Personal History: A Tilley Box Under The Tree
It’s not unusual that our family here at Spill headquarters is New Yorker-centric. Years ago, my New Yorker colleague (& wife), Liza Donnelly and I told CBS News that our kids grew up speaking cartoon. They can usually ID which cartoonist we’re talking about just by hearing the cartoonist’s first name: For example: Sam (Gross), Kim (Warp), or Ed (that one usually needs a quick clarification: Ed Koren, Ed Frascino, Ed Fisher, Ed Arno, Ed Steed, or Ed Sorel). I was asked by one of our daughters recently — I believe she was asking in a friendly tone: “Is there anything hanging up in this house that’s not a cartoon?” [there is].
Our younger daughter interned at the magazine’s library some years back — one of her jobs was clipping out…you guessed it: cartoons (!) and placing them in the famous black binders* containing every cartoon and every article published in the magazine.
With all that New Yorkeryness floating around the house, it was a terrif moment this past Sunday when our older daughter gave me the box you see here. I think she did a great job of painting Rea Irvin’s great Eustace Tilley on the lid of an old wooden box.
In tribute to Mr. Irvin, I will use the box to hold art supplies (Ebony pencils, color pencils, and spare Rapidograph points).
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- A sample of The New Yorker‘s black binders. It makes sense that Helen Hokinson has four binders — she contributed nearly 1,800 cartoons and 68 covers to the magazine.
Rea Irvin’s A-Z entry:
Rea Irvin (pictured above. Self portrait above from Meet the Artist) *Born, San Francisco, 1881; died in the Virgin Islands,1972. Irvin was the cover artist for the New Yorker’s first issue, February 21, 1925. He was the magazine’s first art and only art supervisor (some refer to him as its first art editor) holding the position from 1925 until 1939 when James Geraghty assumed the title of art editor. Irvin then became art director and remained in that position until William Shawn officially succeeded Harold Ross in early 1952. Irvin’s last original work for the magazine was the magazine’s cover of July 12, 1958. The February 21, 1925 Eustace Tilley cover had been reproduced every year on the magazine’s anniversary until 1994, when R. Crumb’s Tilley-inspired cover appeared. Tilley has since reappeared, with other artists substituting from time-to-time. Number of New Yorker covers (not including the repeat appearances of the first cover every anniversary up to 1991): 163. Number of cartoons contributed: 261.