In May of 1935, New Yorker founder and editor, Harold Ross sent a six word memo to Wolcott Gibbs, at one time the artists so-called hand-holder, i.e., the middleman between the cartoonists and the editors: “Best ideas lately come from Maloney.” “Maloney” was Russell Maloney, a Harvard graduate, who peppered the New Yorker with so many
Read moreTag: Harold Ross
Capote and New Yorker Cartoons
Reading the Holly Golightly piece (“Forever a Gamine at Tiffany’s”) in today’s New York Times revived a thought I had lodged in my mental “to do” file a few weeks ago when I had the pleasure of meeting Thurber biographer, Burton Bernstein. Listening to Mr. Bernstein expanding upon a passage from his biography concerning (the nearly blind) Thurber
Read moreHappy Birthday, Eustace!
In honor of the very first issue of The New Yorker, dated February 21, 1925, I’m re-posting a photo I took for “Tilley Over Time“ a piece I contributed to newyorker.com back in February 21, 2008. The cartoonists appearing in that first issue were Alfred Frueh, Gardner Rea, Oscar Howard, Wallace Morgan, Ethel Plummer and, on page 14, an
Read moreThe Algonquin
The holiday season reminds me of the Algonquin Hotel, and once reminded I only have to look across my desk to the snowglobe pictured above. It was given to me years ago by friends who stayed at the hotel for a day or two. I threw together the little scene above for Ink Spillers. The snowglobe sits atop
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