Helen E. Hokinson for the Flit

Today the advertising campaign for Flit insecticide is remembered mostly for the fanciful artwork of Dr. Seuss and the effective tag line "Quick, Henry, the Flit!" At first bite, Helen E. Hokinson, who was known especially for her renditions of society matrons, seems an unusual choice of illustrator for the bug spray ads, but there no doubt was good reason to employ her talents. Her advertising artwork was specifically targeted to promote the Flit product to the independent women of the mid-1930's. That's why these "Bugbears" print ads were published in Woman's Home Companion and Good Housekeeping. Women were, after all, around during the daytime when summer flies and mosquitoes were at their peskiest, so why not teach them to do their own fumigating? In fact, the woman's club shown here is located deliberately in Owasco, a small upstate New York town in the Finger Lakes region where bothersome flies and mosquitoes are presumably a significant issue. The advertisements imply the product is both safe and easy to use. Flit is also supposed to be effective and economical ("It kills them all/The cost is small"). Two examples of Hokinson's artwork demonstrates the product being expertly used in a bustling woman's club meeting room and even by a grandmother dutifully protecting a young toddler from "nasty old flies."

Helen E. Hokinson, "Bugbears" Flit advertisement,
[Woman's Home Companion, June 1935 (1)]
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1935-AD-FELT-bug-killer-cartoon-Helen-Hokinson-art-/201051568819?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ecf9b7ab3

Helen E. Hokinson, "Bugbears" Flit advertisement
Good Housekeeping, June 1, 1935, page 100

http://gogd.tjs-labs.com/show-picture?id=1098199881&size=FULL

Note:  Helen E. Hokinson has been mentioned on this blog here.

More advertising is here.

01090

Helen E. Hokinson Strikes a Balance

Helen E. Hokinson's delightful cartoons reflect a bygone patrician age. Here one of her plump, well-to-do matrons reveals a surprising fashion insecurity.

"I never realized it was going to overbalance me."
Helen E. Hokinson
Framed original artwork for the New Yorker, August 22, 1931, page 30

"I never realized it was going to overbalance me."
Helen E. Hokinson
Detail of framed original artwork for the New Yorker, August 22, 1931, page 30

Helen E. Hokinson's signature

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VERY-RARE-Original-Signed-Helen-Hokinson-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Published-8-22-1931-/271249630804?pt=Art_Drawings&hash=item3f27bce654&nma=true&si=UB68sj2DvLx%252F9kdb54zXrlCgzYs%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

"I never realized it was going to overbalance me."
Helen E. Hokinson
The New Yorker, August 22, 1931, page 30

"I never realized it was going to overbalance me."
Helen E. Hokinson
The New Yorker, August 22, 1931, page 30

August 23, 2020 Update:  This work was sold at Swann Galleries on July 16.

"I never realized it was going to overbalance me."
Helen E. Hokinson
The New Yorker, August 22, 1931, page 30

Helen E. Hokinson

https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/Lots/auction-lot/HELEN-HOKINSON-I-never-realized-it-was-going-to-overbalance-?saleno=2541&lotNo=224&refNo=767245

Note:  More of Helen E. Hokinson's classic work may be seen on this very blog here.

It's spring at last! Posts about the new season may be seen here.

01089

Barbara Shermund's Wedding Plans

A 1940 cartoon by Barbara Shermund from Collier's inquires whether it's ever too soon to begin to plan a wedding. The gag shows us the sort of independent-minded woman that Shermund was so skilled at depicting. The original artwork was offered at Illustration House in 2008 but went unsold.

"I won't want it right away. I only met him yesterday."
Barbara Shermund
Original art
Collier's, December 7, 1940

Illustration House, June 7, 2008
Unsold

http://www.illustration-house.com/recent/a37/a37pages/a37_065.html

http://www.findartinfo.com/search/listprices.asp?keyword=12002&name=Barbara-Shermund

Note:  Other posts showing the cartoon art of Barbara Shermund may be seen here.

Some other artwork from Collier's is on the blog here.

