The Cartoon Collections Caption Contest #84

Jogging in the park—and over it—is the theme of the Cartoon Collections Caption Contest #84. My entries are shown here. The drawing is by Kendra Allenby.

"Brad, I'm so over you."
"So do you still think it's cool to stalk your ex?"
"Remember the first time I fell for you?"
"Guess who got herself the new Air Jordans?"
"I just had to get off the beaten path."
"Just a new skill I picked up during the lockdown."

July 29, 2020 Update:  The Winner

In his caption contest commentary, seven-time New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest winner Lawrence Wood lists my caption as one of "the two best puns." Just to be clear, he lists it first. This is the tenth time he's referenced one of my captions in the Cartoon Collections contest. I'm not counting last week, when he referenced something close to one of my entries, only better.

https://more.cartooncollections.com/runners-high-caption-contest-commentary-with-lawrence-wood/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Caption+Contest+and+Help+for+Your+Presentations&utm_campaign=Contest+7%2F29+Hafeez+Non-Customers&vgo_ee=e9FQoNFd7oYF6%2FlPg0DPrXwFoqDlMHNmyq65fGLdufk%3D

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Kendra Allenby

Jogging

The Cartoon Collections Caption Contest

The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest

The Moment Magazine Cartoon Caption Contest

All the Collected Cartoon Caption Contests

Attempted Bloggery's Free-Floating Index

03327

George Price: On Your Mark…

Original New Yorker cartoon art from 1942 by George Price (1901-1995) depicts an elderly but determined woman bracing herself for the traffic light to change. The brown paper has some significant condition issues, notably foxing, but the original art found a buyer on its first eBay listing. Let's have a look.

First off, correction fluid has been used heavily, evidently to reduce the proportions of the woman's right leg and to rework her contours.

Detail

Detail

George Price's signature 

The blue wash used to indicate shading with Ben Day dots has faded markedly over time.

Detail

At one point, Price may have intended the man stepping into the street to be speaking. The gag was published with no caption.

Detail

The foxing is fairly heavy in places.

Detail

Price renders cars in perspective quite well.

Detail

Detail

The heavy shading on the policeman directing traffic allows him also to direct the viewer's eye back to the squatting woman.

Detail

The reader's eye travels naturally to the figure with an unusual stance, with an intensely expressive face, and with heavy shading. Her leg, at a diagonal, provides a very deliberate contrast to all the prominent vertical lines in the drawing and is meant to stand out.

Detail

George Price
Framed original art
The New Yorker, October 3, 1942, page 14

George Price
eBay Listing Ended March 6, 2019

https://www.ebay.com/itm/George-Price-New-Yorker-Magazine-1942-Original-Hand-Drawn-Cartoon-/273734754175?hash=item3fbbdcdf7f%3Ag%3ATkMAAOSw-1ZcdrWl&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

George Price
eBay Item Description

George Price
eBay Bid History
One early bid

George Price
The New Yorker, October 3, 1942, page 14

George Price
Framed original art
The New Yorker, October 3, 1942, page 14

Drawings by George Price and Richard Taylor

https://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1942-10-03#folio=014

Note:  There's time enough before the traffic light next changes for readers to send even more original art by George Price to Attempted Bloggery. To have your original art considered for potential inclusion in a future post, I recommend a mad dash to your scanner or camera. Ready…steady…go!

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

George Price

The Spring Equinox

Original New Yorker Cartoon Art

Attempted Bloggery's Fast-Paced Index

02868

In Pursuit of Charles Addams

After American Frank Shorter won the men's marathon in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, jogging became suddenly popular in America. Cartoonist Charles Addams naturally had his own take on this running boom. An autograph letter by Addams is coming up for sale next week in the Swann Galleries Autographs sale. He's personally responding to a query from one Mr. Bernstein who is looking to acquire a running-themed drawing from the previous issue of the New Yorker. "Can you be a jogger?" is a pretty specific clue here that Mr. Bernstein must be looking for the Addams cartoon published in the March 22, 1976 issue. This would date the Addams letter to the last week of March 1976. The original cartoon art was not available as it was being held for an exhibition at the Nicholls Gallery in November. Was Mr. Bernstein ultimately successful in his pursuit of this Charles Addams original?

Charles Addams
ALS, c. late March 1976

Charles Addams
Swann Galleries
Sale 2492 Autographs
Lot 364
November 8, 2018

https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2492+++++364+&refno=++748193&saletype=

Charles Addams
The New Yorker, March 22, 1976, page 26

Cartoons by Charles Addams and Stan Hunt

https://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1976-03-22#folio=026

Goings On About Town
The New Yorker, November 8, 1976, page 8

https://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1976-11-08#folio=008

November 8, 2018 Update:  Sold!

Hammer Price $80

Note:  I would like to hear from anyone who knows the whereabout of the original Charles Addams jogger cartoon.


Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:

Charles Addams

Jogging

Autograph Letters, Signed

Nicholls Gallery

Original New Yorker Cartoon Art

Attempted Bloggery's Runaway Index

02725

Abe Birnbaum: On Your Mark...

Fifty-six years ago Abe Birnbaum illustrated A. J. Liebling's "Letter from the Olympics" for the New Yorker. The drawing is noteworthy for it's simplicity; you might think it is the product of a few minutes' effort. The four runners seem to be caught in the act of springing forward from their crouched positions at the starting line. A single curving line delineates the arm, shoulder, and head of each. Their trunks take on a rubbery, almost abstract quality as the reader's eye scans from left to right. Together the figures have a rhythmic, dance-like energy and seem to recall the work of Henri Matisse.

Abe Birnbaum, Illustration to "Letter from the Olympics" by A. J. Liebling
The New Yorker, September 10, 1960, page 85

http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1960-09-10#folio=084

Note:  The New Yorker's illustrations and spot drawings don't get the attention they deserve. For that matter, neither does Abe Birnbaum's work. I would love to hear from collectors with original artwork of this type who would be willing to share what they have and what they know on this blog. Write to me at my email address with AB—for Abe Birnbaum—in the subject line.

Attempted Bloggery's quick links:

Abe Birnbaum

The Olymtpics

Illustration

The New Yorker

Attempted Bloggery's olympian index

01938