First & Last New Yorker Drawing: John Corcoran
A decade ago, when I interviewed Lee Lorenz (The New Yorker‘s former Art/Cartoon editor), one of the new-to-me pieces of information I heard was that The New Yorker cartoonist John Corcoran had been supplying a good number of ideas to some of his colleagues. It was a reveal — there was an unwritten rule in the magazine’s earlier days that cartoonists did not talk about using outside ideas, or providing them. While Lorenz did not tell me who was using Corcoran’s ideas, it was still “news.” Corcoran then joined a number of fellow cartoonists such as Ed Fisher and James Stevenson as known suppliers of ideas (I’m part of that crowd as well, having supplied an idea for Whitney Darrow, Jr., and for Charles Addams).
Looking up Mr. Corcoran on The New Yorker’s database, it’s interesting to note that in a New Yorker career just shy of two decades, his own cartoons (i.e., drawings he did) were appearing approximately three times a year (out of 52 issues published…no double issues back then). One wonders how often work written by him (and drawn by others) was actually appearing (there’s no way of knowing unless Mr. Corcoran kept track of his sales and passed that accounting along to a family member, friend, or library archives. The New Yorker did not keep track of — in any organized way I’m familiar with — its idea writers contributions).
Until more information somehow comes over the Spill’s transom, here’s all I know about Mr. Corcoran’s New Yorker output: his first published New Yorker drawing appeared in the issue of October 14, 1967. His last published New Yorker drawing appeared in November 11, 1985 issue. In all, the magazine published 62 of his drawings.
I can find no biographical information on Mr. Corcoran. No photograph. If anyone has information they’d like to contribute, please contact me.
John Corcoran’s first New Yorker drawing, October 14, 1967…
His last New Yorker drawing: November 11 1985…
