Charles Addams: Mrs. Gilson's Day Nursery School

Argosy Book Store of New York City has acquired a 1959 New Yorker rough by Charles Addams. It is hard to imagine another single panel cartoonist whose preliminary work would be priced at $4,000. To the shop's credit, the issue of the magazine in which the finished cartoon appears is fully cited.

Mrs. Gilson's Day Nursery School

Charles Addams

Preliminary art

The New Yorker, November 21, 1959, p. 42

The full sheet has some paper losses at the lower left and top center.

Mrs. Gilson's Day Nursery School

Charles Addams

Preliminary art

The New Yorker, November 21, 1959, p. 42

Charles Addams's corrections to the man observing the school are evident above his signature

The subject matter, it's safe to say, is one that would not be mined by the magazine today for humor. Addams gets away with it by only implying the presence of children, and by portraying Mrs. Gilson as matronly. The machine gun is a disciplinary prop; the school is a prison.

Detail of the man observing Mrs. Gilson at work

Verso

Charles Addams
Argosy Book Store listing retrieved October 20, 2022

https://www.argosybooks.com/details.php?record=310763&jump=1&pkd_source=_wantm&utm_source=website&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wantmatch

For the finished composition, Addams has made the observer more prominent, enlarging his figure and widening the sidewalk.

Mrs. Gilson's Day Nursery School

Charles Addams

The New Yorker, November 21, 1959, p. 42

Mrs. Gilson's Day Nursery School

Charles Addams

Preliminary art

The New Yorker, November 21, 1959, p. 42

Cartoons by Charles Addams and Gardner Rea

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1959-11-21/flipbook/042/

Addams's finished drawing with its masterful shading contrasts nicely on the magazine's page spread with the line work of cartoonist Gardner Rea. Rea's Thanksgiving turkeys are here referring to that year's crop of cranberries contaminated with pesticides. That historical episode has been largely forgotten.

The Great Cranberry Scare of 1959

February 4, 2023 Update:  The Addams rough is no longer available (sold today, I believe).

Note:  Today, of course, a gun gag set in a nursery school would be unthinkable. School mass shootings were not an issue in Addams's time. In recent years, the reality of schools and guns is handled very soberly in the magazine, often on the covers and, of course, in the editorial content. See, for example, the recent Cover Story: "Chris Ware's 'Lockdown.'"

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George Shellhase: Finding the Right Words

Sometimes it's important not to lie but also not to say too much. The prisoners appearing in George Shellhase's (1895-1988) original art, which is currently listed on Chairish, seem to understand this. For convicts, they possess both a sense of morality and of shame. This makes them unthreatening, sympathetic even, as they are clearly in a bit over their heads, particularly the young man writing a letter home. Still, the drawing shows the hardships they face as mostly benign. The caption demonstrates how finding just the right words can make even hard labor sound respectable. 

The letters Amer written on the verso of the drawing might indicate publication either in the American Magazine or in the American Legion Magazine. The $700 asking price sounds as if the seller is being a little unrealistic, but the listing still allows for a reasonable offer.

"Just tell her you're working for the government."
George Shellhase
Original cartoon art

https://www.chairish.com/product/4081238/1950s-new-yorker-cartoonist-george-m-shellhase-mid-century-original-drawing

Verso

George Shellhase's signature

George Shellhase

Just Another Art Gallery Online, Hollywood, FL

Chairish listing accessed February 21, 2022

https://www.chairish.com/product/4081238/1950s-new-yorker-cartoonist-george-m-shellhase-mid-century-original-drawing

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Claude Smith: A Captive Audience

A 1955 print advertisement for advertising agency Young & Rubicam humorously illustrates the concept of a captive television audience. TV was a new medium but the advertising industry was working hard to assure clients of the crucial importance of having compelling commercials. The amusing ad is unsigned but on stylistic grounds it can reliably be attributed to cartoonist Claude Smith.

The only captive audience
that counts is the one that's
captured by the sheer excellence
of your commercials.
Claude Smith
Young & Rubicam advertisement
1955

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-Young-Rubicam-Captive-Audience-Vintage-Print-Ad/273787420072?hash=item3fbf007da8:g:Yo0AAOSw-ZRcoWC9

For the sake of comparison, here from the blog archives is a television-themed New Yorker cartoon by Claude Smith who, when he does sign his name, signs simply Claude.

"We had color, but it kept clashing with the room."
Claude Smith
The New Yorker, April 21, 1956, page 32

https://attemptedbloggery.blogspot.com/2017/05/claude-in-color.html?utm_content=buffer413f3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Note:  By all means leave a comment if you disagree with my attribution of this drawing to Claude Smith. Also drop a line if you know the publication and date in which this ad appeared.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Claude Smith

Advertising

Prison Gags

Young & Rubicam

Attempted Bloggery's Solitary Index

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Twenty by Ed Arno

A group of twenty published cartoons by Ed Arno were sold on eBay in 2013 for a mere $75. It is unclear where and when they saw publication.

