Robert Kraus’s “Monster In The Basement” (With Lee Lorenz!)
Friend of the Spill, David Pomerantz has sent in this outta-the-blue-never-woulda- believed-it-in-a-million-years story about a 1962 homemade horror film by New Yorker cartoonist, Robert Kraus, starring, of all people, Lee Lorenz. Link here for the full story (with more photos) in Famous Monsters magazine (the story begins on page 58).
—My thanks to David for this!
Robert Kraus’s entry on the Spill’s A-Z:
Robert Kraus Born June 21, 1925, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; died, Kent, Connecticut, 2001. In 1966 he founded Windmill Books, which published children’s books by such New Yorker artists as Steig, Darrow, and Addams. New Yorker work: Sept. 6, 1947 – Jan. 25, 1969. More information.
Lee Lorenz’s entry on the A-Z:
Lee Lorenz ( Photo: taken in 1995 by Liza Donnelly) *Born 1932, Hackensack, NJ. Lorenz was the art editor of The New Yorker from 1973 to 1993 and its cartoon editor until 1997. During his tenure, a new wave of New Yorker cartoonists began appearing in the magazine — cartoonists who no longer depended on idea men. Cartoon collections: Here It Comes (Bobbs-Merrrill Co., Inc. 1968) ; Now Look What You’ve Done! (Pantheon, 1977) ; The Golden Age of Trash (Chronicle Books, 1987); The Essential series, all published by Workman: Booth (pub: 1998); Barsotti ( pub: 1998); Ziegler (pub: 2001)… The Art of The New Yorker 1925 -1995, (Knopf, 1995), The World of William Steig (Artisan, 1998). New Yorker work: 1958 –.
___________________________________________________________
Interview Of Interest: Liza Donnelly, Troublemaker
From Trouble Makers, this short video with Liza Donnelly, whose first New Yorker cartoon appeared in 1982.
Her Spill A-Z entry here:
Liza Donnelly Born, Washington, D.C. New Yorker work: June 21, 1982 – .
Key book: Funny Ladies: The New Yorker’s Greatest Women Cartoonists and Their Cartoons (Prometheus, 2005), with a new edition out in the Fall of 2021. Edited: Sex & Sensibility: Ten Women Examine the Lunacy of Modern Love…in 200 Cartoons ( Twelve, 2008). Co-authored with (husband) Michael Maslin: Husbands & Wives ( Ballantine 1995), Call Me When You Reach Nirvana ( Andrew & McMeel, 1995), Cartoon Marriage ( with Michael Maslin) (Random House, 2009), When Do They Serve the Wine?( Chronicle, 2010). Women On Men (Narrative Library, 2013). Donnelly also wrote and illustrated a popular series of dinosaur books for children, all published by Scholastic. Website: lizadonnelly.com
__________________________________________________________________
Michael Shaw & Bob Eckstein’s Latest Cartoon Pad Podcast
Mr. Shaw & Mr. Eckstein celebrate their 10th Cartoon Pad podcast with guest Matt Diffee, who tells his hosts, among other things, that he is retired.
Bob Eckstein began contributing to The New Yorker in 2007; Michael Shaw in 1999.