Frank Modell: Turkeys in the Snow

New Yorker cartoonist Frank Modell's painting of two turkeys out in a snowfall views the birds from slightly behind with their heads turned away. Lightly signed Modell on the left in red, it is an unassuming composition and doesn't look like a published piece. The framed original bears a gift inscription that is equally unassuming: "For David, from one turkey to another—Frank."

The painting—is it a gouache?—has been available on eBay for more than two years. The listing uses twelve photos where two or three would suffice. The piece is listed at $599, but the seller is open to Best Offers.

Frank Modell
eBay listing accessed November 21, 2022

https://www.ebay.com/itm/124039047269?hash=item1ce14da865:g:HdUAAOSwqgFeDDF6&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4CqXrpofv3%2B7izXg5Zd7RVd%2BQRTN4%2FB44KZRVl52mTI1nHbSmJPtPCIQoH9sB%2F1yAdyo8yKdTSnkiLdm%2Fb42qWNmFcJMt%2FQMGvPkh8YgGoh6l%2BPAENDgeRQIwvhfXWT46Q6Z3WUdaKaQ7EuE9Idn4V6QHn9oenkdqu%2BO6fMtuEOYSshwHKnH72zld7VBSMUmdQXj6EN5QR0cU3fJF3uozAirMHQmQ9IzAPxe%2B9h%2Fa5uKamtiLyTQRSVzBdvBULxHTWjy11QKvfzLSLBda3CqZqr9NKsjsp%2FPFYiXDadzEUqT%7Ctkp%3ABFBMwoO805Nh

Frank Modell
eBay item description

September 1, 2023 Update:  Inflation, apparently.

May 5, 2024 Update:  Aha! This image is no doubt a study for The New Yorker cover of November 25, 1961. The original cover art was sold at Heritage Auctions on April 23, 2024 and may be seen in today's Attempted Bloggery post.

 

Note:  Some blogs thrive on original art by New Yorker artists like Frank Modell. This blog happens to be one of them. Images welcome.

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Turkey Parade: Arnie Levin New Yorker Cover Art

For a 1977 cover of the New Yorker, Arnie Levin imagines the very first Thanksgiving Day parade. A pair of pilgrims and an American Indian review a procession of turkeys. Sometimes the simplest ideas work best.

Four decades later the concept remains fresh, yet the cover can't be said to have aged well. The problem for us today is the red—really more of a pink—skin tone of the native American in the reviewing stand. This depiction very likely would be objectionable to the New Yorker's contemporary editors and readers. Levin carries the pink over into all the turkey heads, while the feathers pick up the browns from the reviewing stand. These colors tie the composition together, but one imagines Levin would choose differently today.

Arnie Levin
Original art
The New Yorker, November 28, 1977

Arnie Levin
Original art
The New Yorker, November 28, 1977

Arnie Levin
Swann Auction Galleries
Illustration Art, Sale 2465, Lot 296, December 14, 2017
Hammer Price $1,700

http://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=2465+++++296+&refno=++739688&saletype=

Arnie Levin
The New Yorker, November 28, 1977

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives: 

Arnie Levin

Turkeys

Thanksgiving Day

Original New Yorker Cover Art

Attempted Bloggery's Thankful Index

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George Sixta: Rivets at the Thanksgiving Table

For the Thanksgiving holiday, Dick Buchanan dipped into his cartoon clip files and found a long-forgotten panel by George Sixta. It is a 1949 example of the Rivets feature he created for the Saturday Evening Post back in 1944. It was later to become a syndicated newspaper feature. Here Sixta provides us with an accomplished overhead view of the Thanksgiving table. Rivets alone fails to appreciate the solemnity of the moment.

George Sixta

Rivets

The Saturday Evening Post, November 29, 1949, page 103

Scan by Dick Buchanan

Note:  My thanks to Dick Buchanan, who today makes his thirty-seventh contribution to the blog just one day after his thirty-sixth. Dick maintains the superb Dick Buchanan Cartoon Clip Files. He also contributes regularly to Mike Lynch Cartoons, just this week a new post entitled "From the Dick Buchanan Files: Gag Cartoon Clichés Part 8 1946 - 1956."

