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Celebrating The New Yorker’s 100th Anniversary: Alfred Leete
As we lead up to the magazine’s birthday issue, I thought I’d occasionally toss the spotlight onto the cartoons (and cartoonists) appearing in the very first issue (February 21, 1925).
The above drawing by Alfred Leete appears on page 14 of that first issue. IDing Mr. Leete took some doing (as you can see by the below explanation in his A-Z entry). You’ll find by reading his Wikipedia entry that Mr. Leete’s U.K. poster design heavily inspired a poster many of us in the U.S.A. are familiar with. As Mr. Leete was left out of The New Yorker‘s database I’ve no idea if his work ever appeared in the magazine again (I’ve not seen it in any issue I’ve looked through — but that only means I may have overlooked it).
Alfred Leete (photo) Born at Thorpe Church, Northamptonshire, England, August 28, 1882; Died in London, June 17, 1933. The son of a farmer, Leete had no formal art training. According to his obit in The Times of London, June 6. 1933: “…his work early showed a keen sense of humour and a bold technique, and was welcomed by the principal illustrated weekly papers and magazines.” New Yorker work: appeared in the very first issue of The New Yorker, February 21, 1925. Mr. Leete is uncredited in The New Yorker’s database (listed only as “unidentified”). As of February 27, 2013, he’s been identified (with the assistance of colleagues, Rick Marschall, Mike Lynch and Brian Moore).
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A Glass Display Case In A Westchester Cemetery
The late and very great Peter Arno, who died February 22, 1968, is buried in Kensico Cemetery just north (and a little east) of his birthplace in Manhattan. When Attempted Bloggery‘s Stephen Nadler was at the cemetery the other day he noticed the above in a glass case (my thanks to Mr. Nadler for use of the photo). To see who else is celebrated along with Arno, go here.
Peter Arno’s A-Z Entry:
Peter Arno Born Curtis Arnoux Peters, Jr., January 8, 1904, New York City. Died February 22, 1968, Port Chester, NY. New Yorker work: 1925 -1968. Key collection: Ladies & Gentlemen (Simon & Schuster, 1951) The Foreword is by Arno. For far more on Arno please check out my biography of him, Peter Arno: The Mad Mad World of The New Yorker’s Greatest Cartoonist (Regan Arts, 2016).