Fine Dining: The Lüchow's Guest Book

The guest book of Lüchow's reveals the famous German restaurant in lower Manhattan hosted more than its share of celebrity luminaries back in the 1950s. For example, cartoonist Charles Addams dined there, already famous even some thirteen years before anyone heard of the Addams Family:

Including the signature and drawing of Charles Addams, April 11, 1951

John Ringling North, the president and director of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus is in town from Sarasota. Immediately under Charles Addams is the signature of British actor Jack Hawkins, who would prove to be one of the most popular English movie stars of the 1950s.

Including the signature and drawing of Charles Addams, April 11, 1951

 

Joe Dimaggio retired after the 1951 baseball season. This page is undated, but as the guest book dates from 1950 to 1956, it is likely from after his retirement. Jean Hersholt played "Dr. Christian" on the radio.

Including the signatures of Joe DiMaggio and Jean Hersholt

Al Hirschfeld shows up with his wife Dolly Haas in 1952. He draws caricatures of them both. Nina, 7, is presumably home with the sitter. The Hirschfelds must have dined with humorists S. J. Perelman and Fred Allen as Hirschfeld caricatures them as well. Also present is Allen's wife Portland Hoffa.

Including signatures and Al Hirschfeld caricatures of Dolly and Al Hirschfeld, S. J. Perelman, and Fred Allen, 1952

Including signatures and caricatures of Dolly and Al Hirschfeld, S. J. Perelman, and Fred Allen, 1952

While we're at it, hooray for Hollywood. So many greats of stage and screen mingle, at least on the pages of the guest book.

Including the signature and self-caricature of Alfred Hitchcock, and the signatures of Elaine Stritch, Ben Gazzara, Billie Burke Ziegfeld, Dolores Del Rio, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, and Will Rogers, Jr.

The art world turned out too:

Including the signatures of Joanne Woodward, Paul Newman, Pierre Matisse, Joan Miró, and Bill Lieberman of MoMA

https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/Lots/auction-lot/(ALBUM)-Guestbook-for-L%C3%BCchows-restaurant-containing-over-400?saleno=2502&lotNo=25A&refNo=757213

$5000 hammer price

Note:  My family ate at Lüchow's once when I was a kid. My brother and I were given Tyrolean party hats with feathers. It was great fun, but we did not get to sign the guest book. Neither did my parents. Who's sorry now, Lüchow's?

I would love to establish Attempted Bloggery as the first place readers think of when they have images of celebrity guest books to make public, particularly those that are signed by prominent cartoonists or humorists. Ditto for autograph books, scrapbooks, sketch books, and chapbooks. On second thought, never mind the chapbooks.

Thanks to Joel Jacobus for identifying the autograph of actor Jack Hawkins.

December 26, 2020 Update:  Thanks to @AlHirschfeld on Twitter (David Leopold?) for identifying Fred Allen's autograph.

January 3, 2021 Update:  Thanks to Tom Bloom for noting that both S. J. Perelman's and Fred Allen's caricatures must be by Al Hirschfeld, and for identifying Fred Allen's wife Portland Hoffa. He also identified the signatures of John Ringling North and of Jean Hersholt.

January 12, 2021 Update:  This time, Tom Bloom has identified the signature of Will Rogers, Jr.

November 26, 2021 Update:  Getty Images stocks a photo dated June 13, 2013 from the London International Antiquarian Book Fair, It shows a bookseller holding the Lüchow's guestbook page which bears the signature of Joan Miró and others. You may see the watermarked photo here.

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My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #738

Below is my entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #738 for December 21, 2020. The drawing depicts an alien abduction and is by P. C. Vey.

"Whatever you say, but the experiments won't be any fun."

And the also-rans:

"If we take the big one, we won't meet our quota."
"You and I are going to set the record for earthling abductions."
"I didn't hear anyone say what sort of earthlings to abduct."
"Are you sure you understood our directive?"
"Roswell sure has changed."
"Let's dump them all on Area 51."
"He seems stunned. Now we abduct him."
"When did you develop a conscience?"
"When did you become a vegan?"
"He's not upset yet, but watch as we beam them down in the next yard."
"Didn't I tell you our priority is abducting before composting?"

