Wednesday Spill: Eustace Blows Out 100 Candles

Eustace Blows Out 100 Candles

The New Yorker magazine put on the Ritz last night (or, more specifically, put on the Jean’s) for its 100th birthday party. Happily, the weather cooperated — no freak winter storms, sub-freezing temps, or torrential rain — just a good old fashioned chilly dreary Winter’s night in Manhattan. My favorite kind of night in New York City.

This 100th bash ties with one other I attended many years ago for winner of most packed-in-like-sardines at a party. There was, at times, simply no place to move — not so much as an inch, without bumping into another reveler. A minute or so after Liza Donnelly and I entered the restaurant, we began chatting with The New Yorker’s film critic, Richard Brody (I asked him for a thumbs up or down on “A Complete Unknown”…you can figure out his response to me by reading his review here). Moments later I turned around to see, and then speak with Tom Bachtell, the wonderful illustrator whose work graced The Talk Of The Town for many many years. Tom has a brand new Substack…check it out). As we spoke, Calvin Trillin ambled by and bravely climbed a short set of stairs leading to the main party area. As with so many familiar faces, I never saw his again that night.

It took awhile to find the cartoonists — by the time I reached them, I’d seen Mary Norris (The Comma Queen), Nancy Frankin (the magazine’s former Television critic, who for this occasion, was wearing a Tilleyesque top hat), as well as cartoon editor, Emma Allen and deputy cartoon editor, Rachel Perlman. The terrif writer, Matthew Klam went by in a flash. I didn’t chat with any of these folks as the press of people was moving me along like I was white water rafting.

The cartoonists had grabbed a table or two at the very end of the room — the tables served as anchors for the rest of the evening. As the hours passed, a fleet of cartoonists showed up and stayed for a while (Art Spiegelman was spotted hovering on the north side of the sweets table).

It was so great seeing these colleagues (it’s not often we see each other; with two parties several days apart we were making up for lost gatherings).

This is not a complete list of all cartoonists there — just the ones I actually saw, and/or spoke with: Robert Leighton, Julia Suits, David Borchart, Roz Chast, Amy Hwang, Lars Kenseth, Ivan Ehlers, Felipe Galindo, Christopher Weyant, Lonnie Millsap, Maggie Larson, Jeremy Nguyen, Paul Noth, Avi Steinberg, Roland High, David Sipress, Brendan Loper, Ellis Rosen, J.A.K., Tom Toro, Ngozi Ukazu, Hilary Campbell, Emily Flake, Carolita Johnson, Sofia Warren, Matt Diffee.

Two New Yorker editors were in attendance: the present editor, David Remnick, and his predecessor, Tina Brown. I didn’t see either. There were no speeches — just partying people and thumping music (Roz Chast said at one point: “Is that a bossa nova?”). Scattered around the restaurant were little plastic butterflies and copies of the anniversary issue. I loved seeing Eustace here and there, taking it all in.

We left the festivities slightly past the time it officially ended and began walking south on Lafayette Street. As we passed by a long time New Yorker friend speaking with a couple of people, I heard him happily say, “No more hugs!”

A Gallery of Photos:

Below: l-r, Roz Chast, Ivan Ehlers, Lonnie Millsap