Dick also notes that John Ruge had a competing dog panel in Collier's called Clancy, about an Irish Setter. 

For those keeping score, this is George Sixta's first appearance on the blog.


Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives: 

Dogs

Turkeys

Thanksgiving Day

The Saturday Evening Post

Dick Buchanan

Attempted Bloggery's Dogged Index

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Ray Helle: The Thanksgiving Dinner Vote

Ray Helle's oddity of a Thanksgiving cartoon was published in American Magazine in 1950. All the family members seated round the Thanksgiving table are angry after disagreeing in a vote over what to have for the holiday dinner. The turkey, who did not get a say in the menu, seems to be the only one in the mood to celebrate. What the bird is doing at the dinner table in the first place is anyone's guess, aside from the obvious fact that the turkey is now prepared to enjoy dinner rather than be it. 

Ray Helle
"Now, Father, you know the vote was four to one and you lost.
Stop grumbling and carve the bologna[.]"
The American Magazine, November 1950, page 72

Scan by Dick Buchanan

Note:  Today's cartoon comes to us through the scanning prowess of Dick Buchanan, now making his thirty-sixth contribution to Attempted Bloggery. Dick, of course, is the mastermind behind the unmatched Dick Buchanan Cartoon Clip Files. He contributes regularly to the blog Mike Lynch Cartoons, most recently a brand new post entitled "From the Dick Buchanan Files: Gag Cartoon Clichés Part 8 1946 - 1956."


Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives: 

Turkeys

Thanksgiving Day

The American Magazine

Dick Buchanan

Attempted Bloggery's No-Baloney Index

02746

A Turkey for Macy's

On the eve of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, a turkey balloon sits perched on the 34th Street entrance of Macy's Herald Square.

Macy's flagship New York store
November 22, 2017

Photograph courtesy of my wife

The 91st Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade poster

Image added November 24, 2017

Note:  Happy Thanksgiving. I will not personally be taking any pictures of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons this year, but I probably could be persuaded to accept photographs submitted by readers of the balloon inflation or of the parade. Try me.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives

Thanksgiving

Attempted Bloggery's Turkey of an Index

Attempted Bloggery supports net neutrality.

02375

My Entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #405

Here is my entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #405 for November 25, 2013. The cartoon is provided by Tom Cheney. The caption is provided by me.

"Hungry?"

I had a few other caption ideas:

"Frankly, no, it doesn't remind me of "The Lone Ranger."
"I call it rightsizing."
"We offer convenient, low-interest financing."
"No, ma'am, stuffing is not included."
"Or thirty-seven hours if you like it well done."

Now the very week after this contest appeared in the New Yorker, the magazine is running another size gag on the cover. If I didn't know better, I'd think the cover art is being used to pay an homage to the caption contest. But I do know better.

Tom Gauld, The New Yorker, December 2, 2013

December 2, 2013 Update:  The Finalists

December 16, 2013 Update:  Winning Caption

Note:  My previous entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest was decidedly Presidential, not that I'm running for office or anything. It can be found here. I had only two ideas for a caption this time. As it turns out, the one I didn't run with was surprisingly close to a finalist's caption. I remain, as ever, unable to choose wisely from among my sundry caption concoctions.

Tom Cheney is the artist behind some of my least successful Caption Contest entries, but that might not entirely be his fault. See more blog posts about his work here.

You can always see more of Tom Cheney's New Yorker work in the Cartoon Bank here.

Then catch up with the latest news about cartoonist Tom Cheney on Ink Spill here.

I may not have cracked the code to the New Yorker's caption contest, but I am currently a proud finalist in the Moment Cartoon Caption Contest. Read all about it here. You can even vote for your favorite caption entry here.

0964

Parking Lot Turkeys

Hybrid turkeys make themselves at home in a parking lot.

Parking Lot Turkeys
December 24, 2012

Note:  See more turkeys here.

0963

Wild Turkeys

I photographed these wild turkeys in the greenery alongside a parking lot in November 2006.

Wild Turkeys

Video:  Wild Turkeys, November 1, 2006

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