Showing posts with label track and field. Show all posts
Showing posts with label track and field. Show all posts

Friday, October 28, 2016

My Entries in the Moment Cartoon Caption Contest for September/October 2016

You can just imagine some of the entries submitted to the Moment Cartoon Caption Contest for September/October 2016. The captions were funny all right, but the humor tended to be about infirmities of the elderly. The couple can't hear the starting gun. They can't seem to make out the track. The race is just to see who can stand up first. Or they just have to cross the starting line. That sort of thing. I laughed, but I was determined to try a different approach, one that didn't mock impairments in seniors. Then I wrote that first caption...

All told, I submitted five entries. The fourth, involving a dispute going back to the beginning of the relationship, is my favorite. A schlep, not that you need to ask, is a Yiddish word for a tedious or burdensome journey. That's perfectly kosher to use here because Moment Magazine calls itself "North America’s premier Jewish magazine." The drawing is by Benjamin Schwartz.

"Okay, let's see how you roll!"
"You may begin the 20 yard schlep!"
"With this race we launch the Turner Classic Sports channel!"
"And now, to finally settle who was the better catch in 1954..."
"And the winner gets permanent control of the remote!"



November 8, 2016 Update:  The Finalists



December 21, 2016 Update:  I voted for the third caption.


January 25, 2017:  Winning Caption



Note:  In a hypothetical race to draw the greatest number of caption contest cartoons on this blog, Benjamin Schwartz must have the gold medal.

If for some reason you want to relive every caption contest I ever entered, you just need to click that aqua link. Or perhaps you'd like to see just the Moment Magazine contests. Either way, you really have no idea what you're in for.

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Saturday, August 6, 2016

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


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:
Attempted Bloggery's olympian index

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