James Thurber, speaking to Alistaire Cooke on Omnibus:

“…after I had sold a few to the New Yorker magazine, Andy White, my colleague there, found me carefully shading in something and he said, “ Hey, stop that, don’t do that — if you ever became good you’d be mediocre.” 

This somewhat famous quote has stuck with me for decades (I’m not really sure how famous it is). It seems, on its face, simple advice, but I believe there’s way more to it than “Hey…don’t do that.” E.B. White, who of course was an advocate of clarity in writing, was heading off a notion that so many fledgling artists develop — that they should aspire to becoming “better” at drawing. If that’s really what you want to do, than, “Hey…do that!”  But I believe the hunt for “better” can sometimes stifle the artist (please remember I said, “sometimes”).

One of the very best things about The New Yorker is that it embraced Thurber’s art as it was, not as New Yorker editors might wish it would be. That’s one of the wonders of the magazine’s editorial DNA: staying out of an artist’s way. Back in 2013, in my interview with veteran artist, Dana Fradon, he discussed The New Yorker’s Art editor, James Geraghty. Mr. Fradon said Geraghty’s editorial direction was simply, “Make it beautiful.” Thanks to the magazine’s hands-off policy, and E.B. White’s two cents, Thurber did Thurber (beautifully!) and we are all the luckier for it.

__________________________________________________________________

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

 

 

The post Thurber Thursday: “If You Ever Got Good At It You’d Be Mediocre” first appeared on Inkspill.

A New York Times story published online today (“David Sedaris Has Two Apartments For His Two Picassos”) features a number of photos of the writer David Sedaris’s Manhattan home(s). In the last photo, Mr. Sedaris sits in front of a framed Charles Addams drawing hovering over his shoulder. The drawing was published in The New Yorker, August 26, 1972, It features a spouting whale in a swimming pool. A couple stands off to the side. The woman says to the man: “Thar she blows? Is that all you can say?” 

I was surprised when I saw the drawing this morning. Why surprised? Because I did a similar, (though not truly identical) drawing of a (non-spouting) whale in a swimming pool. It was published in The New Yorker August 26, 2013:

It hasn’t happened that often, but when something of mine comes graphically uncomfortably close to a previously published drawing by another cartoonist, I feel a bit sheepish about it. I console myself by thinking that, in decades of drawing thousands of cartoons (many of them involving swimming pools*, and some involving whales, including another drawing with a whale in a swimming pool**) these intersections are bound to happen. In 1972, I was in my first year of college (go Newark State!) and just beginning to pester The New Yorker‘s art editor, James Geraghty, with my earliest stabs at cartoons. It’s possible I saw the Addams swimming pool drawing that August (altho I confess I did not remember it until seeing this Sedaris article). I suppose it only took 41 years for the idea of a whale in a swimming pool to slip out of the haze of memory and into my cartoon consciousness. If that’s what happened.

_____________

*(from The New Yorker, July 3, 2023)

** (from The New Yorker, July 8, 2019)

 

The post Saturday Spill: Whales In Swimming Pools (Addams & Mine) first appeared on Inkspill.

The Monday Tilley Watch takes a glancing look at the art and artists of the latest issue of The New Yorker

The Cartoonists and Cartoons

Nineteen cartoons, twenty cartoonists in this themed (“America At 250”) double issue* (Barry Blitt has the cover). One duo, that we know of (the Spill counts duos as one cartoonist). No newbies. Liana Finck has a ‘Sketchbook” as well as a cartoon.

*Not counting the three cartoonists whose drawings appear as part of the Cartoon Caption Contest. However, the longest active contributing cartoonist in the issue is Mort Gerberg, who supplied this week’s Caption Contest drawing (he began contributing in 1965).

This week’s cartoons (in a slideshow).

The Cartoon Caption Contest 

The Rea Irvin Talk Watch

Back in May of 2017, the above perfect Talk design by Rea Irvin was carted away (after appearing for 92 years!) and replaced –if you can believe it — by a redraw via a contemporary illustrator. The Spill continues to hope Mr. Irvin’s work returns. Read more here.

_____________

Rea Irvin’s A-Z

Rea Irvin (pictured above. Self portrait above from Meet the Artist) Born, San Francisco, 1881; died in the Virgin Islands,1972. Irvin was the cover artist for the New Yorker’s first issue, February 21, 1925. He was the magazine’s first art and only art supervisor (some refer to him as its first art editor) holding the position from 1925 until 1939 when James Geraghty assumed the title of art editor. Irvin then became art director and remained in that position until William Shawn officially succeeded Harold Ross in early 1952. Irvin’s last original work for the magazine was the magazine’s cover of July 12, 1958. The February 21, 1925 Eustace Tilley cover had been reproduced every year on the magazine’s anniversary until 1994, when R. Crumb’s Tilley-inspired cover appeared. Tilley has since reappeared, with other artists substituting from time-to-time. Number of New Yorker covers (not including the repeat appearances of the first cover every anniversary up to 1991): 179. Number of cartoons contributed: 261.

