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Thurber Prizes Awarded Tonight In Columbus
From The Columbus Dispatch, May 5, 2026, “Thurber Prize For American Humor To Celebrate Laughter In Literature” [and cartoons!].
The Spill again congratulates Emily Flake for being named the 2026 recipient of the Thurber Prize For American Humor In Cartoon Art. The winner for literature will be announced this evening.
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Latest Addition to The Archives…A Script
A script came this way recently, courtesy of a loyal Spill reader (thank you loyal Spill reader!).
James Thurber Born, Columbus, Ohio, December 8, 1894. Died 1961, New York City. New Yorker work: 1927 -1961, with several pieces run posthumously. According to the New Yorker’s legendary editor, William Shawn, “In the early days, a small company of writers, artists, and editors — E.B. White, James Thurber, Peter Arno, and Katharine White among them — did more to make the magazine what it is than can be measured.”
Key cartoon collection: The Seal in the Bedroom and Other Predicaments (Harper & Bros., 1932). Key anthology (writings & drawings): The Thurber Carnival (Harper & Row, 1945). There have been a number of Thurber biographies. Burton Bernstein’s Thurber (Dodd, Mead, 1975) and Harrison Kinney’s James Thurber: His Life and Times (Henry Holt & Co., 1995) are essential. Website
Columbia really made some bizarre cartoons! This week’s selection in no exception.
But first — in brief Thunderbean news:
This is “reviews” week at CCS, the College for Creative Studies, where I teach. It’s a crazy busy week where we look at every students work, in teams of professors. My brain in generally mush afterwords, but watching a Columbia cartoon and talking a little about it was a nice break.
I can’t wait to get some quality time over some days just concentrating on Thunderbean things. “Cartoons for Victory” is the title getting the most attention at the moment here as we get it closer to finish. We’ll be talking about that title more in the coming weeks, along with some other projects that are coming together.
The last of a big batch of special discs just went out today, and the next ones are getting prepared. I’m especially happy with this batch of stuff, and the next ones are pretty enjoyable too. We’ve launched two new ones today, but I’m not sure how much longer we’ll do them. We’ve also opened ‘The Vault’ of the older special discs for a week. It’s been a lot of fun doing them.
Now– this week’s cartoon!
The Crystal Gazer (1941) is a Columbia I hadn’t seen before scanning a print. It’s a spoof of live “Psychic” prediction shows, with Mel Blanc lending his voice (and some sound effects). The plot of cartoon consists of a show featuring “Famous Astrologist Professor Ja Ja Rajah”, who is almost the same character in design and demeanor that stars in the all time classic Columbia Cartoon The Cuckoo I.Q. My favorite summery of *that* cartoon comes from a review in the old Mindrot ‘zine that said a better title for it would be “Seven Minutes of Color Film”.
An audience member asks the question “Should I put Whipped Cream in My Potato Salad?” prompting the professor to go through a series of fairly uninspired convulsions until he gazes into a Crystal Ball, leading to a vision that is a much more interesting cartoon that it looked like it would be.
For some reason, his vision starts with him riding a camel in Egypt. They arrive at a tomb where mummies sing, play checkers, dance and make telephone calls. Mummies are hard to screw up, and this section of the cartoon makes the whole venture worth while, or at least makes it close to worth while. Please let me know if you agree or disagree!
Sadly, after that vision we return back to the original plot of the cartoon- but knowing Columbia it wouldn’t have been unlikely that they didn’t return to it.
All of that said, I’m glad Columbia kept making cartoons, even if they’re not on anyone’s favorite list. Heck, maybe this one is someone’s favorite.
Have a good week all!
Sources and bonus timelapse: https://www.peppercarrot.com/en/miniFantasyTheater/051.html
Transcript:
A comic in four panels.
Panel 1. The adventurer stands exhausted but proud with his sword, in the middle of a dense wood. Defeated enemies, three unidentifiable creatures with tentacles and claws, lie scattered around him. The pink fairy is on his shoulder with a look of disgust.
Adventurer: "What a fight! Now to my favorite part: the loot."
Pink fairy: "Ugh... Do we really have to?"
Panel 2: The camera angle is low as the adventurer kneels beside a creature, holding up a new purple dagger, he is super happy but covered with the blue guts and blood of the creature. The pink fairy that was sitting away to not assist to this part, turn head, her expression is one of incredulity.
Adventurer: "Great! An epic purple dagger!"
Pink fairy: "A dagger? From these creatures? How?!"
Panel 3: The scene zooms, the adventurer faints being upset while showing the dagger, the Pink Fairy is accepting, but just to not enter in a debate.
Adventurer: "Can't you just be happy we got something awesome, for once?"
Pink fairy: "mmm... Okay..."
Panel 4: Inside a shop, the adventurer pushes in secret a leather purse filled with gold coins across the counter to the seller, with the purple dagger lying next to it. In the background, the fairy is distracted by one of the many swords hanging on the wall.
Narrator: "Earlier that day..."
Adventurer: "Don't tell her I spent all our gold on this. I'll make it seem like we found it."
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