01088

Barbara Shermund's Open Door Policy

The eBay description for this original cartoon art by Barbara Shermund has two pieces of information regarding its publication. First the listing states that this is a New Yorker cartoon. Second it gives the publication date as February 1957. Far more likely, this color cartoon appeared in Esquire. Given the subject matter, the cartoon would most likely have appeared in a December issue.

The appeal of this cartoon for Esquire's readers seems pretty straightforward. It depicts a young, shapely woman who is clearly not playing hard-to-get.

"Why, Mr. Van Cleve!  The front door was wide open!"
Barbara Shermund
Framed original art
Pictorial Review[?], February 1957[?]

"Why, Mr. Van Cleve!  The front door was wide open!"
Barbara Shermund
Original art
Pictorial Review[?], February 1957[?]

Barbara Shermund
eBay Listing Ended February 27, 2014

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Barbara-Shermund-Original-New-Yorker-Cartoon-/161233226921?ssPageName=ADME%3AB%3ASS%3AUS%3A3160&nma=true&si=UB68sj2DvLx%252F9kdb54zXrlCgzYs%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Barbara Shermund
eBay Item Description

January 12, 2019 Update:  This cartoon caption does not appear in Esquire's  online database, so I have provisionally reassigned it above to Pictorial Review. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who can document its complete publication history.

Note:  My two previous related posts on cartoons by Barbara Shermund may be seen here.

01087

Barbara Shermund at the Zoo

A Barbara Shermund color cartoon is dated August 1955. The New Yorker, of course, was published weekly at the time and Esquire, with which Shermund was then associated, was a monthly magazine. The monthly date is  just one reason such a cartoon should not be identified as having been published in the New Yorker, not even by an enterprising eBay seller. The other reasons are the use of color, which never appeared in the New Yorker's 1950's gag cartoons, and the fact that Shermund did not publish in the weekly magazine after 1944.

The cartoon itself gives a jaded young woman's comically-exaggerated view of the kind of man one might encounter on a blind date. If this is indeed from Esquire, I'm a little surprised this gag would resonate with the editors and readers of a men's general-interest magazine, but I suppose they were interested in seeing an available woman's perspective. My parents themselves met on a double blind date back in this era. The other couple with them couldn't stand each other.

The other possibility is that this cartoon appeared in Pictorial Review, a weekly syndicated Sunday newspaper supplement.

"I'm going on a blind date tomorrow night--did I tell you?"
Barbara Shermund
Framed original art
 Pictorial Review[?], August 1955

"I'm going on a blind date tomorrow night--did I tell you?"
Barbara Shermund
Framed original art
 Pictorial Review[?], August 1955

Barbara Shermund
eBay Listing Ended February 27, 2014

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Barbara-Shermund-Original-New-Yorker-Cartoon-/161233218669?pt=Art_Paintings&hash=item258a3fac6d&nma=true&si=UB68sj2DvLx%252F9kdb54zXrlCgzYs%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Barbara Shermund
eBay Item Description

January 12, 2019 Update:  This cartoon does not appear in Esquire's online database, so I am provisionally reassigning it in the above caption to Pictorial Review. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who can document its complete publication history.


Note:  A related post on Barbara Shermund appeared here yesterday.

Older posts about St. Patrick's Day may be seen here. St. Patrick is said to have driven the snakes out of Ireland. They could use him in Guam.

01086

Barbara Shermund's Scathing Letter

In the 1950's and for decades before and afterward, color cartoons were simply never published in the New Yorker. Nevertheless, on eBay it is tempting for sellers to describe any original cartoon art by an artist once associated with the magazine as a New Yorker cartoon, even if the original is in color and looks nothing like a New Yorker cartoon. For example, this cartoon by Barbara Shermund is not in the New Yorker's cartoon database and certainly doesn't resemble a New Yorker cartoon of the period stylistically or thematically. Shermund's last New Yorker art was published in 1944 and much of her later work appeared in Esquire and Pictorial Review. This is one of three original cartoons that were sold with a Buy It Now price of $240 each, apparently to the artist's niece.