The post Monday Spill, The New Yorker (Double) Issue Of May 11 & 18, 2026 first appeared on Inkspill.

“His People Simply Happen”

 

In a 1989 collection, Conversations With James Thurber (University Press of Mississippi) edited by Thomas Fensch, there’s a terrif article, “Melancholy Doodler,” by Arthur Millier (it originally appeared in The Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, July 2, 1939). Thurber was forty-four at the time, and in the last year of the best decade of his life, drawings-wise. His eyesight, by May of ’39, had already worsened  to the point of his “struggling to type, read, and draw.”

The article makes no mention of Thurber’s eyesight or his struggles — it rolls along as if all’s well in Thurberland. Here are just a few quotes from the piece (I’d run the whole thing, but don’t want to get into a copyright muddle).

Thurber speaking to Millier:

“You are probably the only person in America who knows I write.” he said bitterly. “They all say: ‘Oh yes, Thurber?–the guy makes those crazy drawings?'”

“i’m not an artist. I’m a painstaking writer who doodles for relaxation. But it’s those doodles they go for…They’ve even labeled me a Dadiast and a surrealist…”

“I almost never have a piece of writing turned down [by The New Yorker]. They print them all — but who reads them? Whereas my drawings — the things people know me for — are often turned down.”

“Captions can make a drawing. Some of my drawings lie around the office for years — waiting for an inspired line.”

Finally, here’s Millier talking about Thurber’s drawings:

“When Thurber begins a drawing of these curious yet strangely familiar people, he rarely knows what they will look like or do. He just lets his hand move with a pencil in it. His people simply happen…”

__________________

–The undated drawing above can be found at Vassar’s Francis Lehman Loeb Art Center.  ________________

James Thurber’s A-Z Entry:

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

The post Thurber Thursday: “His People Simply Happen” first appeared on Inkspill.

Early Cover Release…Knicksmania At The New Yorker

The New Yorker has early released (online) the cover for the issue of June 22, 2026. David Remnick, the magazine’s editor, recently said he’d like to run 20 Knicks covers. Only 18 to go now. Cover artist: Pierre-Emmanuel Lyet:

The magazine has also run a half dozen Knicks-centric cartoons:

here

here

here

here

here

here

…not to mention, in non-cartoon news, the post-game live Substack wrap-ups with Mr. Remnick and two New Yorker contributors (Vinson Cunningham and Louisa Thomas), as well as this Sporting Scene piece by Mr. Remnick, this piece by Louisa Thomas, and this Daily piece.

__________________________________________________________________

Now That’s A Cover!

A spectacular cover by Barney Tobey that includes a New Yorker cover within the cover(!). Mr. Tobey’s New Yorker run lasted 57 years, with 1,040 cartoons and four covers. The one above was his third. His 1983 restrospective, B. Tobey Of The New Yorker is highly recommended.

Barney Tobey (photo above from Think Small, a book of humor produced by Volkswagon) Born in New York City, July, 18, 1906, died March 27, 1989, New York. New Yorker work: 1929 -1986. Essential collection: B. Tobey of The New Yorker (Dodd Mead & Co., 1983). 4 covers; 1,040 cartoons.

_______________________________________________________________

Keith Knight Guests On The Latest Cartoon Caption Contest Podcast

Keith Knight, who began contributing to The New Yorker in 2019, joins the always fun CCCP crew on Episode 254. Listen to it here. 

photo above: clockwise from the top left: Keith Knight, then co-hosts, Paul Nesja, Nicole Chrolavicius, and Beth Lawler

___________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

The post Friday Spill: Early Cover Release…Knicksmania At The New Yorker; Now That’s A Cover!; Keith Knight Guests On The Latest Cartoon Caption Contest Podcast first appeared on Inkspill.

The Monday Tilley Watch takes a glancing look at the art and artists of the latest issue of The New Yorker

The Cartoonists and Cartoons

Fifteen cartoons, fifteen cartoonists. No newbies. Two duos, that we know of (the Spill counts duos as one cartoonist). The longest active contributor in the issue is this cartoonist (I began contributing in 1977).

This week’s cartoons (in a slideshow)

This week’s Cartoon Caption Contest (Avi Steinberg provides this week’s contest drawing)

The Rea Irvin Talk Watch

Once again, Rea Irvin’s perfect Talk design (shown here) has not returned to the magazine. Every Monday morning, since May of 2017, when a redrawn(!) version by a contemporary illustrator replaced Mr. Irvin’s work, I’ve opened up the newest issue hoping to see the original, but alas…

Read more here.

___________________________________

Rea Irvin (pictured above. Self portrait above from Meet the Artist) Born, San Francisco, 1881; died in the Virgin Islands,1972. Irvin was the cover artist for the New Yorker’s first issue, February 21, 1925. He was the magazine’s first art and only art supervisor (some refer to him as its first art editor) holding the position from 1925 until 1939 when James Geraghty assumed the title of art editor. Irvin then became art director and remained in that position until William Shawn officially succeeded Harold Ross in early 1952. Irvin’s last original work for the magazine was the magazine’s cover of July 12, 1958. The February 21, 1925 Eustace Tilley cover had been reproduced every year on the magazine’s anniversary until 1994, when R. Crumb’s Tilley-inspired cover appeared. Tilley has since reappeared, with other artists substituting from time-to-time. Number of New Yorker covers (not including the repeat appearances of the first cover every anniversary up to 1991): 179. Number of cartoons contributed: 261.

