We know that a William T. Todd of Oxford Mills, Ottawa died in September of 1931 and that a William T. Todd of Pittsburgh was about 70 at that time. Neither is a known artist or would seem to be credible as the creator of An Honest Heart, Or, Hard at Work Really Wishing You A Merry Christmas which is adorned with the year 1931—possibly the coming New Year—and which looks for all the world like the work of John Held, Jr. The artwork has printer's marks on it and was likely published as a Christmas card. Held was known to sign his "engravings"with great wit, but why he specifically would choose to sign one "Done by William T. Todd, who scorns empty words" is not at all clear. The paper has extensive pencil underlining—see the candle flame and the table, etc.—an indication that he drew directly with ink on this imitation woodblock print.
An Honest Heart Or, Hard at Work Really Wishing You A Merry Christmas, c. 1930 John Held, Jr. "Done by William T. Todd, who scorns empty words"
Note: What's the connection to William T. Todd? Readers are invited to speculate. John Held, Jr., usually signed his own name to his art. My wishbone wish would be for readers to share scans or photographs of his original or published art, including retro designs for Christmas cards. Information about this particular piece's lost publication history would be welcome as well. Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives: John Held, Jr. Christmas
Note: Last week cartoonist Drew Dernavich's snowman went on a shopping spree. My caption got a frosty reception. Let's wrap up Contest #595. See what cartoonist Frank Cotham already has reaped on this blog here.
Some years ago, New Yorker cover artist Arthur Getz created an original woodcut of a mother and daughter for use as a holiday card. He added "Season's Greetings" in pencil and signed the print with his initial G. The image is intimate and tender. It remains quite endearing.
I asked the artist's daughter Sarah Getz whether she was the girl in this image. She replied, "I’m not the child in the picture, necessarily—I think it was simply a whimsical mother/daughter image my dad pulled from his head—but I’ve always thought it very sweet."
Note:My thanks to Sarah Getz for sending the card. The Arthur Getz website is here.
Attempted Bloggery is always pleased to receive scans or photographs of original art by Arthur Getz, the most prolific of The New Yorker's cover artists. Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives: Arthur Getz Christmas
In a cartoon published in Life magazine's December 1933 issue, Richard Deckerpresents us with a woman who is engaged in the quintessential Christmas season activity of shopping for the perfect card. She wants to find one that will very specifically do the work of two, a get-well card and a Christmas card.
Aside from that, note the disorderly way the individual cards are displayed on the countertop, the way they are organized by price—ten or fifteen cents—rather than by intended recipient, and the presence of a dedicated saleswoman at the table. It all seems rather chaotic and labor-intensive compared with a modern card rack. But it must have been helpful to have a salesperson with whom to discuss the perplexing card choices one faced.
"I want a card for an aunt who is ill at Christmas." Richard Decker Life, December 1933, page 42
Scan by Dick Buchanan
Note: Thanks to Dick Buchanan for providing Attempted Bloggery with a scan of this forgotten cartoon from deep inside the festive Dick Buchanan Cartoon Clip Files. Dick regularly contributes to Mike Lynch Cartoons, most recently a post entitled, "From the Dick Buchanan Files: Holiday and Winter Cartoons 1948 - 1960."'Tis the season.
Richard Decker doesn't get enough play here on the old blog. Readers are encouraged to contribute scans or photos of original Decker art or of rare published cartoons.
The repeal of Prohibition ended on December 5, 1933 with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution. The timing led to an unusual Life magazine Christmas cover by Dorothy McKay. It's not that "Brother Tupper"—nice alliteration—is drinking again already; he never stopped. It's just that his obviously red "nose is legal again," a very satisfactory resolution for the clergyman who has no problem with him being under the influence even while entertaining the children as Santa Claus. The other priest seems to be harboring second thoughts, as he very well should. There's a lot wrong with the underlying assumptions and stereotypes of this magazine cover, but how was it received by its Depression-era audience? Was the repeal of the Volstead Act deemed a great boon or, more realistically, a mixed blessing? Was an inebriated Santa Claus really the way Life wanted to celebrate this historic crossroads?
"I'm glad brother Tupper's nose is legal again." Dorothy McKay Life, December 1933
Scan by Dick Buchanan
Note: A Yuletide thank-you to Dick Buchanan for providing the old blog with the magazine cover seen here from the celebrated Dick Buchanan Cartoon Clip Files. Dick contributes regularly to Mike Lynch Cartoons, most recently a post entitled, "From the Dick Buchanan Files: Holiday and Winter Cartoons 1948 - 1960." Cheers!
Dorothy McKay was a leading cartoonist of her day. Readers are encouraged to contribute scans or photographs of original McKay art or of obscure published cartoons. Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:
University Archives of Westport just sold a later edition copy of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! This copy is signed and inscribed by Dr. Seuss, who himself was no Grinch.
