Someone once said that the greatest difference between Fred Astaire’s dancing and Gene Kelly’s dancing is that you could see Gene Kelly’s sweat. Pauline Kael, writing in The New Yorker in 1972 said, “Kelly isn’t a winged dancer; he’s a hoofer and more earthbound” which she compared to “Astaire’s grasshopper lightness.” Here are some
Read moreTag: Whitney Darrow
James Stevenson’s Secret Job at The New Yorker
If you pick up a copy of veteran New Yorker cartoonist, cover artist, and Talk of the Town contributor James Stevenson’s latest book, The Life, Loves and Laughs of Frank Modell, you’ll find a section wherein Mr. Stevenson recounts his “summer office boy” job at The New Yorker back in 1947, and mentions as well his beginnings
Read moreHappy Birthday, Mr. Roth
Philip Roth, who celebrates his 80th birthday today, was first published in The New Yorker the issue of March 14, 1959, with his story, “Defender of the Faith” causing an immediate stir (see the upcoming PBS American Masters profile “Philip Roth: Unmasked” for, among so many other things, Mr. Roth’s recollection of buying, opening up, reading and rereading his story
Read moreRecent Cartoon Library Additions
Two recent additions to our Cartoon Library: Above is a 1949 Dell paperback by the late great Whitney Darrow, Jr.,who died in 1999 at age 89. He began contributing to The New Yorker in 1933. I have a special affection for Mr. Darrow — my entry into The New Yorker way back in 1977 began with him executing one
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