A Gem From The Great Al Ross
Looking through the most recent addition to the Spill library, a bound volume (the Louisville Public Library’s loss, our gain) of New Yorkers from May through June of 1978, I came across this terrific drawing by the late great Al Ross. I surely studied this drawing back in that first week in May of ’78 when it was published, filing it away in my evolving store of what was possible using the simplest of scenarios. 
Seeing the drawing today immediately reminded me of what a pleasure it was to know Al, if only a little. He was very much like his drawing style — his energy matched the energy of his drawings.
Of the many friendly veteran cartoonists at the magazine when I first arrived in the late 1970s, Al was certainly one of the friendliest. A favorite memory of him: I was leaving a party, standing at the elevator door at Michelle Urry’s apartment in the early 1980s (Ms. Urry was Playboy’s cartoon editor; she’d thrown an after opening party for New Yorker cartoonists). The elevator door opened, and there was Al, all by his lonesome (he was in his early 70s at the time) ready to bounce in to the festivities. “Michael!” he said, with the best smile in the room. He reached out and grabbed hold of my arm. I really should’ve turned on my heels and gone back into the party with him.
Al Ross’s A-Z entry:
Al Ross Born Al Roth, Vienna Austria, October 19, 1911. Died, March 23, 2012. One of four Roth brothers, all of them cartoonists (Ben, Salo, and Irving are the other three). New Yorker work: 1937-2002. Collections: Sexcapades – The Love Life of the Modern Homo Sapiens (Stravon Publishers, 1953), Bums vs Billionaires (Dell, 1972).
You can see almost a third of his 652 New Yorker drawings here on the magazine’s Cartoon Bank site.
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Matchbook Arno
From Attempted Bloggery, February 5, 2022, “Peter Arno For Penn Maryland Whiskey”
A fun post from the ever interesting Attempted Bloggery. Go there to see the entire matchbook, and all the rest (the rest being print ads in The New York Times, and The New Yorker).
Arno’s entry on the Spill’s A-Z:
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).
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The Tilley Watch Online, The Week Of February 1-4, 2022
An end of the week listing of New Yorker artists who’ve contributed to newyorker.com features
The Daily Cartoon: Peter Kuper, Ellis Rosen, Dan Misdea, Asher Perlman, Ward Sutton.
Daily Shouts: Ali Fitzgerald: “America!: Joe Manchin Writes A Romance Novel”
…and Barry Blitt’s Kvetchbook: “Putin Puttin’ His Foot Down” ____________________________________________________________
…J.A.K. has the back page (Graphic Review) of this week’s New York Times Book Review: “White Noise.”…From The Guardian, February 5, 2022, Luke Winkie interviews Art Spiegelman.
And then there’s this:
The Spill‘s archives are not quite as organized as they should be. For instance, I knew that there were bundles of The New Yorker‘s 1st Cartoon Issue (dated December 15, 1997) — over 50 copies, in brand new condition — somewhere in the vicinity, but until an hour or so ago I hadn’t seen them in many years. I happened to move a few boxes around today, and wah-lah!, there they were.
You might ask, why save bundled copies? Well, why not. These were donated many years ago by a bookstore owner — an offer I couldn’t refuse. I took a “fresh” copy out of the top bundle to complement the now 25 year old issue that’s been my go-to copy. The old copy will, of course, stick around.
Below: the old & the “new”…