It is now time for us to take up the sizzling platter situation. Just imagining what might very well be the specialty of the house can make one’s mouth water. Yet New Yorker cartoonists very deliberately have avoided drawing sizzling platters for... well, decades. Three cartoons in the magazine's storied history specifically mention sizzling platters, but do we ever actually get to visualize the real deal? In 1937, cartoonist Barbara Shermund comes awfully close to drawing one, but there is so much steam there’s just nothing left to see. In other words, it's all sizzle and no platter.
Likewise, very early in 1949 cartoonist Robert Day does not delineate for us a sizzling platter either, only a couple discussing the fancy menu item. This time it's all talk and no sizzle.
Thankfully, the subject finds its way to Peter Arno later in 1949, via gag writer Richard Mcallister. In Arno's hands, the sizzling platter is no longer really a menu item at all; instead it's an unseen but potently-suggestive double entendre. Note how the provocatively-posed line of showgirls allows the viewer to imagine the comically-horrific incident described. And what a wonderful look of abject concern on the diner’s face! Yet there is paradoxically a complete absence of food anywhere in the drawing; there's not even a dish in sight. Now it's all innuendo and no platter.
Arno’s midcentury masterpiece put an understandable end to the small run of New Yorker cartoons on the subject of sizzling platters; there is simply no way to top it. So, do we ever actually get to see our talked-about sizzling platter? We certainly do, but it isn't to be found in the pages of The New Yorker. Rather, the long-awaited sizzling platter is finally depicted on the front cover dust jacket illustration for the collection Peter Arno's Sizzling Platter (1949). (You know a cartoon is iconic when it lends a published collection its title!) Arno's self-restraint has finally exhausted itself and it is only now that we get to feast our eyes on a hot sizzling platter...and the food doesn’t look so bad either.
Note: I am grateful to New Yorker cartoonist and Peter Arno biographer Michael Maslin for identifying Richard McCallister as the gag writer of the Arno cartoon. Mr. Maslin's 2016 biography, Peter Arno: The Mad, Mad World of the New Yorker's Greatest Cartoonist, is available on Amazon and elsewhere at a mad, mad discount no Arno fan should pass up. Incidentally, if any reader can identify the gag writer for the two other sizzling platter cartoons by Shermund and Day, or whether they indeed used a gag writer at all, please come forward and tell the epicurean world what we need to know. Surely Peter Arno produced far more than his share of unsurpassed work throughout his career and Attempted Bloggery humbly begs to bring you more of it. I seek scans or photographs of original cartoon art by Arno as well as examples of rare and obscure published work from outside of the well-thumbed pages of The New Yorker. Please send me something that sizzles.
A first edition of The Twelve Terrors of Christmas (1993) is signed by both author John Updike and illustrator Edward Gorey. These two talents are sorely missed.
Cartoonist Barney Tobey raises a crucial question of identity in this colorful 1950 cartoon from Collier's. Has this heroic Santa remained true to his role, or is he simply too dazed to remember reality? Tobey handles the Christmas crowd deftly. And just take a look at that hood ornament!
"No, no! I mean your real name!" Barney Tobey Collier's, December 22, 1950, page 42
Scan by Dick Buchanan
Note: This post would not be possible without the efforts of Dick Buchanan, who provides this blog with the new-to-the-net color cartoon seen here from the renowned Dick Buchanan Cartoon Clip Files. Take it from me: Dick operates a scanner like it's nobody's business. He also contributes regularly to Mike Lynch Cartoons, most recently a post entitled, "From the Dick Buchanan Files: Hank Ketcham Gag Cartoons 1944 – 1952." It's all Pre-Dennis!
Barney Tobey had quite a run on this blog once upon a time, and there is still plenty more work of his to show. Readers are encouraged to contribute scans or photographs of original Tobey art or of seldom-seen published cartoons. Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:
One might not necessarily expect to find an especially robust market for old magazine Christmas gift subscription forms, but the New Yorker at least had the good sense to illustrate such forms with gorgeous magazine covers from its archive. A subscription form offered and sold last year on eBay includes a Robert Day cover from 1935 illustrating a Christmas shopper who has good reason to tread lightly.
