James Thurber, Cartoon Critic On a recent search through Thurber biographies in the Spill library I happened upon a Thurber letter I’d forgotten about. Written to Harold Ross, and dated October 20, 1941, it appears in the mother ship of all Thurber biographies, Harrison Kinney’s twelve hundred and thirty-eight page Thurber: His Life And Times (Henry Holt, 1995). Thurber, unhappy
Read moreTag: Gluyas Williams
Obscure Gluyas Williams From Bloom’s Vault; Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon; A Cartoon Excerpt From “Everyone’s A Critic” On Lit Hub
Obscure Gluyas Williams From Bloom’s Vault Tom Bloom, who has graciously provided these images from his collection, tells the Spill that the below were “produced as samples for a paper mill c. 1950 or so…the artwork still looks quite crisp (as usual). Each one opens up like a booklet and then again as a broadside presenting examples of printing, paper,
Read moreGluyas Williams’ B’Day; Today’s Daily Cartoonist & Cartoon
Gluyas Williams’ B’Day My thanks to the author Steve Stoliar for alerting the Spill that it’s the birthday of Gluyas Williams, one of the giants of the early New Yorker. Here’s Mr. Williams Spill A-Z entry: Gluyas Williams (above left undated; right: 1975) Born, July 23, 1888, San Francisco. Died, Boston, Mass., 1982. One of the pillars of Harold Ross’s
Read moreFirsts: Thurber’s First New Yorker Drawings
When you think of James Thurber’s drawings you probably think of one or two or three of his classics. But before any of his cartoons appeared in the magazine (his first cartoon appeared in the issue of January 31, 1931), he illustrated and wrote something he called Our Pet Department. It was, from the very first, intended to be a
Read more