Life's a beach in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #811 from the issue of July 25, 2022. My caption is shown below. The drawing is by Farley Katz.
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| "Isn't it ironic that they're all afraid of sharks?" |
August 2, 2022 Update: The Finalists
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Monday, July 25, 2022
My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #811
Sunday, July 24, 2022
Joe Dator: Pull Cord
In the eBay listing for his original New Yorker cartoon published in the issue of April 9, 2018, Joe Dator provides all the vital information, leaving a blogger nothing to do but copy it and try to come up with a creative title for the post. But, wait! The cartoonist reports in full not only the original caption, but he has given his cartoon an additional title as well: Pull Cord. What else could there be to say?
Well, there is one more thing. The Citigroup Center, formerly the Citicorp Center, is visible in the background, notable for the 45 degree slant of its roof. That roof faces south—it was at one time going to have solar panels—which means we are looking north up Third Avenue and therefore the sightseeing bus is headed west somewhere around 49th Street. As these buses generally travel on the avenues, the skyline here is probably just meant to indicate "somewhere in midtown."
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| A cartoon by Joe Dator and a baseball spot by Alain Pilon |
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| Joe Dator eBay listing ended January 8, 2022 |
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| Joe Dator eBay item description |
Note: The New Yorker covered the story of the Citicorp Center's potentially calamitous engineering flaws in the issue of May 29, 1995.
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| https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1995-05-29/flipbook/044/ |
Joe Dator points out to me that the title Pull Cord, which I dutifully applied to this post, doesn't refer to this cartoon at all but to one published in The New Yorker of December 4, 2017. Fortunately for me, I did not archive that auction so I won't have to come up with a new title for it.
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Pull cord in case of sudden awareness that the person nest to you is facing you Joe Dator The New Yorker, December 4, 2017, p. 40 |
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| Baseball spot by Alain Pilon Image added August 7, 2022 |
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Saturday, July 23, 2022
Joe Dator: Dining Al Fresco
Joe Dator's New Yorker cartoon from the issue of October 24, 2016 depicts the construction workers in Charles Clyde Ebbets's iconic 1932 photograph Lunch Atop a Skyscraper. The staged image was first published in the New York Herald Tribune to publicize the construction of Rockefeller Center. There remains some doubt as to the identify of the photographer. The building under construction was the RCA Building, or 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
The drawing was sold on eBay in January, part of a group of original New Yorker drawings offered for sale by the artist. This work was sold for an undisclosed best offer somewhere under $1,000. In the listing, the cartoonist identifies the famous photo on which the drawing is based. He also discloses that some of the faces were digitally altered prior to publication.
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| "It was worth waiting four months for a reservation." Joe Dator Original art The New Yorker, October 24, 2016, p. 39 |
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| Detail |
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| Detail |
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| Detail. The face on the right was digitally altered prior to publication. |
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| Detail |
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| Joe Dator's signature |
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| Joe Dator eBay listing ended January 8, 2022 |
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| Joe Dator eBay item description |
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Joe Dator's couple replaces two of the construction workers in the center of the image.
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| Charles Clyde Ebbets[?] Lunch Atop a Skyscraper New York Herald Tribune, October 2, 1932 |
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| "It was worth waiting four months for a reservation." Joe Dator Original art The New Yorker, October 24, 2016, p. 39 |
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Friday, July 22, 2022
Charles Addams: Wednesday's Grades
Today there must be thousands upon thousands of fans who would love to own an original Addams Family cartoon from The New Yorker. Yesterday, some of those people had their chance to obtain a deliciously subversive Charles Addams original at a Sotheby's online-only auction and, as with many such contests, it turned out very satisfactorily—for the one high bidder. The supply of Addams Family originals is minimal and demand is continually stoked by a media franchise that is still popular going on sixty years. Under these circumstances, is it any wonder that the lot sold for, including the buyer's premium, $40,320?
Yet this oh-so-desirable drawing remained in Addams's possession for ten years, from its publication in 1954 to the year 1964, when he gifted the original to "Minnie & Jim." Amazingly, this suggests it was an original drawing he could not sell and that he did not wish to keep for himself, even in the year when "The Addams Family" had its television premiere. (Perhaps the recipients had something to do with the show.)
The cartoon is an outstanding Addams Family original about the anguish of the daughter Wednesday (who was still nameless in 1954) as a result of her school grades. The original art is full of wonderful, creepy details. Some of the more subtle ones, like the spider web in the door frame, were probably difficult for readers of the printed magazine to appreciate at all. That still left plenty of others to dwell on.
Note: If you have original Charles Addams art, why not go and put it on a stranger's blog?
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| "Oh, she's furious because they put her on the honor roll at school." Charles Addams Original art The New Yorker, October 16, 1954, p. 25 |
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| "Oh, she's furious because they put her on the honor roll at school." Charles Addams Framed and glazed original art The New Yorker, October 16, 1954, p. 25 |
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| Charles Addams Sotheby's Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana, Part 2, Lot 1120 July 21, 2022 |
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| "Oh, she's furious because they put her on the honor roll at school." Charles Addams Original art The New Yorker, October 16, 1954, p. 25 |
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| Cartoons by Robert Day and Charles Addams |
Note: If you have original Charles Addams art, why not go and put it on a stranger's blog?
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Thursday, July 21, 2022
J. C. Duffy: Working With What You Have
For those of us who may not get to spend much time in bars, original New Yorker cartoon art by J. C. Duffy can help to reacquaint us with the scene. The drawing was sold last month on eBay for $255.
The cartoon shown in its natural environment:
Once upon a time, interesting editorial and printer's notations covered the verso of original New Yorker cartoons. If I ever find anything useful to say about the printed bar code on the back of original cartoon art, I will announce it here. Today, cartoons are submitted electronically and even the bar code is obsolete.
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| J. C. Duffy eBay listing ended June 4, 2022 |
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| J. C. Duffy eBay item description |
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| J. C. Duffy eBay bid history The lone bidder placed a bid more than a day before the auction ended. |
July 27, 2022 Update: The cartoon was originally listed at $300. The listing priced was incrementally lowered by $5 every five days down to the $255 sale price.
Note: I once rode in an elevator with Gene Shalit.
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