J. C. Leyendecker: Thanksgiving, 1628-1928

J. C. Leyendecker's original cover art for the Saturday Evening Post edition of November 24, 1928, depicts the pilgrim's progress over three-hundred years. Its title is Thanksgiving, 1628-1928. The work was sold at Heritage Auctions in 2015.

This was before television was in the home and radio was only in its infancy. People, at least some of them, were actually attending the games on Thanksgiving Day—as they do today. Very likely someone had to stay home and cook.

It's a very nice piece and it sold for a very nice price.

The published magazine cover is shown here above the orignal art:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DC-L5aFvz7M/?img_index=2

05138

Neil Simon to Harvey Orkin

A letter from playwright Neil Simon to writer and talent agent Harvey Orkin has been placed on the market by the latter's son Anthony, now of Portland, Oregon. The letter has a number of inside jokes, apparently, and a rather convoluted timeline. Fortunately, Downtown Brown Books—also of Portland—has done a little research and tries to put it all into context. The typed letter, signed Doctoré on Simon's printed stationery, is available at the time of posting for $240.

Neil Simon
AbeBooks listing accessed September 11, 2024

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31967342353&searchurl=ds%3D30%26kn%3DOrkin%26rollup%3Don%26sortby%3D17%26vci%3D50957077&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp0-_-title4

04743

John Held, Jr.: Football Scarves

A silk scarf design by the great jazz-age illustrator John Held, Jr., depicts a football center giving a thumbs up just before the play. Executed in Held's signature style from the 1920's, it is apparently one of a series of scarves depicting uniformed football players on and off the gridiron. The rare item showed up on AbeBooks in July and was quickly sold. Atypically, this design omits Jr. from the artist's signature. There are some overall condition issues, but then consider that the scarf could very well be a century old.

John Held, Jr.
AbeBooks listing accessed July 4, 2024

https://www.abebooks.com/John-Held-Jr-Scarf-Football-Player/31921866513/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=readmore#&gid=1&pid=1

Sold! Okay, so it's not a book.

There were other football scarves in the series. At least one of them covered some of the action off the field:

John Held, Jr.

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/10883638_printed-china-silk-scarf

And just like that the action is back on the field. Here's another player, a running back maybe:

John Held, Jr.

https://www.juliensauctions.com/en/lots/94282/john-held-jr-hand-painted-silk-scarf

Note:  Perhaps someone can add to what I have posted here about these football scarves with designs by John Held, Jr. To wit, how many of them were issued, and when? What was the original sale price? Were they advertised? It was only about a century ago. Somebody should remember something. 

04736

Charles Addams's First Published Cartoon?

An eBay listing offers a rare 1927 Westfield High School yearbook, the Weather Vane. The eBay seller contends that it holds Charles Addams's first published cartoon, a plausible enough statement. This would have been Addams's sophomore year and the fifteen-year-old is credited as one of three art editors on the yearbook staff. The Addams cartoon in question, dated 1927, appears on page 94 in a section dedicated to the foreign languages—and it's in Latin!

Logic

Terentia:  "When the man began to speak, he did not stop to think."

Cicero:  "But when the woman began to speak, he did not think to interrupt."

It's actually funnier in Latin where the parallel wordplay is more explicit. I don't believe for a minute that this Latin exercise was Addams's idea; he merely illustrated it. He said/she said cartoons were still common back then, but they were soon to be replaced in The New Yorker and later everywhere else, by single-speaker cartoons. The characters, Terentia and her husband Cicero the orator, are vaguely drawn in the style of 1920s newspaper comics. She is drawn as a beautiful flapper and he is drawn as a caricature a little reminiscent of Jiggs from George McManus's comic strip Bringing Up Father. Addams attempts to invoke Ancient Rome with the sandals and those ponderous Roman column table legs. It's rare to see him have any trouble with perspective, but the stool and table leg sit lower on Cicero's side while Terentia's stool is floating just above the tile line. Addams will outgrow all this soon.

Addams may be seen in the yearbook staff photo, I believe, standing to the right of center in the sweater vest.

"IS IT POSSIBLE THAT: . . .                                                         
Charles Addams has learned to play Bethune Jones' Piccolo?"

The yearbook's previous owner observes of Addams, "The neat thing is you can already see his unique, macabre style." And where might that be?

Say it isn't so!

Charles Addams
eBay listing accessed June 10, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175763869365?hash=item28ec57ceb5:g:-eAAAOSwiipkWV-S

Charles Addams
eBay item description

The Westfield Memorial Library has digitized a copy of the 1927 Westfield High School yearbook here. It reveals that Charles Addams had a second published drawing just four pages after the first, an illustration for the Sports section dated 1926. As with the Latin cartoon, he's already signing his name Chas.

I confess I'm not entirely sold on this Addams kid yet. Let's come back in a few years and see what he comes up with.

Image added June 28, 2023

Note:  Is the Latin drawing truly Charles Addams's first published cartoon? Very likely, unless he was previously published in some school or local newspaper. I'd like to hear from anyone who can confirm or refute this. Submissions of other Addams juvenilia, Latin or otherwise, would be welcome too.

04346 

Kirk Stiles in College Humor, January 1940

Did readers of College Humor really identify with the injured football player in Kirk Stiles's cartoon from the January 1940 issue? The unsympathetic coach seems to be a caricature of the trainer who wants to win at all costs. Is it believable and, more importantly, is it funny? Finally, is it worthy of two exclamation points?

"Tie score, three yards to go for goal—and you break a leg!!"
Kirk Stiles
College Humor, Vol. 11, No. 1, January 1940

03863

Creig Flessel: Sidelined

DC comic book artist Creig Flessel (1912-2008) provides the color cover cartoon for the Sunday Pictorial Review of October 9, 1955. There's quite a bit of action on and off the football field.

Creig Flessel
Pictorial Review, Baltimore American, October 9, 1955

Shermund's Sallies is cartoonist Barbara Shermund's humorous take on relationships. Here she depicts strong young women taking action on their marriages.

"I think I've softened Albert up enough—

so I've decided to feel better!"

* * *

"The last straw was when he didn't object to my dating other men!"

Shermund's Sallies

Barbara Shermund

Pictorial Review, Baltimore American, October 9, 1955

The Cheering Section features large cartoons by Syd Hoff and Irving Roir that riff on some widely accepted stereotypes of the 1950s.

"The trouble with you is you can dish it out but you can't cook it!"                                        

Syd Hoff                                        

* * *

                                        "I used to be attracted to young men with padded shoul-

                                        ders 'til I found out the older ones have stuffed wallets."

                                        Irving Roir

Pictorial Review, Baltimore American, October 9, 1955

"And there's no need to worry about the Central Intelligence Agency being too intelligent." George Dixon pokes fun at US government institutions. Otto Soglow illustrates.

And Dixon asks why not a Department of Loafing to counter-balance the Department of Labor?

Illustration by Otto Soglow

Pictorial Review, Baltimore American, October 9, 1955

Pete Howe's Where Wives Are Expendable reports as fact a World War II story about the order in which Arab men and women walk that certainly isn't true. The myth persists today in many versions and is debunked on Snopes.com here.

Illustration by Ralph Stein

Love that Bob:

Louella Parsons on Bob Cummings

Mel Heimer on Jackie Cooper

Pictorial Review
eBay listing accessed November 20, 2021

https://www.ebay.com/itm/154703560304?hash=item24050cfe70:g:Zk0AAOSwnOdhk7s1

Pictorial Review
eBay item description
"...Don't believe anything eBay sends you in my name without checking." Wouldn't dream of it.

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