Ed Arno, Twenty cartoons including overlays with printer's annotations

Ed Arno, Missing caption (L) —"Something as inconspicuous as possible—they've automated my job and forgotten to fire me." (R)

Ed Arno, "My teaching machine hates me!" (L) —"The recipe calls for a dash. How many metric dashes is that?" (R)

Ed Arno, "Oh, just the usual, Ed—erosion of moral fibre, technological glut, the decline of passion, the dehumanization of the self. What have you been thinking about today?" (L) — "No, dammit, Hawkins. I will not agree to disagree." (R)

The drawing on the left missing its caption also appeared in yesterday's blog post.

Ed Arno, Missing caption (L) — "Wow! I lost 108 pounds." (R)

Ed Arno, "I've found a substance which doesn't cause cancer in laboratory animals!! I've found a substance...!!" (L) — "Sorry about that. When I read your bumper sticker, I'm afraid I just lost my temper." (R)

Ed Arno, Would welcome Korean subsidy (L) — Teen-Talk Self Taught (R)

Ed Arno, Two prison gag cartoons:  Think (L) — Untitled (R)

Ed Arno, Karate Training (L) — Untitled caveman gag cartoon (R)

Ed Arno, Two tombstone gag cartoons:  Harold J. Jones (L) — Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (R)

Ed Arno, "It's a survey—do you still love me?" (L) — Drawing of a cameraman (R)

eBay Listing Ended April 6, 2013

http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-Vintage-Original-Ed-Arno-Drawings-Sketches-The-New-Yorker-SEP-Artist-/181113142815?pt=Art_Drawings&hash=item2a2b2f3e1f&nma=true&si=VJo29%252F7WbHpl1SY9gWmnl4%252FkT80%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

eBay Item Description

eBay Bid History
One bid within three hours of the auction close

Note:  Don't forget about Attempted Bloggery's archival posts about Ed Arno as well as other examples of original cartoon art.

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Ed Arno's Jailbreak

The original artwork for a two-panel cartoon by Ed Arno was sold on eBay two years ago. For a cartoon depicting a jailbreak, it proves surprisingly heartwarming.

eBay Listing Ended March 17, 2013

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ed-Arno-Orig-Signed-Drawing-Escape-11x5-1-2-/330706684589?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4cffa78aad&nma=true&si=VJo29%252F7WbHpl1SY9gWmnl4%252FkT80%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

eBay Item Decription

Note:  Want more?  Check out the archives for more cartoons by Ed Arno or other examples of original cartoon art.

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A Charles Addams Letter on the Freeport Jail

Admirers of cartoonist Charles Addams must have written to him about all sorts of Gothic architecture. We know that Mrs. John Walton Barrett of Freeport, Illinois informed Mr. Addams of the fate of the Freeport Jail, which burned down in 1962 under circumstances which are apparently considered suspicious to this day. She enclosed a photograph of the lost architectural gem. Mr. Addams responded graciously on New Yorker stationery and expressed his appreciation. 

27 Feb 63

Dear Mrs. Barrett

I'm very happy with the photograph and story on the Freeport Jail—a building designed by a true Gothic hand. It is now, I hope, being restored to its former magnificence

     Many thanks
      Chas Addams

Scans of the letter courtesy of David from Manhattan

It's interesting to compare Freeport Gothic to Addams Gothic. Addams freely adopted many Gothic architectural elements over the years.

Freeport Gothic
County Jail, Freeport, Ill. postcard 

Addams Gothic
Charles Addams, The New Yorker, October 31, 1988

http://mydelineatedlife.blogspot.com/2010/10/addams-witches.html

The postcard of the Freeport Jail was recently listed on eBay. The item description explains why some residents of Freeport think the building was deliberately set on fire.

County Jail, Freeport, Ill. postcard

http://www.ebay.com/itm/COUNTY-JAIL-postcard-Freeport-IL-ILL-/331640860555?hash=item4d3755ef8b%3Ag%3AaGwAAOSwHnFV4aIg&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

eBay Listing Ended September 3, 2015

http://www.ebay.com/itm/COUNTY-JAIL-postcard-Freeport-IL-ILL-/331640860555?hash=item4d3755ef8b%3Ag%3AaGwAAOSwHnFV4aIg&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

eBay Item Description

eBay Bid History
The last-minute bid gets it.

The John Barrett papers were donated to the Library of Congress. Could a copy of Mrs. Barrett's original letter to Charles Addams be there?

The John Barrett papers

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL25064224M/John_Barrett_papers

Note:  Once again I am grateful to David from Manhattan for his enthusiasm and for the use of his fascinating material.

Incidentally, the blog archives are full of information on Charles Addams and on what must have been one of his favorite holidays, Halloween.

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