Note:Robert Day doesn't get enough play here. Readers are encouraged to contribute scans or photos of original Day art or of seldom-seen published cartoons. Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:
Art is a commodity. I know I don't usually describe it that way here. Typically I'll look at a specific work of, say, illustration art and describe as best I can what attributes make it unique. Now if every work, low or high, is so unique, what value is there in suggesting that art is just another commodity? Well, rare and highly sought-after art by an undisputed genius is a valuable commodity indeed. I don't think there's a better way to understand how a painting like Leonardo'sSalvator Mundi could sell for $450,000,000, now the world record price for a work of art. It's not that it's "the male Mona Lisa"—it isn't, although calling it that is great marketing. It's not that it's Leonardo's most compelling work; I'd argue that it falls on the opposite end of that spectrum. What it is, simply, is Leonardo's only painting in private hands. If you had the resources and wanted to own a Leonardo painting, this was your only chance. It you didn't win the auction, you can console yourself that the work is not in the best condition, that the face of Jesus was overaggressively cleaned in the past and now appears somewhat ghostly and distant from the better-preserved hands or the clothing. You can tell yourself that the composition appears very static and overly symmetrical compared with other works by the artist. But if you did win the auction, you can tell yourself that you own a Leonardo.
Note:Leonardo has never appeared on this blog before, but his reputation seems to be holding up just fine. Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives: Christmas
In case you missed it on the newsstands, here are a few pages of "The Christmas Spirit"-themed issue of Judge from December 13, 1930. The busy and festive three-color cover illustration is by Frank Hanley.
Frank Hanley,The Christmas Spirit Judge, December 13, 1930
Carl Becker's art deco illustration for Powers Reproduction Corporation, photoengravers, demonstrates that when you're wearing fur you don't need much else.
Ed Graham,"Send up some cracked ice to Mrs. Blitz at the Ritz Towers—her daughter is throwing a début party!" I. Klein,A Great Moment in the Life of a Chicagoan: He is mistaken for Al Capone. Chon Day,"I wonder where the boss put this guy's art work?" E. Simms Campbell,"Listen—when are we ever going to get heat in our apartment?" "I dunno—I'm only th' janitor." Judge, December 13, 1930, pages 8-9
Note: We don't get to see all that much of the work of Benoît van Innis here in America and that's a shame. Readers may contribute scans or photos of original van Innis art or of rarely-seen published illustrations. Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives:
Arnie Levin's original New Yorker cover art for December 11, 1978 uses perhaps a quarter of the space available. Despite the relatively small area of the drawing, approximately half of it—comprising all the gifts sitting on the forklift forks—has been collaged onto the art. The result is a minimalist cover that is essentially flawless. A lot of work must have gone into achieving such charming simplicity.
Note: Original works by Arnie Levin are welcome here as are other examples of original New Yorker cover art by all artists. Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives Arnie Levin
Note:Last time, cartoonist Frank Cotham's Grim Reaper was offered some ale. My caption did not prompt any choruses of "Dilly dilly." Down the results of Contest #596 in one gulp. Carolita Johnson has traversed this blog before.
It is now time to return those gifts that didn't quite work out. Bookseller James Cummins has a four-panel cartoon by Garrett Price that sums it all up pretty well. The listing states that this cartoon was "probably done for The New Yorker." Surely we can do better than that.
Note:To be truthful, this is one of the few blogs on whichGarrett Price merits much discussion. Don't blame me; blame all those other blogs with nothing to say. You know the drill: Attempted Bloggery seeks high-quality scans or photographs of original cartoon art by Garrett Price, including rejected cover proposals and whatever else might happen to come your way. Please also send me examples of extremely scarce or uncollected published work. Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives Garrett Price
Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...my two entries in the Moment Cartoon Caption Contest for November/December 2017. The super drawing is by Benjamin Schwartz.
"Don't lay a finger on him! He's Marvel; we're DC." "Pay attention! Did I say to hit him in the tentacles?"
I think that second caption is as good as any I've written, but experience tells me that the first has a much better chance of advancing. We'll see...
Note:Benjamin Schwartz is the cartoonist currently behind the caption contests for Moment magazine. I have been entering these Moment Cartoon Caption Contests for more than four years now. It's been a pretty good run, if I do say so myself. But naturally it hasn't been quite so good an experience with The New Yorker's Kryptonite caption contest. If you're sufficiently intrigued, you can go back and review every cartoon caption contest I have ever entered. Or you can pretend you've got better things to do.
In Greek mythology, Zeus disguises himself as a swan and seduces Leda. This union produces two offspring, Helen of Troy and Polydeuces. Two unpublished roughs on this mythological subject by cartoonist Anatol Kovarsky were certainly submitted to The New Yorker in the 1950s and, alas, rejected. Mr. Kovarsky's daughter provides us with the images and writes:
Mythology was one of my dad's favorite themes, and I'm sure it had something to do with the fact that he was European-born and raised, and before coming to the U.S. as a refugee studied art in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and at the Académie Lhote. My dad relished the flights of artistic invention the myths had inspired through the ages. When I was a child, we would often go to the Greek and Roman vases section of the Metropolitan Museum as one of our favorite destinations. He would take me to the galleries with European paintings and we would admire the enormous scale and expressive details of various masterworks of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, many of which of course depict mythological subjects. I think the focus on human foibles was part of what drew dad to myths and fables. They hold the mirror up to human nature not unlike cartoons! Later in life, my father immersed himself further in the Greek and Roman myths, writing verses and creating accompanying drawings. He felt a kinship with other humorists drawn to such material, for example André Dubout, the French artist who updated the Greek myths and made the most of their ribald content. I don’t know if a variant of my dad’s drawing ever appeared in print. Judging by the paper and style, it looks like he drew this idea around 1953-59, the years when he was publishing other myth-based cartoons in The New Yorker.