January 11, 2021 Update:  The Finalists

January 18, 2021 Update:  I was late to the voting booth this week, but I have to go with the caption from Chicago.

January 25, 2021 Update:   The Winner

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Fine Dining: 1950s Punch Staff Dinner Menus

Punch's annual staff dinners must have been singular affairs, attended as they were by literary lights as well as by leading cartoonists and illustrators. Held at the Café Royal in London, the dinners had French menus and were punctuated with toasts, entertainment, and dancing to live music. Each menu was designed by a prominent Punch cartoonist. An eBay sale from 2018 included the menus from 1952 to 1955, as well as from 1957. The cartoonists are Bill Hewison (1954 and 1957), Ronald Searle (1952), George Sprod (1953), and Norman Thelwell (1955). One of the two 1954 menus included in the sale had been autographed by many of the attendees, including Winnie-the-Pooh illustrator Ernest H. Shepard.

Punch dinner menu designers, top row: Bill Hewison (1957), Ronald Searle (1952), George Sprod (1953)
Middle row:  Norman Thelwell (1955), Hewison (1954)
Bottom row: Hewison (1954), Thelwell (1955)

Punch staff dinner menu designed by Bill Hewison (1957)

The 1954 menu includes the signature of Norman Thelwell, top right

With the unusually sloppy signature of Ronald Searle, center.

With the signature of Ernest H. Shepard, bottom

Autographed menu designed by Bill Hewison (1954) with many signatures on the back cover including that of Ernest H. Shepard (lower left) and of R. E. Williams (right, by the dog's head). On Twitter, @PunchBooks has added more:  "We think the Brockbank signature [above Williams] might be for Russell's wife Eileen. We also spied the signature of Mary Knox, wife of E V Knox, the former editor of PUNCH; Mary was the daughter of Ernest H Shepard and an illustrator in her own right, most famously for the Mary Poppins books!"

Autographs, interior

Ronald Searle (1952, interior)

Bill Hewison (1954)

Ronald Searle (1952)

Punch Annual Dinner and Dance menu designed by George Sprod (1953)

Punch menu illustrations by Norman Thelwell (1955)

Punch Annual Staff Dinner Menus
eBay Listing Ended November 7, 2018

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Autographed-menu-RONALD-SEARLE-NORMAN-THELWELL-ERNEST-H-SHEPHARD-and-others-PU-/173613293657?hash=item286c28a059%3Ag%3ANyoAAOSwrmRb1rLl&nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Punch Annual Staff Dinner Menus
eBay item description

Punch Annual Staff Dinner Menus
eBay bid history
The last minute bid failed because the second-to-last bid placed was higher. The last bidder had enough time to bid again, but did not.

January 21, 2021 Update:  Thanks to @PunchBooks on Twitter for helping out with some of the signatures on the back cover of the 1954 menu.

Note:  I might have made an error in labeling that first photo, as the eBay seller notes two copies of each Hewison menu, but I count two copies of the Thelwell menu as well. If you spot a mistake, please let me know. I am always happy to make corrections.

I suppose this is the time for me to request images of menus, particularly those designed by cartoonists. Punch menus from other years than we have here would be welcome. Original art by any of these artists could also work quite well on the blog.

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John Held, Jr.: Peacock Inn Speakeasy Murals

A little more than a decade ago the Peacock Inn of Princeton, New Jersey, underwent an extensive renovation. Down in the basement, long forgotten murals were discovered hidden under wallpaper. They proved to be decorations from an abandoned speakeasy. The artist was John Held, Jr., the hugely popular American illustrator of the 1920s. The rediscovered murals, lost treasures of the jazz age, were preserved by cutting them out of the the walls and mounting them in frames. They now hang on the main level in the Perch restaurant. The mural images are all in black and white. I found myself sitting under this one upon my first visit to the restaurant and unable to take my eyes off it:

Still life:

That darts player is a lefty:

A dancing flapper:



Is this an exhausted couple, or are they just so bored with it all?

