Tuesday Spill: Tom Wolfe’s “Tiny Mummies” Eustace

Tom Wolfe’s “Tiny Mummies” Eustace

As readers of the Spill know, I enjoy New Yorker parody variations, or even just plain old take-offs on the magazine, especially those that involve its mascot, Rea Irvin’s Eustace Tilley. A long long time ago (in 1965), before New York magazine was a stand alone publication, it was wrapped, as a special feature, inside of The New York Herald Tribune.  It was there, in the April 11th issue of 1965  that Tom Wolfe’s infamous “Tiny Mummies! The Story Of The Ruler of 43rd Street’s Land of the Walking Dead! debuted.

I didn’t get around to reading “Tiny Mummies” until I bought Wolfe’s 2000 collection, Hooking Up, but I was aware of the piece. Knowing it was anti-New Yorker, anti-William Shawn, I remember being taken aback one evening at a party given by my neighbor, Donald Barthelme (who was riding high at The New Yorker), when Tom Wolfe appeared, as if in a puff of smoke, at Donald’s apartment door. Wolfe was, of course, in his famous head-to-toe white outfit. I thought to myself, Wait, what’s he doing here?

Fast forward to 2024. Just by chance yesterday I came upon scans of “Tiny Mummies” online. I’d never seen the above cover of New York before, nor did I ever see the article in situ. I’d no idea Eustace had made an appearance in the piece. (I don’t know the illustrator responsible for this Tilley. If someone knows, please advise, and I’ll credit the artist).

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Rea Irvin’s A-Z Spill 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.