoax. Thomas Nast Harpers Weekly, November 21, 1874, p. 960 |
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Mr. Peanut shows an apartment to a large elephant in silhouette in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #884 from the issue of February 5, 2024. My caption is shown below. The drawing is by Lonnie Millsap.
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| "The house rules say no stomping late at night and absolutely no peanut shells." |
This caption didn't move me:
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| "Most of your sort have moved upstate." |
February 23, 2024 Update: The Finalists
March 2, 2024 Update: I voted for the caption from Austin.
March 9, 2024 Update: The Winner
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| Peter de Sève AbeBooks listing accessed September 29, 2023 |
Is this really the way to sell original cartoon art? Four more drawings by Richard Oldden changed hands on eBay on May 5 for a paltry $67.51 plus $20 shipping. Their publication history is unknown. In the space of a week, six distinct groupings of four original works each were sold on the online auction platform, along with another smaller group of two known to be from The New Yorker. Oldden's work doesn't come to the market all that often and this type of sudden mass sale only serves to commodify the art and overwhelm the potential buyers.
Oldden delighted in drawing all manner of complex things. The settings are exotic. In this group we see submarines in two drawings, Indian elephants, and a Middle Eastern oil refinery.
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| "Ahoy there, fishing boat!" "Hold them until we find her other lens." |
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| Versos with New York stamps |
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| Richard Oldden eBay listing ended May 5, 2023 |
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| Richard Oldden eBay item description |
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| Richard Oldden eBay bid history After seven days, two bidders place two last minute bids four seconds apart. The last bid gets it all. |
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Note: If you can find any of these cartoons somewhere out there on the printed page, please send word.
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A group of four original cartoons by Richard Oldden (May 4, 1931-Feb 21, 1995) shows just how funny it can be when things go wrong. .jpeg)
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| "Oh, it's lux[u]rious enough . . . but we have this problem with fl[ie]s . . . " William Tell |
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| Leak in the dike Desert island sand sculpture |
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| Versos |
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| Richard Oldden eBay listing ended April 30, 2023 |
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| Richard Oldden eBay item description |
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| Richard Oldden eBay bid history Seven days, two bidders, seven bids, and the last bid wins |
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| 888 Temple Hills Dr., Laguna Beach, CA Google Earth Street View Accessed May 15, 2023 |
Note: I would like to hear from readers who might know where any or all of these Richard Oldden cartoons were published.
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| Mal Hancock eBay listing ended January 15, 2023 |
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| "The G.O.P is clueless on rebranding." "No planes—maybe we're both just wasted." "It's innovative all right, but I prefer the classics." |
September 27, 2022 Update: The Winner
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I had my ups and downs with The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #810 from the issue of July 11 & 18, 2022. My caption is shown below. It's hard to believe I had two weeks to work on this. The drawing is by Lonnie Millsap.
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| "It's a jungle in here." |
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| "Be careful what you say. He never forgets." "I hope you won't feel suffocated by the elevator music." "Guess my latest crush." "Mind the gap." |
July 25, 2022 Update: The Finalists
August 2, 2022 Update: I voted for the caption from Burke.
August 8, 2022 Update: The Winner
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Pretend not to notice the Cartoon Collections Caption Contest #114. My three entries are below. The drawing is by Teresa Burns Parkhurst.
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| "How many of us will it take till one of them notices?" "This doesn't speak well for our credibility." "Really? I didn't see any people in the living room." |
These captions weren't plausible:
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| "You'd think one of them would put on Fox News." "Even I can't take us seriously." |
February 25, 2021 Update: The Winner
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