J. B. Handelsman: Why Mr. Dobkin Is Not Walt Whitman

In yesterday's post on New Yorker cartoonist J. B. "Bud" Handelsman, I asked for additional pieces of original art to share here. Longtime contributor David from Manhattan came through with a fine New Yorker drawing. He writes:

The cartoon, 11" x 8", is from Feb. 2, 1987. I bought this years ago on eBay, with Condé Nast the seller for a client who owned that iconic Sam Gross frogs' legs cartoon that brought $30,000 at auction. The attraction for me was the poetry reference in the caption, though taking the photo I was reminded of the artist's care in making sure each man's clothing was rendered in a different shade, even managing a hint of brown in the prosecutor's suit and gray blue in the stubborn gentleman in the witness chair.

"Walt Whitman may well have contradicted himself, Mr. Dobkin, but chances are he wasn't under oath at the moment."
J. B. Handelsman
Original art
The New Yorker, February 2, 1987, p. 75

Detail of the witness

Detail of the judge and attorney

Here's what we see in print:

"Walt Whitman may well have contradicted himself, Mr. Dobkin, but chances are he wasn't under oath at the moment."
J. B. Handelsman
 The New Yorker, February 2, 1987, p. 75

"Walt Whitman may well have contradicted himself, Mr. Dobkin, but chances are he wasn't under oath at the moment."
J. B. Handelsman
Original art
 The New Yorker, February 2, 1987, p. 75

With a spot drawing by Tom Funk and a cartoon by J. B. Handelsman

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1987-02-02/flipbook/074/

* * * 

Spot drawing
Tom Funk

Note:  For those who don't recognize the poem "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman, the relevant lines are:

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)

My thanks to David from Manhattan for keeping the discussion of J. B. Handelsman going with today's post. This is David's sixty-seventh contribution to Attempted Bloggery and they're all worthwhile.

Let me repeat my call to action since it met with such success yesterday. There is a lot of original art by Bud Handelsman in private collections and very few blogs willing to put it out there for the world to see. Remember, this is a big blog. It can contain multitudes. 

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Rob's Copy of The Art in Cartooning

The book is The Art in Cartooning:  Seventy-five years of American Magazine Cartoons, published in 1975. The original owner was named Rob and he had the good sense to get his copy at a signing with multiple cartoonists present. The four who signed and decorated his book were Gahan Wilson, Sam Gross, Marvin Tannenberg, and Bill Woodman. The cover art is, of course, by Charles Saxon.

Inside the book, the cartoonists play off each other's sketches, top to bottom. Wilson starts it off in his macabre manner with a drawing of a waiter serving his customer: "This what you asked for, sir?" Gross changes the culinary subject to frog legs, a convenient reference to his most famous cartoon, which appeared in the National Lampoon: "No, you yo-yo / He asked for frogs legs." Tannenberg supplies a missing frog leg on his self-portrait with "What's this craziness with frog's legs[?]"

What's on the menu? Woodman takes us out of the dining room and into the kitchen where a chef is in the preliminary stages of preparing dinner. With a full page (or at the very least half of one) to himself, Woodman shines.

The Art in Cartooning
eBay listing ended August 2, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/204890575268?epid=2911644&itmmeta=01J4AZMZ64DACWYWKGTV6M9R3X&hash=item2fb46e11a4:g:WtwAAOSwzFtk1BCX&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8Oz%2F1S0dmyDe7H2Y4X6i22p5vCV7MZPCQyGxvEkZG5ra%2FNVuozwauT2KyCj15RYCcZGnvvG%2BHesoDlO%2BeCG1o6lb7%2Fd9YyEpCAFKBEWvVU7MMJ%2FMfcu97t

ufa%2FsdO6hSiLkl%2BWilTk1Y812aAo4LHrmgo%2BbaDGqVtOvcBiuoCKhRgjaDlZXYAgeErEl1GOGEUE1SeZ5S2jyjWegGW4LCNAq604XGAk6g5ic%2Bir6deftQunh03Mz5%2BI5VINWjXvFa9PU8vjP6leJfp56vbEzI9ujeR%2BrJtxG7Wpwl%2F%2ByFVNLqmZPiYMo2t0WgvtCOHKL9DQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5Tz09-iZA

The Art in Cartooning
eBay item description

A best offer of $175 was not accepted. A counteroffer of $195 nevertheless sealed the deal.

Note:  This is the tenth very special copy of this book to appear here on the blog. Scans or photos of other personalized copies from book signings of yore are welcome.

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Charles Addams: A Pair of Frog Drawings

Two drawings of frogs by Charles Addams came up for sale at Christie's last year. The London branch of the auction house had surprisingly little to say about these American drawings, not even that the previous owners were, to all appearances, frog fanciers.

Charles Addams, 1969
"I may be running on this platform quite soon myself    CA"

Charles Addams
Christie's London June 4, 2019

https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/charles-addams-1912-1988-but-how-do-i-6206673-details.aspx

That's it from Christie's. Now it's my turn. The first question to ask is whether the finished Addams cartoon was published and, if so, did it appear in The New Yorker. Yes on both counts, in 1959. Note how much more vivid Addams original is compared with the scan of the cartoon from the magazine's website.

Cartoons by Otto Soglow and Charles Addams

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1959-12-19/flipbook/034/

The second thing to note is the accompanying Addams drawing hastily colored with felt-tip pen. It is dated 1969 and depicts an unfortunate frog outside a restaurant with a sign boasting "Frog's Legs Our Specialty." It seems glaringly obvious that the concept of the unpublished Addams sketch bears a decided resemblance to that of Sam Gross's classic cartoon published in National Lampoon in 1970.

Charles Addams, 1969
"I may be running on this platform quite soon myself    CA"

https://mikelynchcartoons.blogspot.com/2010/12/sam-gross-frog-legs-original-cartoon.html

Note:  Who doesn't love original Charles Addams art? You're invited to share what you've got right here on Attempted Bloggery. Send me an image of something good. I'm in the book.

Sure, I'll accept original Sam Gross art too.

By the way, don't skip the Xmas charity appeal cartoon by Otto Soglow on the New Yorker page opposite Addams's frog drawing. How long will it be until we aging cartoon bloggers need to explain to the next generation of readers what a telephone booth is?

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