A little more than a decade ago the Peacock Inn of Princeton, New Jersey, underwent an extensive renovation. Down in the basement, long forgotten murals were discovered hidden under wallpaper. They proved to be decorations from an abandoned speakeasy. The artist was John Held, Jr., the hugely popular American illustrator of the 1920s. The rediscovered murals, lost treasures of the jazz age, were preserved by cutting them out of the the walls and mounting them in frames. They now hang on the main level in the Perch restaurant. The mural images are all in black and white. I found myself sitting under this one upon my first visit to the restaurant and unable to take my eyes off it:
That darts player is a lefty:
A dancing flapper:
Is this an exhausted couple, or are they just so bored with it all?
The brilliant mathematician John von Neumann was apparently known locally for motoring around Princeton somewhat heedlessly while reading a book. As my waiter explained, this was the rough equivalent of texting while driving today. Fair enough. Von Neumann's appearance in this most impressive mural would date it to fairly late in Prohibition, as he wasn't invited to Princeton until 1929 and Prohibition was repealed in 1933.
The Perch restaurant's menu is outstanding and I would recommend dining at the Peacock Inn even if the Held murals weren't there. That's pretty much my highest recommendation. How about that! Check out the menu online and see if it's for you.
Note: Original art by John Held, Jr., is just the sort of thing I like to show here on Attempted Bloggery. For our purposes, Held's block prints may be regarded as original cartoons, as there certainly aren't very many of them for any given image. Please email images of prized Held art to a friendly blog near you.
I would love to see more photographs of murals by New Yorker cartoonists, especially those of the lost-and-found variety like these. See what you can come up with.
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