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These Are the Cartoons in My Family—How About Yours?
Filed under: The Squib Report Tagged: Carl Rose, cartoons, George Price, Peter Arno, Saul Steinberg
Who can explain the mysterious alchemy by which this or that New Yorker cartoon becomes an inside family joke, an axiom, so much so that the punchline alone conjures the entire conceit? There’s an old gag about the two superannuated friends who tell each other the same jokes so often that they’ve numbered them—one can say “Number 42!” and be sure of the reply, “That’s a good one.”
We told these cartoons to each other, too many times perhaps, as a way of accentuating our familyhood. And occasionally we told them to outsiders, too. Some are generally famous; others aren’t. Some are remembered from the original magazine issue; some developed their staying power long after publication, through bound collections from decades ago. Here are the ones for my family. What are yours?
• “Gently, sir. It’s Mother’s Day.†(George Price)
• “Sometimes we sell them, lady, but only to other teams.†(Peter Arno)
• “If he’s not a Frenchman he’s certainly an awful snob.†(Saul Steinberg)
• “I say it’s spinach, and I say the hell with it.†(Carl Rose)
• “Watch out, Fred! Here it comes again!†(George Price)
—Martin Schneider
Comments
It’s now a tradition for my husband and I to scream “Fusilli, you crazy bastard!” (Charles Barsotti) whenever we boil pasta shorter than a spaghetti noodle.
And yes, you’re right: we do live our lives as if we were Roz Chast characters….
Oh, that’s a splendid one! Such a good cartoon.
“You and your ‘one more tap.’”
“There are some of these books not paying their way.”
“Life Without Mozart”
“There are some of these books not paying their way.”
“Life Without Mozart”
“Throw the spear, Thag! Throw the spear!”
“No thanks, I’ll eat him here.”
Here’s a link to Fusilli—I’ll never get tired of it!
And here’s the Richard Taylor cartoon for “one more tap” (from 1946) and “Life Without Mozart” (Mick Stevens). It’s odd, sometimes the text in a caption turns up results in the Cartoon Bank, sometimes not.
My dad writes:
Incidentally one of the family favorite cartoons is one showing a caterpillar on a picket line carrying a sign saying “Caterpillars demand the right to turn into anything they like, including porcupines, etc., or to remain caterpillars if they so choose.”
Also the cat strumming a guitar/banjo singing, “Love to eat them mousies/Mousies what I love to eat/Bite they little heads off/Nibble on they tiny feet.”
Can you find these using your awesome complete cartoons database? [which he gave me a few years back—an excellent present!]
Why yes, I can. Unfortunately the caterpillar isn’t in the Cartoon Bank—they don’t have the rights to every cartoon ever published in the magazine, sad to say—but it is in the Complete New Yorker and, of course, in the Complete Cartoons.
Even better, Little Mousies Blues is animated and musicalized on cartoonist B. Kliban’s site!
I must say I’m delighted at the response!
“Member: Placebo Group”
“On your left!”
And now, my mom! This is a post about favorite family cartoons, so I think it’s appropriate for me to bring in my parents for this one. She writes:
I’ll have to haul down the Huge Tome and look for others, but meanwhile our favourites (aside from “spinach,” of course) included
* “All right, have it your way—you heard a seal bark!” (Thurber) [But I never knew there was a 1992 Noel Watson cartoon that plays on the classic Thurber; it’s funny, take a look!]
* “George! George! Drop the keys!” (Addams)
* “They’re discussing sex—isn’t that cute?” (Petty?) [Doesn’t seem like it; Martin, want to take a crack at it?]
* “Come along—we’re going to the Trans-Lux to hiss Roosevelt” (?) [It’s Peter Arno.]
* The subway one by George Price—group of subway riders emerges in a tight block, strap-hanging hands raised. I referred to it at Irene’s wedding, and A&T [my aunt and uncle] chuckled on cue.
* One [my great-uncle] Sid loved: Bunch of Boy Scouts emerging from hike: “Big deal! Now we know all about a crummy birch tree.” [Barney Tobey, 1955]
Of course, as you know, most of our family’s cartoon-related quotes, references etc. came from Pogo, a rich and limitless source. —M.
Look, another play on an old cartoon—Peter Steiner on the old spinach joke. And I just noticed that Mary Petty did not one but two pro-spinach-eating cartoons of her own. Is there a complete Mary Petty cartoon collection floating around somewhere? There should be. I just scrolled through all of them in the archive and they’re dizzyingly funny.
I thought of another staple of family conversation, an Arno: “Hey, Jack, which way to Mecca?†(April 9, 1938)
Oddly, of the thousands of cartoons that have appeared in the New Yorker over the years, I actually did think of that Addams “Keys” one while composing this post. Alas, we never really referenced it. Such a great image.
I couldn’t track down that “sex - cute” one — when approximately would it have been? It seems like a BEK one to me (if recent). Both Pettys the CNY coughed up drew during the Shawn years — would he have ever permitted the word “sex” to appear in a cartoon caption??
Oh yeah, it’s an old chestnut, though not Mary Petty. It’s from the first few decades of the magazine, and much anthologized. I’ll check when I get home later; it’s got to be in the Complete Cartoons, right?
Got it — Alice Harvey, July 16, 1927.
That’s some kind of record! Well done! Is it on the Cartoon Bank too? I couldn’t find it.
Oh, I was so excited that I neglected to check. Now, having checked: apparently not, they only have 3 of Harvey’s in there.
Here’s “Member, Placebo Group” (Donald Reilly, November 22, 1993). Kevin, is this the “On your left” you mean? It’s by Michael Crawford, November 11, 2002. Those are funny!
Can’t find “Hey, Jack, which way to Mecca?” But a number of journalists have used a description of it as their lede.
Well done! That Arno is from April 9, 1938 (apparently not in the Cartoon Bank), and it’s really worth a gander — it might be my favorite New Yorker cartoon of all time, either that one or “Gently, sir,” mentioned in the original post.
I’ve stumbled here having googled “Hey Jack…” I grew up with my parents’ NY Cartoon albums (also Thurbur, Price, Arno, Steinberg, etc.) and have hundreds of cartoons and captions etched in my memory as a result (including all the ones above). But I’ve tried for several years now to track down one I thought was in NY and was Price. It showed a rural road with several hitch hikers, two of them talking about the third who was off by himself, with a curious expression. The caption, approximately, was “He’s developed a new technique. He just stands there and looks wistful.” I’d love to find this one—any help would be very appreciated!
I am 55 years old, and my sisters and I were raised on a diet of Geo Price cartoons…as my Dad and I are both birdwatchers, “Makes it look as if I am right on top of you” was one of our favorites.
Another, for which I am searching, was, “Now that’s what I call a sensible hat!”…. spoken by a man, presumably to his wife, who was doing house chores and was wearing a babushka. Can anyone help mne find this wonderful cartoon? Or do I actually have the artist wrong? Thanks-
I love Price, too. I can’t find either of these cartoons in a quick look through the archive, but I’ve got another source. If I find them, I’ll send you an image of both!
I didn’t realize until now just how many cartoons Price drew of suspended men, by the way. It was almost a series.
Success! I found the “on top of you” one. It is by Price, and it is sublimely silly. It appeared in the November 29, 1941, issue.