W. B. Park: Double Courage

"Courage is grace under pressure."

—Ernest Hemingway

Original artwork by W. B. Park from 1984 portrays two men in business attire walking down a city street. One man name checks Ernest Hemingway. The art changed hands on eBay this past September. It bears the stamp and ID of an original New Yorker finished cartoon, brown paper wrapper and all, yet it did not appear in the magazine in this form, nor was it killed. Rather, it was redrawn prior to publication three years later, making this a very unusual example of preliminary art for the magazine that first had been purchased and prepared as finished art intended for publication.

"Like Hemingway, I believe in grace under pressure—unless, of course, things get too hot."
W. B. Park
Preliminary art
The New Yorker, March 23, 1987, p. 32

Detail, left

Detail, right, with W. B. Park's signature

The New Yorker Editorial Department stamp and layout notations

New Yorker copyright label

W. B. Park
eBay listing ended September 21, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/204866893916?_skw=Rare+Original+The+New+Yorker+Illustration+Drawing+Published%2C+signed+%26+Fine&itmmeta=01JFEAMZEVRYHDT5AWD6341NHM&hash=item2fb304b85c:g:SsIAAOSw6qpmhJBa&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAABEHoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKkVj23opHgwpQNXK7V4oIX8zWvWemmzUa3F8V%2BSiRqJwrwxRqrnz%2BcyVl8ZvfF8j0YZulj1N9vJZNSt

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W. B. Park
eBay item description

[End of eBay listing]

The problem with the image, evidently, was one of scale. Someone decided that Park's original drawing would be better rendered in a close up, with greater emphasis on the figures rather than on the street.

"Like Hemingway, I believe in grace under pressure—unless, of course, things get too hot."
W. B. Park
The New Yorker, March 23, 1987, p. 32

"Like Hemingway, I believe in grace under pressure—unless, of course, things get too hot."
W. B. Park
Preliminary art
The New Yorker, March 23, 1987, p. 32

With cartoons by W. B. Park and Jack Ziegler

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1987-03-23/flipbook/032/

And opposite the Park drawing, there's a gold record winner from Jack Ziegler:

"Cyndi Lauper on four, sir, with a bullet."
Jack Ziegler
The New Yorker, March 23, 1987, p. 33

Note:  I am not aware of any other New Yorker cartoon which was prepared in two distinct, supposedly finished, versions. I would like to hear about any similar examples.

My thanks to Michael Maslin for walking me through all this and for explaining the Jack Ziegler cartoon which, honestly, I didn't get.

04836

W. B. Park: Less Cowbell

An original color cartoon by W. B. Park features a cow stripper and her bull admirers. It is dated August 11, 1986, but it was not published until May of 1988 in Park's Off The Leash syndicated strip—or was it? According to the art's eBay seller, there is a smaller black and white version of this cartoon as well. Park's Wikipedia page informs us that the panel strip was distributed by United Feature Syndicate from 1989 to 1999, so somebody's dates may be off by a bit.

W. B. Park
eBay listing ended August 18, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/126620695415?_skw=Rare+Original+The+New+Yorker&itmmeta=01JBJQ0D1FC7KG0Z4K5SX7XYYM&hash=item1d7b2e7b77:g:1dcAAOSwN99muQLH&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA0HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKk2CtBipykyrIzXn%2BGsB4Xc0w0X447Db0h%2BxrS5wWriFWh6fQtdbpD2SrPy

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W. B. Park
eBay item description

[End of eBay listing]

CartoonStock lists not one but two additional versions of this gag in what is clearly Off The Leash's vertical panel format. The black and white version, right, is closer the the horizontal color original that was offered on eBay.

W. B. Park
CartoonStock

https://www.cartoonstock.com/search?type=images

&keyword=%22W.+B.+Park%22+cow&page=1

04835

W. B. Park: Guilty?

Every one, even the squirrel in the park, had an opinion, but the subject of this cartoon, obvious in 1995, may not be so self-evident today:

"Is he guilty? Hell, yes, he's guilty. Now can we talk about something else?"
W. B. Park
Original art
The New Yorker, August 21 & 28, 1995, p. 90

The context for this ephemeral cartoon art by W. B. Park must have been plain to all The New Yorker's readers in the summer of 1995. The news back then was dominated by coverage of the ongoing O. J. Simpson double murder trial.