The brilliant mathematician John von Neumann was apparently known locally for motoring around Princeton somewhat heedlessly while reading a book. As my waiter explained, this was the rough equivalent of texting while driving today. Fair enough. Von Neumann's appearance in this most impressive mural would date it to fairly late in Prohibition, as he wasn't invited to Princeton until 1929 and Prohibition was repealed in 1933.

The Perch restaurant's menu is outstanding and I would recommend dining at the Peacock Inn even if the Held murals weren't there. That's pretty much my highest recommendation. How about that! Check out the menu online and see if it's for you.

Note:  Original art by John Held, Jr., is just the sort of thing I like to show here on Attempted Bloggery. For our purposes, Held's block prints may be regarded as original cartoons, as there certainly aren't very many of them for any given image. Please email images of prized Held art to a friendly blog near you.

I would love to see more photographs of murals by New Yorker cartoonists, especially those of the lost-and-found variety like these. See what you can come up with.

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Remembering the 21 Club

This week it was announced that New York City's 21 Club, a former speakeasy, would be closing for good. I dined there a couple of times in recent years. The restaurant had quite a few pieces of original cartoon art including, famously, work by Peter Arno. All was displayed in low light. Between that and the reflective glass, the pieces were challenging to photograph.

They sat my party next to Arno's New Yorker cover of January 30, 1965 depicting a dinner party. What a glorious restaurant this is, I beamed. Yet I wonder how many of the restaurant's patrons knew what they were looking at.

Peter Arno
Original cover art
The New Yorker, January 30, 1965

Peter Arno
The New Yorker, January 30, 1965

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1943-10-23/flipbook/026/

Not far away was a Syd Hoff original cartoon from the January 1958 Esquire. All the cartoons I photographed were on the subject of food and drink. Mostly drink.

"When I told you to step outside and say that, I didn't mean I was coming with you!"

Syd Hoff

Original cartoon art

Esquire, January 1958

"When I told you to step outside and say that, I didn't mean I was coming with you!"

Syd Hoff

Esquire, January 1958

https://classic.esquire.com/article/1958/1/1/when-i-told-you-to-step-outside-and-say-that-i-didnt-mean-i-was-coming-with-you

I photographed three Arnos with oversized, typeset captions that I initially mistook for originals. I now believe these to be prints from a series.

"Fill 'er up."

Print

Peter Arno

"Fill 'er up."

Peter Arno

The New Yorker, July 9, 1949, page 24

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1949-07-09/flipbook/024/

"Will that be all, Sir?"

Print

Peter Arno

"Will that be all, sir?"
Peter Arno
The New Yorker, October 23, 1943, page 26

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1943-10-23/flipbook/026/

This one might not be from The New Yorker at all:

"Now let me tell you about my troubles!"

Print

Peter Arno

"Now let me tell you about my troubles!" Peter Arno https://drjohnsjournal.blogspot.com/2012/03/sunday-funnies_25.html

In the men's room, there is a risque watercolor of a languid woman by Dean Cornwell.

Dean Cornwell

There are some murals in the men's room as well. Vive la différence.

There was more in the restaurant, including additional work by Arno, but I didn't get to see the details. Diners enjoying their meals stayed put at their tables, annoyingly blocking my view.

And, by the way, the food was good too.


Note:  To put it plainly, these aren't the finest photographs I ever took. They also aren't anywhere close to a full survey of the cartoon art in the 21 Club. I'm sure that some of the thousands of patrons who dined there over the years must have taken a few high-quality snaps of the art and perhaps they are willing to share those memories here on Attempted Bloggery. I await their documentary photographs with readiness. In the meantime, farewell to the 21 Club, at least in its most recent form. Perhaps it may reopen in some other incarnation.

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