57 Years Ago In The New Yorker
Why look at an issue from 57 years ago you might ask (instead of 50, 60 years ago, or 70, and so on)? The answer is convenience. A bound volume of New Yorkers covering September-October 1965 happens to be hanging around in the vicinity of my desk. It’s hanging around because it’s one of those “special” volumes that stays unshelved. What’s special about it is that it contains all four parts of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. Being that it covers October, I thought I’d refresh my memory of what was in the last issue of the volume, dated October 30, 1965.
One of the first things I noticed was the number of pages in the issue: 248(!). The New Yorker was, in those years, awash in advertising. In the months leading up to the holiday season the issues just got thicker and thicker. So there’s that — a huge issue. The Donald Reilly cover, Halloween-themed, of course, is a beaut.
What’s interesting to me is that in an issue that is so large, pages-wise, there are only 16 cartoons. Considering that the most recent issue of The New Yorker (October 31, 2022) is 84 pages, and contains 17 cartoons, I’d say cartoons seem to be holding their own, numbers-wise, in modern times.
The cartoonists in the 1965 issue:
Chon Day, William O’Brien, Lee Lorenz, William Steig, Ed Fisher, Mort Gerberg, Dana Fradon, James Stevenson, Perry Barlow, Stan Hunt, James Mulligan, Barney Tobey, Warren Miller, Donald Reilly, Frank Modell
Since Lee Lorenz recently turned 90, I thought it would be fun to show his cartoon. I can only imagine how much fun he had drawing this. :
Another cartoon in the issue is noted here because it got a lot of attention in the Spill’s interview with the artist, Mort Gerberg. The drawing was the very first he sold to the magazine; it wasn’t the first of his published however — it was the second. Much to the delight of Mr. Gerberg, it ran as a full page.
And here’s a Donald Reilly cartoon that caught my eye. If you squint a little I believe that the young woman who wants a guitar looks a bit like a predecessor of a Roz Chast character.
Finally, whenever I time travel through old issues of The New Yorker it seems there’s always at least one “Spot” drawing per issue that stands out (actually, there are usually way more than one)
This one by Chon Day, one of The New Yorker‘s masters of minimalism, seemed appropriate to show, considering it’s all about the leaves outdoors these days. This is actually a fairly complex drawing for Mr. Day, but no matter — you can almost smell the burning leaves.
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Book Launch & Signing Of Interest: Ali Solomon
Link for more information: The Corner Bookstore.
Ali Solomon began contributing to The New Yorker in November of 2018.
Link here to Chronicle Books website