Detail, left

Detail, right, with W. B. Park's signature

W. B. Park
eBay listing ended August 1, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/196479739741?_skw=signed+Yorker&itmmeta=01JA75GRHYYHQJZ2ZF2TX1WZAS&hash=item2dbf1ae75d:g:FLMAAOSw9UdmhJKo&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA0HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKnpMCBsDXTQL8k0Spk8noPzotlCv4bNcxOaLkWjPiB5UxfX4nUDXEF644LNBBcu8fcS

mroFilt4PYU0hbTV53oazyZXdFeu8eY2znKbJIks%2FwTFRu8DzUnlrPXGeMWbjtKoay%2FmpFBDqJqvnr7%2BiDA4v7DeYTAxrfVLb8d7Ri8WTRJXxEuxHxSMCWb9YqA5CydKSX%2BB7zzac%2F%2B5p4Ozn3kRGROid0DRYPSXxtB8pZiu%2F36%2FgcDpOMUuuQ2xK2dbscE%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4iJw-XRZA

W. B. Park
eBay item description

[End of eBay listing]

"Is he guilty? Hell, yes, he's guilty. Now can we talk about something else?"
W. B. Park
The New Yorker, August 21 & 28, 1995, p. 90

"Is he guilty? Hell, yes, he's guilty. Now can we talk about something else?"
W. B. Park
Original art
The New Yorker, August 21 & 28, 1995, p. 90

With a drawing by W. B. Park and a poem by Emily Hiestand

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1995-08-21/flipbook/090/

Note:  The jury subsequently acquitted O. J. Simpson of the murder charges. Opinions on the verdict were divided along racial lines. The squirrel was dumbfounded.

04834

W. B. Park: Foundationless

A New Yorker cartoon by W. B. Park from 1983 is, on its surface, pretty silly. The original art, sold on eBay this past summer, shows how the magazine went about moving a signature without having to cut and paste the sheet of paper.

"Say, listen. I didn't mean to suggest that you not wear makeup at all."
W. B. Park
Original art
The New Yorker, June 20, 1983, p. 76

Detail, left

W. B. Park's signature and the layout instructions on where to move it

Caption

Layout instructions on how to scale the signature

W. B. Park
eBay listing ended July 14, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/196479737169_skw=signed+Yorker&itmmeta=01J9T2QP6C5QAPXHQJB1XKFETQ&hash=item2dbf1add51:g:JGsAAOSwSA9mhJH~&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKmdLnzg4xnNREtt9Ip3dKjZ0w6LqOrrZxpQ0

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NjnfIdPtOF5JThifRfJ4mc6qJTcRAc0k2jngHRJFe%2BMBHs1YIf%2BSnXeiZvcKzLpfDIiL5n2L96odA%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR6bj3sLOZA

W. B. Park
eBay item description

"Say, listen. I didn't mean to suggest that you not wear makeup at all."
W. B. Park
The New Yorker, June 20, 1983, p. 76

"Say, listen. I didn't mean to suggest that you not wear makeup at all."
W. B. Park
Original art
The New Yorker, June 20, 1983, p. 76

With a cartoon by W. B. Park and an advertisement by Berlitz

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1983-06-20/flipbook/076/

I do miss those newsbreaks:

04833

W. B. Park: The Balanced Meal

W. B. Park's drawing The Balanced Meal is fairly diagrammatic and has no shading. Purchased by The New Yorker in 1981, it saw print in the magazine only in 1984. The original art was sold on eBay in July.

The Balanced Meal
W. B. Park
Original art
The New Yorker, April 23, 1984, p. 113

Detail

W. B. Park's signature

W. B. Parke
eBay listing ended July 14, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/196479726826_skw=signed+Yorker&itmmeta=01J9T2QP6CHYTEKK6J334MGDTZ&hash=item2dbf1ab4ea:g:0vcAAOSwoS9mhJAG&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA0HoV

3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKlYz3l%2F5CrxAPhfrl1uJsYUWq%2BNGry7ikyy23LuxniHkqihCI55VZ8mefOScd4ILuvKT1NC9OIGkvs6cDgzv7L0AZimxrHmKvUDydBw

Gk164JC93Yh7qdT%2B4nE7VbkQ40OcwlEDx4A9gZsGu6yOzrYjF9WrvLzfZB4Amzk53Ws0fGvyLWOKXNmZTetaBljj0V%2B44qp36j3w0lBuri

VELhCnMq9fDf%2BFFkBS43CfN5Rfk%2BvXQAayl5Q%2BPEMsLkfF3Uc%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR6bj3sLOZA

W. B. Parke
eBay item description

[End of eBay listing]

The Balanced Meal
W. B. Park
The New Yorker, April 23, 1984, p. 113

The Balanced Meal
W. B. Park
Original art
The New Yorker, April 23, 1984, p. 113

With cartoons by Eldon Dedini and W. B. Park

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1983-06-20/flipbook/076/

Eldon Dedini's cartoons frequently poked fun at the generally unfunny Soviet Union. Whatever shading the Park drawing may have lacked, the Dedini on the opposite page makes up for. Neither has a spoken caption.

Lenin, Up Early, Freshly Showered, Makes His List for the Day
Eldon Dedini
The New Yorker, April 23, 1984, p. 112

04832