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Otto Soglow’s Spots
The arc of Otto Soglow’s Little King has been well covered in Cartoon Monarch: Otto Soglow & The Little King (IDW, 2012), but my attempt to find when he began his long berth as “spot” artist on The Talk Of The Town only resulted in references (and a small puzzlement) such as this one from The New Yorker‘s obit of Soglow, written by Willian Shawn in the issue of April 28, 1975:
“For over forty of his fifty years with The New Yorker, Soglow drew the tiny unsigned illustrations for our Notes and comment section. The signature was implicit; the opening page of the magazine bore his mark.”
Lee Lorenz, in his Art Of The New Yorker, wrote of Soglow:
“His most distinctive contribution were the hundreds of small drawings he produced weekly for more than forty-five years for ‘The Talk Of The Town’ section.”
The cartoon detective got the better of me the other late afternoon, when I began hunting down the first and last Soglow Talk spots. I am not including the reappearance of his work posthumously. This is the work that appeared in his lifetime, during his years at The New Yorker (1925- 1974). Soglow died in 1975.
Johan Bull was the artist responsible for many (but not all) of the Talk spots in the magazine’s first year (the very first Spot artist’s work is unsigned) but in 1926, with the issue of May 22nd (or possibly May 29th!), his run ended, and in the issue of May 29th (or June 5th), Soglow’s began.
Above: Johan Bull’s May 22, 1926 Talk Spots. Below: Otto Soglow’s first Talk Spots May 29, 1926 (or is it June 5, 1926?). I’m not fully committing to the artist being Bull or Soglow for the issue of May 29th. I almost see the work as a hybrid. The little crowd to the left certainly looks like Soglow, but the crooked man, center bottom, gives me pause. Still, I’m leaning Soglow, not Bull. I’ve included the June 5th Talk, to be on the safe side.
Below: June 5th, 1926
The end of Soglow’s run appears to be the issue of November 21, 1970, shown below. By this time there was a see-sawing of appearances by various artists, replacing Soglow for periods of time. Example: After the issue of August 16, 1969, Soglow’s art does not reappear until October 17, 1970. But after that last appearance in November 21, 1970, the page seems devoted to others’ work (as always, should someone find this information incorrect, I would appreciate hearing about it).
Mr. Soglow’s A-Z Spill entry :
Otto Soglow Born, Yorkville, NY, December 23, 1900. Died in NYC, April 1975. New Yorker work: 1925 -1974.Key collections: Pretty Pictures ( Farrar & Rinehart, 1931) and for fans of Soglow’s Little King; The Little King (Farrar & Rinehart, 1933) and The Little King ( John Martin’s House, Inc., 1945). The latter Little King is an illustrated storybook. Cartoon Monarch / Otto Soglow & The Little King (IDW, 2012) is an excellent compendium.
Johan Bull’s A-Z Spill entry:
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Johan Bull (photograph, dated 1934, courtesy of the Bull family) Born c. 1894, Oslo. Died Stowe, Vermont, Sept. 1945. New Yorker work (cartoons): July 4, 1925 – Oct. 22, 1927 *his NYTs obit says he contributed to The New Yorker until 1930, perhaps the last three years he contributed illustrations(?)