Charles Addams: The Royal Canadian Mountie Gets His Man?

Collectors of original art by Charles Addams were presented with an unusual opportunity at Doyle New York yesterday. A drawing of his is set at a picnic in the Canadian mountains. A Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman comes by with an apprehended prisoner. The publication history of the drawing was initially unknown to the auction house, but that was corrected prior to the sale. The drawing illustrated "The Royal Canadian Mounted: The magnificent story of one of the great police forces on earth" by James Warner Bellah in Holiday magazine for June 1958. It was collected in Black Maria, Addams's 1960 collection. So it's technically a story illustration, but in style it's more of a typical Addams cartoon.

Charles Addams
Holiday, June 1958, p. 76
Black Maria, 1960, p. 28

There is a condition issue. As Doyle describes it, "The sheet with a hard central fold that has cracked the backing of the illustration board, although the surface paper with the drawing is merely creased. Corners a bit bumped." This drawing is in need of a paper conservator.

The drawing is from the estate of Harry Lowe (1922-2021, the art professor and Smithsonian curator). The auction house estimate was $1,000 to $1,500, set before the publication history was known. It's on the conservative side, but not unreasonable given the condition issues.

The revised listing, accessed November 6, now has the publication history provided by H. Kevin Miserocchi of the Tee & Charles Addams Foundation:

An eBay listing shows the 1958 Addams illustration in Holiday and the first page of the accompanying article.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/235039994169

Charles Addams's Black Maria (1960) with a spread of drawings without words, from another eBay listing:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/364223758221

Sold!

Note:  My thanks to Charles Addams memorabilia expert Joel Jacobus for his guidance.

If the purchaser of this drawing chooses to restore it, I would be happy to post an image of the refreshed art afterwards.

Collectors of original Addams art are welcome to submit images of their holdings to this blog. 

04495

A Kindred Soul 2.0

What is the world coming to? On Friday, someone left an unusual comment on one of my posts, last week's New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest here. It offers me, of all people, the chance to collaborate in creating New Yorker cartoons. The commenter assumes, I think, that I would like to be on the creative side of New Yorker cartoons—well, who wouldn't?—and that I would have to be the artist. That's an odd assumption to make on a post where I'm trying my hand at captioning, but probably not a terrible guess anyway.

Even stranger, the commenter created a brand new profile just for this comment, one that plays fast and loose with my own blog title. The profile apparently tries to match my interests too. To Kill a Mockingbird is a pretty good, if pretty obvious, choice for Favorite Books. For Favorite Music and Movies, though, Daft Punk and "The Ring" are not so spot on.

Well, there you have it: a probably fake profile and a probably fake offer of collaboration. For all I know there are AI bots that go around to millions of sites and try to engage bloggers by mimicking their interests. But to what end? Something nefarious, I suspect.

04495

My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #873

Is that Mr. Potato Head on the doctor's examining table again? I feel as if I've already given The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #873 from the issue of November 6, 2023 the old college try. Maybe you recall my failed captioning attempt last month for the MDLinx Comic Consult #11, a nearly identical scenario, here. I decided to take a new approach befitting the more refined style of Paul Noth in The New Yorker. My caption is shown below.

"You seem well put together."

November 13, 2023 Update:  The Finalists

November 23, 2023 Update:  I voted for the caption from Sydney. 

December 3, 2023 Update:  The Winner

04494

Ima Rosada's Copy of Monster Rally by Charles Addams

In 1956, Ima Rosada purchased a home on Quiogue Point in Southampton Town. The following year New Yorker cartoonist Charles Addams was her houseguest. He presented his hostess with a personalized copy of his 1950 book Monster Rally from its second printing. It was a housewarming gift of sorts as well a means of reciprocating her hospitality.

The original drawing in the book features the boy Pugsley as we now call him—he was as yet unnamed before "The Addams Family" television show. He holds the family's pet lizard, if you will, on a leash.

Charles Addams
AbeBooks listing accessed November 4, 2023

Charles Addams
AbeBooks item description

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Monster-Rally-Addams-Charles-Simon-Schuster/31692052602/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook_high

The aforementioned 1956 real estate transaction had been posted in the local press. Addams misspelled Rosada's name in the book, but hi got Quiogue right.

Realty Sales
The Southampton Press, November 29, 1956, p. 12

https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=sp19561129-01.1.12&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN----------

Note:  This book has been sold. But Charles Addams, bless him, gave away many copies of his books to which he added personalized inscriptions and drawings. Other such volumes were no doubt obtained at book signings. Whatever the story behind them, consider this blog the home away from home for images of the superb Addams books in your library.

See Dan's Papers for a helpful 2013 primer on Quogue and Quiogue here.

04493

Mischa Richter: A Fine Speech

Original cartoon art by Mischa Richter published in The New Yorker of December 22, 1975 was sold on eBay this past summer. Washington politicians are certainly ripe targets for political satire in any era, but this particular cartoon set during the 1970s recession hinges on some surprisingly uninspired wordplay.

"It's a fine speech, but take out the word unemployed and change it to unemployment."
Published as "It's a fine speech, but let's take out 'unemployed' and change it to 'unemployment.'"
Mischa Richter
Original art
The New Yorker, December 22, 1975, p. 32

Yet it does have a point to make. When economic upheavals are discussed, there is a tendency perhaps for some politicians to step back from the direct effects on people and to look instead at more global abstractions. Richter clearly has something to say here, but the caption's linguistic quibble is hardly uproarious.

