Tuesday Spill: 40 Years Ago in The New Yorker; Of Interest…The Illustration Department Podcast

40 Years Ago In The New Yorker

40 years doesn’t seem all that long ago, but as it concerns The New Yorker‘s cartoonists, it was an entirely different world then. Only two of the sixteen cartoonists in the issue of June 3, 1985 are still with us: Arnie Levin, who did the fab cover, and Mick Stevens.

I can’t show all the drawings in the issue (how I’d love to show you the Steinberg spread, titled “Women”) but I will show a couple of favorites. I thought Mr. Stevens’ clock tower was a standout.

Of the cartoonists now working away at that big drawing board in the sky, many in the issue were giants in the field. One was even royalty, of a sort: Richard McCallister, who was known throughout the cartooning biz as “The King of Gag Writers.” He supplied ideas for too many cartoonists to name, so I’ll only name a few: George Price, Syd Hoff, and Peter Arno.

The issue also saw work from two of The New Yorker‘s most prolific contributors: James Stevenson, and William Steig. Mr. Steig was also the longest serving cartoonist contributor in the issue, having begun in 1930. Mick Stevens was the freshman in the issue having begun contributing in December of 1979.

A terrific Arnie Levin drawing appeared that week. Mr. Levin was a force in the magazine, doing covers, spreads, and cartoons. I think of his playful line as somewhat in the school of Thurber (always a very good thing in my book!). Here’s a link to Mr. Levin’s 2017 appearance on Gil Roth’s Virtual Memories podcast.

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Two collections to check out: Arnie Levin’s one-and-only collection (I’d love to see another), and one of three Mick Stevens collections (they’re all terrif).

 

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Podcast Of interest: The Illustration Department

Recently I was invited on to Giuseppe Castellano’s Illustration Department Podcast to talk New Yorker cartoons and cartoonists. We had such a fun time talking about Thurber, Peter Arno, Alan Dunn, Jack Ziegler, illustration vs cartooning, and so much more. Listen here.

And be sure to scroll through the Illustration Department Podcast archive!