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Bob Mankoff on David Marc Fischer, the Winningest Non-Winner We Knew

Filed under: In Memoriam Tagged: Blog About Town, Bob Mankoff, Cartoon Caption Contest, David Marc Fischer, cartoons

Emily Gordon writes:

Recently, everyone at Emdashes was saddened by the death of David Marc Fischer, a dear friend of our site and of The New Yorker's cartoon caption contest. The following tribute is by The New Yorker's Bob Mankoff, and we think David would have loved it (click to enlarge the image):

In his "Blog About Town," David Marc Fischer meticulously catalogued The New Yorker's Cartoon Caption Contest, including his 179 consecutive non-winning entries. Upon learning of this lovely man's untimely passing, I went back and meticulously reviewed all of his entries, looking for the one that would best honor him and his devotion to the contest. I think this one, from contest 150, fits the bill.

--Bob Mankoff, Cartoon Editor, The New Yorker magazine

2 comments

Comments

Aw. That's a winner.

carolita johnsonAugust 13, 2009

David would be thrilled to see this. Thanks, Bob.

Matt MendelsohnAugust 23, 2009

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Emdashes, founded in 2004 by Emily Gordon, is a place where keen and dedicated readers of The New Yorker, past and present, can find related news and commentary: about people, subjects, and ideas within the magazine, and events and conversations outside its pages. Learn more about us and our contributors.

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Some writing by Emily Gordon

Review: A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore (for Newsday)
Annotated slide show: a wet, festive 2009 Coney Island Mermaid Parade (for nycgo.com)
Proposal: A better-looking MetroCard (for A Brief Message)
Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands, and an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali (for Print)
Review: Does a redesign of The New Republic mean a change of tune? (for Print)
Interview: four online obsessives and visual cataloguers, Kate Bingaman, Nicholas Felton, Ellie Harrison, and John D. Freyer (for Print)
Review: King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
Interviews: winning New Visual Artists Eleanor Grosch, Zigmunds Lapsa, Christian Cervantes, and Kate & Camilla (for Print)
Profile: lindy hop legend Frankie Manning (for Newsday, with Robert Fouch)
Feature: Rea Irvin, illustrator, bon vivant, and The New Yorker's first art director (for Print)
Profile: screenwriter and novelist Joe Keenan (for Newsday)
Review: My Tiny Life: Crime and Passion in a Virtual World by Julian Dibbell (for Newsday)
Review: Charles Dickens by Jane Smiley (for Newsday)
Review: Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry (for Print)
Report: Learning to read with comic books edited by Françoise Mouly (for Print)
Report: The New Yorker's redesigned website (for Print)
Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
Review: The Complete New Yorker (for Print)
Interview: Matthew Diffee on the appropriately inappropriate cartoons of the The Rejection Collection (for Print)
Interview: Roz Chast on Brooklyn, pysanky eggs, and animation (for Newsday)
Review: books about various New Yorker cartoonists by Liza Donnelly and Iain Topliss (for Newsday)
Review: Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life by Linda H. Davis (for Newsday)
Interview: Edward Gorey (for Newsday)

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They say that dashes “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like em dashes—emphasizes what’s between: in particular, between the lines, covers, and issues of a magazine close to my heart.

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