Detail

Mischa Richter's caption and signature

Mischa Richter
eBay listing ended August 3, 2023

https://www.ebay.com/itm/354857616560?hash=item529f2984b0:g:vCcAAOSw-m1kjtp8&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4KzcR27GENF6C6xFv0ufPsimVFTsHiUTuau%2Bf0%2BygV%2BT%2BBWnjFdvXpCqRxsVpKdXrQiFx335JK%2F7XuI4EzYT1imKVtnGb%2Fn%2Fl%2FCGm2yj%2BoKUSpXZWoZokzFhOsE2GlvZsl4qPAvi5R95vFbTxC2e6bE5e%2BF43f4gQ

upm4HF2EBcWxEjlYcpw8m3PLHWjRKcpkDJElracfUpH321gnZMCtcYNtrIAN%2FqVgsiG7kkF7ByBiARGB3QBdz%2BN6bJYC0v2aRGV2yqfVWjV8%2FdAKMwt2AP1cz%2Fk7g4qK47RGK962%2BW%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5DZ7sXsYg

Mischa Richter
eBay item description

Mischa Richter
eBay bid history
As so often happens, the last bidder wins it.

"It's a fine speech, but let's take out 'unemployed' and change it to 'unemployment.'"
Mischa Richter
The New Yorker, December 22, 1975, p. 32

"It's a fine speech, but take out the word unemployed and change it to unemployment."
Published as "It's a fine speech, but let's take out 'unemployed' and change it to 'unemployment.'"
Mischa Richter
Original art
The New Yorker, December 22, 1975, p. 32

A cartoon by Mischa Richter and a spot drawing by Henry Martin

https://archives.newyorker.com/newyorker/1975-12-22/flipbook/032/

Henry Martin

Spot drawing of Christmas ornaments

The New Yorker, December 22, 1975, p. 33

January 13, 2024 Update:  This original artwork was shared today on Michael Maslin's Ink Spill as an example of Mischa Richter channeling to some degree the style of Charles Saxon.

04492

MDLInx Comic Consult #12

The MDLinx Comic Consult is a caption contest open only to doctors with a sense of humor. Prizes are a $100 Amazon gift card for first place, and $50 gift cards for up to four runners up. This is contest #12—my fourth—and it features a physician with a patient you may just recognize. Five entries are permitted; each of mine are shown below. The cartoon is by Jonny Hawkins.

"I never said to take anything with a spoonful of sugar."
"We don't accept tuppence."
"Your reflux comes from having tea parties on the ceiling."
"We need to rule out something quite atrocious."
"Well, look who just blew in!"

November 13, 2023 Update:  The Winner

04491

Arranging Flowers Helen E. Hokinson Proposed New Yorker Cover Art

From an auction house in Woodbury, Connecticut comes a rough watercolor illustration attributed to The New Yorker's Helen E. Hokinson (1893-1949). The interior scene shows two women, a matron and her domestic servant, using cuttings from the garden to create a floral arrangement. Though unsigned, the art is in Hokinson's characteristic style and it depicts her typical subject matter. The strap along the left edge of the artwork indicates that this piece was conceived as a potential New Yorker cover. A notation on the backing documents a plausible and exceptional provenance: it originally belonged to James Reid Parker (1909-1984), Hokinson's longtime gag writer and collaborator. The artwork was given by his widow Ruth L. Parker to a Betty Greene in 1986. 

The watercolor was offered with an estimate of $50 to $5,000, a broad range. Bidding opened at just $20.

A day and a half before the sale, the bidding had reached only $30.

Helen E. Hokinson
Schwenke Auctioneers listing accessed October 29, 2023

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/163433043_attr-h-hokinson-wc-cartoon

Helen E. Hokinson
Schwenke Auctioneers item description

It sold on October 31 for $200.

Though it was never published, the above artwork possibly could have led to a 1940 New Yorker cover coinciding with the flower show and showing us the ultimate destination of the floral arrangement:

Helen E. Hokinson
The New Yorker, March 16, 1940

04490

My Copy—and Others—of The Super Hero's Journey by Patrick McDonnell

At the Princeton Children's Book Festival on October 7, Mutts comic strip artist Patrick McDonnell signed copies of his new Marvel Comics memoir The Super Hero's Journey (New York: Abrams Comic Arts, 2023). 

https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/super-heros-journey_9781419769108/

Before adding a drawing to the book, he asked me for my favorite Marvel character. I replied truthfully, "The Sub-Mariner." What else could it be?

 

Three weeks later I attended an event at the Princeton Public Library where McDonnell was joined in conversation by Gil Roth, the podcaster behind the Virtual Memories Show. The subject, of course, was The Super Hero's Journey.

https://princetonlibrary.libnet.info/event/9228913

McDonnell announced that some four-hundred "Make Mine Marvel Arts" buttons with his own superhero art had been manufactured as a book promotion. Some were given away at the library event with the purchase of a book.

Here is a copy of The Superhero's Journey with a credible drawing of the Incredible Hulk.

 

And here's another copy with a drawing of the mischievous Loki from the Thor comic book:

Note:  Gil Roth's earlier conversation with Patrick McDonnell on the subject of The Super Hero's Journey may be heard on the Virtual Memories Show episode #556 here.

Patrick McDonnell is very generous to his fans at signings and he clearly has a ball drawing all the characters in the Marvel Universe in his distinctive style. I will be happy to add many more personalized book drawings to this blog page if readers would care to send me photos or scans of their own treasured copies. There must already be hundreds out there.

04489