The first of these remarkable drawings renders the surface of a Greek vase as a framing device. Leda, we learn, has a vexing decision to make.
Anatol Kovarsky,Leda and the Swans, c. 1953-1959, unpublished
Images copyright the Estate of Anatol Kovarsky
It's clear from his pencil annotation on the second drawing of the Leda myth that Kovarsky considered presenting this one in a similar way, but really no vase is necessary this time. That incorrigible Zeus does have a wandering eye.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Anatol Kovarsky,Leda and the Swan, c. 1953-1959, unpublished
Images copyright the Estate of Anatol Kovarsky
What a beautiful drawing this is—and it's only a rough! It's a shame it wasn't taken by The New Yorker. These two cartoons featuring Leda, so far as we know, were never published anywhere and remained hidden from public view until now. And that's their story, save for one intriguing postscript.
A decade or so later, New Yorker cartoonist Frank Modell, a longtime friend of Kovarsky's, published a somewhat similar gag in the pages of The New Yorker. It is unclear, though, if there is any formal connection between the two drawings or if it is just one of those coincidences.
Frank Modell The New Yorker, November 16, 1968, page 116
I asked Mr. Kovarsky's daughter about this Modell gag and she graciously replied:
Attempted Bloggery has discovered a similar gag by Frank Modell, published in 1968 in The New Yorker. I love the fact that despite the similarity, each drawing offers its own nuance in the gag’s take-away. In Kovarsky’s drawing, Leda notices with displeasure that Zeus’s attention has wandered, whereas in Modell’s, sweet innocent Leda is oblivious, her idyll undisturbed. Kovarsky’s version sets itself against classical depictions of Leda and the swan amorously entwined, and instead invites us to imagine a far more prosaic lovers’ quarrel-in-the-making. In Modell’s version, Leda’s idyll remains intact as far as she’s concerned—but the reader sees what’s what.
Note:I am indebted to the artist's daughter for the two scans of Anatol Kovarsky's original Leda and the Swan drawings and for the informative commentary. These images remain copyright the Estate of Anatol Kovarsky. "Kovarsky's World: Covers and Cartoons from The New Yorker" will be on view at the Society of Illustrators from January 4 to March 3, 2018. The exhibit is curated by John Lind with an appreciation by Mo Willems. How cool is that? There will be an opening reception on January 12 from 6:30 to 10:00 p.m. which your humble blogger is planning to attend. Incidentally, the forthcoming exhibition contains only drawings and covers from The New Yorker and will not include these two drawings.
On his blog Ink Spill, cartoonist Michael Maslin has been showing quite a lot of Kovarsky's unpublished work of late. If you missed it, you can catch up with it all here. How much of Kovarsky's artwork has made it into private hands we can only guess. Still, if you happen to find original work of his hanging on the walls of your home, you might want to take a photo or two and send it this way with a few lines. You never know what might happen.
Perhaps you've seen a variant of Kovarsky's Leda drawings in print somewhere. Do tell. Of course, if you can add anything about the uncertain connection between the Kovarsky and Modell Leda drawings—if there even is any real connection—please give a honk.
Author Daniel Asa Rose shares with us a fantastic drawing by Carl Rose (no relation) of a mythological subject. Here he tells us how the drawing came to be in the possession of his father, a Rowayton (Connecticut) psychiatrist who was friends with the artist:
You can tell the background story, if you like. That he was a family friend, always hanging with the same very civilized bathers on the beach of Rowayton, Conn during the 60’s. Not that such idleness was characteristic of him. He once told my father that he’d been up the whole night previous just getting the expression correct on someone’s face. They had a nice rapport, the cartoonist and the psychiatrist, and Carl drew the cartoon you see here and gave it to my father after one of their animated conversations on the sand. It ended in 1971 when my father received a phone call hastening him to the house — Carl was dying. My father rushed over but was too late. He had the sad honor of declaring Carl dead at the age of 68.
The drawing seems well-suited as a gift to a psychiatrist—or anyone else. It features a centaur, a sphinx, and a gryphon who are coping with a similar issue. The composition is triangular or, perhaps even more appropriately, pyramidal.