Attempted Bloggery: prisoners

Showing posts with label prisoners. Show all posts

Friday, October 11, 2024

Robert Day: What Would Cagney Do?

An original New Yorker drawing by cartoonist Robert Day (1900-1985) was presented by the artist to actor James Cagney (1899-1986), for whom it must have held special significance. It was given as a Christmas gift, probably in 1956, which was the year of the cartoon's publication. Day and his wife, "Rob & Buffie," were evidently on a first name basis with Cagney, whose surname alone back then would have identified him to much of the world. The artwork was sold by Doyle in 2000 at the Cagney Auction.

"I just asked myself what Cagney would have done if he were in my place, and here I am."
Robert Day
Original art
The New Yorker, December 8, 1956, p. 50

Robert Day
Doyle: The Cagney Auction, september 27, 2000, lot 144

https://www.doyle.com/auction/lot/lot-144---robert-day-american-b-1900-i-just-asked/?lot=791977&so=4&st=Yorker&sto=0&au=&ef=&et=&ic=False&sd=1&pp=96&pn=2&g=1

"I just asked myself what Cagney would have done if he were in my place, and here I am."
Robert Day
The New Yorker, December 8, 1956, p. 50

"I just asked myself what Cagney would have done if he were in my place, and here I am."
Robert Day
Original art
The New Yorker, December 8, 1956, p. 50

With a cartoon by Robert Day and a spot drawing by Arthur Getz

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1956-12-08/flipbook/050/

Mail call!

Arthur Getz
Spot drawing
The New Yorker, December 8, 1956, p. 51

04767

Sunday, April 24, 2022

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.