The Sam Gross Cartoon Pad Interview
New Yorker cartoonists Bob Eckstein and Michael Shaw’s Cartoon Pad podcast (appearing every other week) is back. This week’s guest is the one-and-only Sam Gross. Mr. Gross talks about Charles Addams, Peter Porges, and Roz Chast, among others. Listen to it here.
Sam Gross’s entry on the Spill‘s A-Z:
Sam Gross Born 1933, Bronx, NY. New Yorker work: August 23, 1969 -. Other than his work in The New Yorker Gross is probably best known for his work in National Lampoon. He’s edited a large number of collections, including Dogs Dogs Dogs, Cats Cats Cats, Food Food Food: A Feast of Great Cartoons (originally published as All You Can Eat: A Feast of Great Cartoons); Golf Golf Golf, Ho! Ho! Ho!, Movies Movies Movies. Key collections: I Am Blind and My Dog is Dead (Avon, 1978), An Elephant is Soft and Mushy (Avon, 1982)
— Photo of Mr. Gross looking through Peter Arno’s Parade, taken at Spill headquarters, Rhinebeck New York, June 2017.
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A Gluyas Williams Book Of Interest
Here’s an example of why you will never ever hear me say, “And just when I thought I’d seen it all”…
Steve Stoliar, man of many hats — including author of the fab read, Raised Eyebrows: My Years Inside Groucho’s House — generously sent scans (seen below) of a book I’d never heard of. It’s illustrated by one of the New Yorker‘s greatest cartoonists, Gluyas Williams.
Hoping he doesn’t mind, I’m lifting Mr. Stoliar’s description of the book (now in his collection) right out of his email to me, and presenting it here:
“The Reflections Of A T.B.M.” (which is explained as “Tired Business Man”) by “Himself” (aka Roger Livingston Scaife 1875-1951, an author and eventual executive at Harvard Press, Houghton Mifflin, and Little Brown). He also wrote “Old-Fashioned Rhymes For New-Fashioned Kiddies” and “Confessions of a Debutante.”
This book was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1922. Rather than “Illustrated By” it says, “Decorations By Gluyas Williams.”
In addition to Williams’ drawing of the Tired Business Man and the galaxy of silhouettes on the cover, there is a single silhouette marking the beginning of each short chapter on different kinds of women.
From Mr. Stoliar, this sampling of Williams’s “decorations”…
Gluyas Williams Spill A-Z entry:
Gluyas Williams (above left undated; right: 1975) Born, San Francisco, 1888. Died, Boston, Mass., 1982. One of the pillars of Harold Ross’s stable of artists, and one of Ross’s favorite cartoonists. His beautiful full page drawings were a regular feature in the magazine. Mr. Williams illustrated a number of Robert Benchley’s collections, providing the cover art as well as illustrations. NYer work: March 13, 1926 – Aug 25, 1951. Key collections: The Gluyas Williams Book ( Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1929), The Gluyas Williams Gallery (Harper, 1956). Website: gluyaswilliams.com