When Helen E. Hokinson's cartoon collection My Best Girls was published in 1941, she and gagwriter James Reid Parker had been formally collaborating for ten years. Parker wrote the memorable captions that in part kept Hokinson such a celebrated cartoonist. Here fresh from eBay is his copy of the book, gratefully inscribed to him by Hokinson. They were of course on a first-name basis, although Parker went by the name Reid, so there it's technically a middle-name basis.
Note that the quotation from the unseen drawing on the far left below is by John Mason Brown. After her death in a plane crash, the theater critic would come to write an appreciation of the artist for The Saturday Review of Literature issue of December 10, 1949. His tribute appears in The Ladies, God Bless 'em! (1950) and The Hokinson Festival (1956).
Note: The papers of Helen E. Hokinson and of James Reid Parker reside in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University. Wouldn't you like to see them? Me too. Somehow this book didn't make it over there, which ironically is the only reason so many can see it so easily today. Isn't it time for libraries to take their valuable papers out of dusty storage boxes and post digital copies online?
Attempted Bloggery would be only too pleased to document other books personalized by Helen or Reid, as I like to call them.
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| My Best Girls (1941) Helen E. Hokinson "I want to report a winking man" |
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| Title page |
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| Inscribed "For Reid with many many thanks for his wonderful captions, Helen" |
Note that the quotation from the unseen drawing on the far left below is by John Mason Brown. After her death in a plane crash, the theater critic would come to write an appreciation of the artist for The Saturday Review of Literature issue of December 10, 1949. His tribute appears in The Ladies, God Bless 'em! (1950) and The Hokinson Festival (1956).
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| The bottom caption reads in full, "We can't make up our minds whether to buy or build." The New Yorker, May 4, 1940 |
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| Helen E. Hokinson eBay listing ended August 8, 2020 |
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| Helen E.Hokinson eBay bid history Sold for a Best Offer of $10.99 |
Note: The papers of Helen E. Hokinson and of James Reid Parker reside in the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University. Wouldn't you like to see them? Me too. Somehow this book didn't make it over there, which ironically is the only reason so many can see it so easily today. Isn't it time for libraries to take their valuable papers out of dusty storage boxes and post digital copies online?
Attempted Bloggery would be only too pleased to document other books personalized by Helen or Reid, as I like to call them.
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