A Price Playbill
Without generous donors, the Spill‘s archives would be so much poorer. Here’s the latest addition: a Playbill with cover art by the great George Price. Stalag 17 premiered at the 48th St. Theatre in May of 1951. Mr. Price’s work, as a spot artist, premiered in The New Yorker in 1929. In his book, The Art of The New Yorker: 1925-1995, Lee Lorenz, the magazine’s former Art/Cartoon editor (who called Price one of the magazine’s great stylists, along with Helen Hokinson, Peter Arno, William Steig, and James Thurber) described Price’s transition from spot artist to cartoonist:
After purchasing a few spot drawings from Price, Katharine White invited him in for an interview. She encouraged him to try his hand at cartooning. George was reluctant at first. He was not an idea person. Mrs. White promised to supply him with gag writers, and on this condition George was persuaded to begin submitting to the magazine.
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Ziegler’s Letterman Appearance
I’ve linked to this video before, but just happened to see it again last night. Broadcast June 20, 1983, here’s the late very great Jack Ziegler’s Late Night with David Letterman appearance. See it here.
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A Couple of Hokinson Dachshunds
I didn’t know that dachshunds were at one time called “liberty hounds” — did you? Read more here on Attempted Bloggery about a 1947 Helen Hokinson drawing featuring two of them.