"I wish I'd shown you the scathing letter
I wrote him--and tore up."
Barbara Shermund
Framed original art
Pictorial Review[?], February 1957

"I wish I'd shown you the scathing letter
I wrote him--and tore up."
Barbara Shermund
Framed original art
Pictorial Review[?], February 1957

Barbara Shermund
eBay Listing Ended February 27, 2014

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Barbara-Shermund-Original-New-Yorker-Cartoon-/161233224035?pt=Art_Paintings&hash=item258a3fc163&nma=true&si=UB68sj2DvLx%252F9kdb54zXrlCgzYs%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Barbara Shermund
eBay Item Description

January 12, 2019 Update:  This cartoon does not appear to be in Esquire's  online archive, so I am provisionally reassigning it in the above captions to Pictorial Review. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who can document its publication history.

Note:  Keeping my eyes on the calendar, posts about Spring Break may be found here and posts about Purim may be seen here.

01085

Dorothy McKay: Due Diligence

A piece of original color cartoon art by Dorothy McKay is being offered at auction today at 1 p.m. The sale is being held at Illustration House in New York City. The drawing was published in Esquire magazine, perhaps in the 1950's. It shows a young woman home from a date, where she has exercised what might be termed due diligence.

Dorothy McKay
"He has a degree of some sort--and $14,789.56 in the bank."
Esquire, September 19??

http://illustrationhouses.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/exhib/a46/a46pages/a46_081.html

Note:  Bad luck!  My last post about Dorothy McKay was interrupted by a life boat drill here.

Posts about Spring Break may be found here.

Posts about Purim may be seen here.

01084

My Entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #418

Here is my entry in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #418 for March 10, 2014. The cartoon is by Tom Cheney, but I created the comfy caption all by myself.

"Was it your stomach that growled?"

These didn't make my cut:

"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not snuggle just now."
"Maybe we shouldn't watch 'Extreme Makeover Home Edition.'"
"This is the last time we rent a furnished apartment."
"Remember, no feeding between the commercials."
"Maybe a visit to 'Antiques Road Show' could help us."
"What do you say we skip the horror movie marathon?"
"There it is again.  I'm sure I felt a claw foot creak."

March 17, 2014 Update: The Finalists

March 31, 2014 Update: Winning Caption

Note:  Last week's caption contest pitted me against a sea monster. Rather unfair, I thought. See the aftermath of Contest #417 here.

Historically, no cartoonist gives me more trouble in these New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contests than Tom Cheney. You'll have to peruse the archives here to see for yourself. It's just too painful for me to summarize.

Tom Cheney's brilliant New Yorker work may be seen in the Cartoon Bank here.

News about cartoonist Tom Cheney is on Ink Spill here.

I've never gained any traction in the New Yorker's caption contest, but I'm okay with that. Really. On the bright side, this is the fourth time in a row I have been selected by none other than Bob Mankoff as a finalist in the Moment Cartoon Caption Contest. I kid you not. Read all about my uncanny ability to come up with references that are a quarter century old here. Then if you like you may vote for your favorite caption entry here.

Posts about the Jewish holiday of Purim may be seen here.

Posts about Spring Break may be seen here.

01083

George H. Wright in the Boudoir

This cartoon by George Hand Wright from the old Life may date from the 1920's. Captions were generally a ponderous affair in those days, large chunks of dialogue with little payoff. The single-speaker caption did exist, but its use did not become widespread until it became the norm at the New Yorker.

George H. Wright

Pretty girl:  How do you like my new pajamas, Kitty?

Her friend:  They're lovely, dear. If the house was to catch fire some night they'd make a tremendous hit.

Life.

Illustration House, December 6, 2008

http://www.illustration-house.com/current/a38/a38pages/a38_080.html

Note:  George Hand Wright appears in my post on Westport and the New Yorker here.

01082

Esther

This illustration of Esther for Radio Times was a part of artist Eric Fraser's estate. It was included by Chris Beetles Gallery in a 2013 exhibition of the illustrator's graphic work and was sold for 750 GBP.

Eric Fraser, Esther
Original artwork for Radio Times, July 13, 1961

http://www.chrisbeetles.com/gallery/arts-performing-arts/esther.html

February 7, 2015:  Sold!


Note:  Another blog post about Eric Fraser appears here.

This blog has another post about Esther here.

01081