Charles Addams: The Weather Winky Brand

Yesterday, an original advertising design by New Yorker cartoonist Charles Addams went up on the auction block down in Lake Worth Beach, Florida. The product is children's clothing manufactured under the name Weather Winky. 

The drawing, in my view, exaggerates the cruelty of childhood and is hardly the wholesome stuff of children's wear advertising. It lacks the disarming humor that redeems so many of Addams's darker themes.

Charles Addams's signature

Information handwritten on the back of the framed piece apparently dates the Weather Winky outerwear shown in the photograph to the years 1948-1952.

The notes further indicate that Weather Winky snowsuits were designed by Nathan Supak and produced by Supak & Sons Manufacturing Co. of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The drawing looks better without the octagonal matte, which obscures some of the borders of the art. Replacing the matte would be a good idea for the new owner.

Charles Addams
Palm Beach Modern Auctions accessed November 20, 2022

https://bid.modernauctions.com/online-auctions/palm-beach-modern/charles-addams-weather-winky-published-drawing-4246732

The presale estimate was $3,000 to $5,000 with a starting bid of $2,400.

It sold within the estimated range:

Buyer's premium

Image added April 16, 2023

April 16, 2023 Update:  The artwork is offered for sale once again. The new asking price of $18,000 represents a markup of 231% over the Palm Beach Modern Auctions price of $5,440 inclusive of the 28% buyer's premium. That awful octagonal matte has been removed, at least for the new listing's photographs.

Charles Addams
Incollect listing accessed April 16, 2023

https://www.incollect.com/listings/fine-art/works-on-paper/charles-addams-macabre-cowboy-themed-weather-winky-kids-ad-mid-century-cartoon-607967

"Great cartoons do not need a caption."

Charles Addams's signature

Note:  My thanks go to Linda H. Davis, Joel Jacobus, and Michael Maslin for lending me their collective expertise on this obscure Addams illustration. None of us are familiar with any advertisement or promotion in which this artwork may have been used. I am curious whether someone in my community of readers can come up with the original print ad. Of course, it's always possible that the artwork was considered inappropriate and never published.

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Edward Frascino: Witch List

Last year, original New Yorker cartoon art by Edward Frascino changed hands on eBay. Published in the issue of December 19, 1988, the drawing depicts a witch stirring the contents of a hot cauldron while confiding in a black cat. The caption has faded but the drawing retains its spooky charms.

"I'm not sending Christmas Cards this year."
Edward Frascino
Original art
The New Yorker, December 19, 1988, p. 35

"I'm not sending Christmas Cards this year."
Edward Frascino
Framed original art
The New Yorker, December 19, 1988, p. 35

Edward Frascino
eBay listing ended November 2, 2021

https://www.ebay.com/itm/154674090725?hash=item24034b52e5%3Ag%3AdbYAAOSwcfFhbjak&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Edward Frascino
eBay item description

Edward Frascino
eBay bid history
The one eBay bidder leaves a second bid, just in case.

"I'm not sending Christmas Cards this year."
Edward Frascino
Original art
The New Yorker, December 19, 1988, p. 35

Cartoons by Danny Shanahan and Edward Frascino

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1988-12-19/flipbook/034/

Note:  Scans or photos of original cartoon art by Edward Frascino are just the ingredients to concoct the witch's brew of a future blog post, if I may be permitted a metaphor. 

Barnum & Bailey's Three-Ring Binder
Danny Shanahan
The New Yorker, December 19, 1988, p. 34

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A Garrett Price Christmas Card Drawing

Cartoonist Garrett Price (1896-1979) started working for the Chicago Tribune in 1916 and for The New Yorker in 1925. He drew the comic strip White Boy from 1933 to 1936. In 1940, he moved east to Westport, Connecticut. 

A hand-drawn Christmas card of his currently listed on eBay features caricatures of fellow cartoonists at the Tribune. The biggest names of the era—John McCutcheon, Carey Orr, and Gaar Williams—are not to be found here. Those cartoonists labeled with only one name, or with a nickname, aren't easily identified. Gary Sheahan (1893-1978) is helpfully indicated by both first and last name. Today he has his work archived in the Chicago History Museum here. In 1942, he was to do a wraparound cover for The Line Book, published by the Tribune, fifteen years after The New Yorker's Peter Arno had that very honor.

The eBay seller of the Price drawing notes that it had been given to a fellow Tribune cartoonist, and that it bears evidence of having been kept in a scrapbook. It is dated by the seller to circa 1927, plausibly enough.

Garrett Price
eBay listing accessed February 12, 2022

https://www.ebay.com/itm/194131966306?hash=item2d332ab962:g:dxwAAOSwACNgoGhq

Note:  I would appreciate hearing from anyone who can identify Walt, Gross, Lundy, Cagh, Cy, Milt, or Wag of the Chicago Tribune.

Additional art by Garrett Price, just Price to his fellow Chicago cartoonists, is welcome for future blog posts.

Here's that Line Book cover I mentioned by Gary Sheahan:

Gary Sheahan
The Line Book, 1942

https://www.printmag.com/article/a-chicago-tribune-geek-out/

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My Copy of Kevin Maher and Joe Dator's Santa Doesn't Need Your Help

Santa may not be quite as spry as he used to be, but he certainly doesn't need any young do-gooders to step in and try to save Christmas. That is the premise of Santa Doesn't Need Your Help, told in verse and pictures. The new children's book is written by filmmaker Kevin Maher and illustrated by New Yorker cartoonist Joe Dator. Always the procrastinator, I ordered my copy from Porter Square Books of Boston while a book signing was actually underway. Both author and artist have signed the book and both have drawn a picture of someone who doesn't need your help, so don't ask.

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My Copy of Jeremy Nguyen's Can I Pet Your Dog?

New Yorker cartoonist Jeremy Nguyen's first solo book is out and it's called Can I Pet Your Dog? It is a colorful compendium of offbeat strategies for petting other people's dogs. I purchased a copy online through the cartoonist's website and sent him a photo of my dog Minty whose portrait Jeremy kindly sketched in the book. Not a bad deal for $15 postpaid. I added another $10 for Pup: A Zine of Dog Cartoons. I'm generally not much of a zine person, but fill one with dog cartoons and I'm not going to say no.

Jeremy Nguyen
Pup: A Zine of Dog Cartoons and Can I Pet Your Dog?

The book is signed and paw-printed. It includes an original drawing of my dog Minty.

Like the book, the zine is signed by Jeremy and pawprint-signed by a cavapoo acquaintance of his named Lava, the one on the book's cover.

Note:  The very offer I took advantage of is still available on Jeremy's website here.

Minty is an eleven-year-old maltipoo. Here is her reference photo. Would you like to pet her?

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