Athlete Admissions: Whitney Darrow, Jr., On Campus with Max Shulman

Humorist Max Shulman, is best known as the author of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1951), the basis for the popular television show (1959-1963), and Rally Round the Flag, Boys! (1957), the basis for the popular movie (1958). He published a collection of collegiate humor in Max Shulman's Guided Tour of Campus Humor (1955) and published the column "On Campus with Max Shulman" in the 1950s and 1960s.

An original illustration for the column by New Yorker cartoonist Whitney Darrow, Jr., has just surfaced and been sold on eBay. The drawing depicts a university's dean of admissions offering a place in the class to an overly tall athlete who is unable to sign his name, save with an x. Today, the idea of athlete who can't pass academic muster is a tired cliche, and perhaps it was one even then.

That athlete would have to be at least twice as tall as the dean of admissions, an exaggeration we'll allow. Darrow seems almost unable to resist naming the administrator Dean Martin, like the popular entertainer. The blue wash indicates shading with Ben-Day.

Signature of Whitney Darrow, Jr.

Whitney Darrow, Jr.
eBay listing ended June 5, 2021

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144056575011?hash=item218a70e423:g:4ygAAOSwI3Vgskwh

Whitney Darrow, Jr.
eBay item description

Whitney Darrow, Jr.
eBay bid history
As is often the case, the last bid gets it.

Note:  I would like to hear from anyone who can locate a copy of the column in which this illustration was published.

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My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #758

There are encouraging signs of the pandemic beginning to resolve in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #758 from the issue of June 7, 2021. My caption is shown below. The drawing is by Tom Toro.

"Please tell these nice people my only agenda is getting out of the house."

These captions were not approved by the CDC:

"They want me to flash them my vaccination card."
"Apparently, I'm blocking the recovery."
"This is too stressful. I'm going back to working from home."
"It's time to start wearing clothes."

June 19, 2021 Update:  The Finalists

June 26, 2021 Update:  I voted for the caption from Monroe Township.

July 3, 2021 Update:  The Winner

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William Steig: On Background

An original cartoon by William Steig was sold yesterday at auction in Avon, Connecticut. The setting is an artist's studio. A self-confident metropolitan man in a three-piece suit sits for a portrait and gives a very specific instruction to the painter. The style suggests this work dates from the early 1930s. The printing history is unknown. An inscription may or may not indicate publication in Collier's.

"Put islands in the background, please."
William Steig

Carrying a pre-sale estimate of $600 to $900, the drawing has several things going for it. Some ninety years on, this gag may have acquired some added relevance in the Zoom era. The frame is included with a double matte, and all appear to be good looking and in good shape.

"Put ilands islands in the background, please."
Sat 10 Aug 3? Collier's?

William Steig
Trinity International Auctions & Appraisals, LLC
June 5, 2021

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/WILLIAM-STEIG-AMERICAN-1907-2003-130-c-F994A6C818?utm_source=alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=inv_artistalert&utm_term=2

Sold!

June 8, 2021 Update:  A reader suggests that the notation reads, “Sat 10 am 3 cols” Followed by something that is not Collier's.


Note:  I wish to hear from anyone who can locate where this cartoon was first printed. Should it become available, I intend to add the information to this post.

In my view and possibly in yours, original art by William Steig is generally a good topic for a blog post. Please send photos and scans and tell me what you know.

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J. D. Salinger Signed New Yorker Short Stories

An eBay listing from a year ago included two copies of The New Yorker containing short stories by J. D. Salinger, each signed by the author. The stories, "Just Before the War with the Eskimos" (June 5, 1948) and "Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes" (July 14, 1951), were both later collected in Nine Stories (1953).The magazines come from the 2008 Princeton estate sale of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Murray Gell-Mann.

Magazine covers by Leonard Dove, Arthur Getz, and Robert Vickery

Salinger signed both magazines "with best wishes[,]/J. D. Salinger" above the story title. 

It's an apparent coincidence that the title page of each story is decorated with a spot drawing by Abe Birnbaum.

Too bad the eBay seller wasn't a better photographer.

J. D. Salinger
eBay Listing Ended June 19, 2020

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1948-amp-1951-J-D-SALINGER-SIGNED-INSCRIBED-SHORT-STORIES-NEW-YORKER-MAGAZINES-/184325551854?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc

J. D. Salinger
eBay Item Description

J. D. Salinger
eBay Bid History
Only one bid in the final two minutes

0000

Ralph Steadman: Letters to His Publisher

Peter Grogan of London offers for sale an archive of correspondence from illustrator Ralph Steadman to his publisher Tom Maschler at Jonathan Cape. Seventeen letters and postcards, nine typed and eight autograph, cover a period of seventeen years throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. It's the very thing for fans seeking insight into the mind of Steadman as he created some of his more compelling works while unsuccessfully pitching a book about— cannibals! The sale price in US dollars is somewhat irregular, but translates to an even 7,500 GBP.

Ralph Steadman
AbeBooks listing accessed June 3, 2021

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30425815304&searchurl=kn%3DI%2Bpaint%2Bwhat%2Bi%2Bsee%26sortby%3D1&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-image8

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My Copy of John Cuneo's Coping Skills

John Cuneo is surely one of today's most talented, not to mention provocative, illustrators. His latest book, Coping Skills, has just been published by Fantagraphics. Naturally, I was eager to find myself a very special copy of this volume of "helpful drawings." With as yet no in-person book signings in the offing, I preordered a personalized copy from The Golden Notebook of Woodstock, New York.

https://goldennotebook.indielite.org/pre-order-your-signed-copy-now?fbclid=IwAR2XCyUP5rYoRN84PnIK7xDn_H-LIC3Sf1krRmG7qFGmYFDnrXY0a4tT4pQ

Happily, the book arrived this week, signed and with an original sketch. Here it is, in all its glory:

 

Live Drawing—Uncensored!

John Cuneo with Joe Ciardiello

Society of Illustrators

Note:  On his Illustration Art blog, David Apatoff reviews the book here.

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The CartoonStock Caption Contest #128

I have no idea what to make of the CartoonStock Caption Contest #128. My three entries may be seen below, but I can't explain them either. The drawing is by David Ostow and Dan Solomon. 

"He works in mysterious ways."
"Winged, yes. Angel, no."
"Do you really think I'm calling the shots here?"

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Peter Arno: Courtesy of Men Only?

In March of 1943, a periodical called The Artist reproduced a drawing by The New Yorker's most popular cartoonist Peter Arno. The gag had originally been meant for publication as a full page but here it appeared much smaller, somewhat ironically on the same page as an article about Punch cartoons. Most curious is an attribution stating the cartoon appeared "Courtesy of Men Only." Men Only was a British men's magazine launched in 1935. Is that where this Arno gag was first published?

Peter Arno
The Artist, March 1943, page 17

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144056651526?...

Hardly. It should come as no surprise that this Arno gag first appeared more than a year earlier in The New Yorker. The misattribution to Men Only is a bit of a mystery. One wonders where the royalty check was sent.

Spot drawing by Abe Birnbaum and cartoon by Peter Arno

Note:  At the time of posting the single page from The Artist is listed on eBay for GBP 17 plus shipping.

I would love to hear of any Peter Arno drawings that may have actually been published in Men Only.

Abe Birnbaum

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