 

The post Monday Tilley Watch, The New Yorker Issue Of June 8, 2026 first appeared on Inkspill.

 

Simon Fieldhouse’s Latest 3D Portrait Sculpture: Peter Arno

Next up in artist Simon Fieldhouse‘s New Yorker series: Peter Arno. See the sculpture in various settings here.

And here are his other New Yorker 3D sculptures:

Eustace Tilley

Harold Ross

Saul Steinberg

To see all of his 3D sculptures, go here.

___________________________________________________________________

Frank Cotham Returns As Guest On Cartoon Caption Contest Podcast

Frank Cotham, who began contributing to The New Yorker in 1993, returns to the CCCP in this episode (#248 for those keeping track). Listen here.

photo: clockwise, from top left…Frank Cotham, then the co-hosts Paul  Nesja, Vin Coca, Nicole Chrolavicius, Beth Lawler. 

_____________________________________________________________

Paul Karasik Presents…

From The Vineyard Gazette, April 23, 2026, “Film Noir Takes Center Stage” — this piece on films and Mr. Karasik, who began contributing to The New Yorker  in 1999.  Visit his website here.

 

 

 

_____________________________________________________________

The post Friday Spill: Simon Fieldhouse’s Latest 3D Portrait Sculpture: Peter Arno; Frank Cotham Returns As Cartoon Caption Contest Podcast Guest; Paul Karasik Presents… first appeared on Inkspill.

A New Yorker State Of Mind Digs Into The Issue Of May 30, 1936

A New Yorker State Of Mind: Reading Every Issue Of The New Yorker Magazine does its usual (and quite wonderful) deep dive into a long ago issue of the magazine. This week it’s The New Yorker of May 30, 1936.

Read it here

Cover by the one-and-only Rea Irvin. His A-Z Entry:

Rea Irvin  Born, San Francisco, 1881; died in the Virgin Islands,1972. Irvin was the cover artist for the New Yorker’s first issue, February 21, 1925. He was the magazine’s first art and only art supervisor (some refer to him as its first art editor) holding the position from 1925 until 1939 when James Geraghty assumed the title of art editor. Irvin then became art director and remained in that position until William Shawn officially succeeded Harold Ross in early 1952. Irvin’s last original work for the magazine was the magazine’s cover of July 12, 1958. The February 21, 1925 Eustace Tilley cover had been reproduced every year on the magazine’s anniversary until 1994, when R. Crumb’s Tilley-inspired cover appeared. Tilley has since reappeared, with other artists substituting from time-to-time. Number of New Yorker covers (not including the repeat appearances of the first cover every anniversary up to 1991): 179. Number of cartoons contributed: 261.

_____________________________________________________________

Perlman’s Pod

 

Asher Perlman, who began contributing to The New Yorker in 2021, has announced he’s starting a podcast. His latest cartoon collection is Hi, It’s Me Again (Andrews McMeel).

From Mr. Perlman:

 

 

The post Tuesday Spill: “A New Yorker State Of Mind” Digs Into The Issue Of May 30, 1936; Perlman’s Pod first appeared on Inkspill.

A New Yorker State Of Mind Digs Into The Issue Of April 11, 1936

 

A New Yorker State Of Mind: Reading Every Issue Of The New Yorker: always fun, always interesting reading.

This week: the issue of April 11, 1936. Read it here. 

Cover by Helen Hokinson.

Her A-Z Entry:

 

Helen Hokinson (above) Born, Illinois,1893; died, Washington, D.C., 1949. New Yorker work: 1925 -1949, with some work published posthumously. All of Hokinson’s collections are wonderful, but here are two favorites. Her first collection: So You’re Going To Buy A Book! (Minton, Balch & Co, 1931) and what was billed as “the final Hokinson collection”: The Hokinson Festival (Dutton & Co., 1956). According to a New Yorker document produced during Harold Ross’s editorship (1925-1951) rating their artists, Ms. Hokinson and Peter Arno occupied a special category unto themselves above all others.

_________________________________________________________________

 

The post Sunday Spill: A New Yorker State Of Mind On The Issue Of April 11, 1936 first appeared on Inkspill.

The Monday Tilley Watch takes a glancing look at the art and artists of the latest issue of The New Yorker

The Cartoonists and Cartoons

Thirteen cartoons, thirteen cartoonists. No newbies, No duos, that we know of. The longest active contributing cartoonist in the issue is Roz Chast, whose first New Yorker cartoon appeared in the issue of July 3, 1978.

This Week’s Cartoons (in a slideshow).

This Week’s Cartoon Caption Contest (Benjamin Slyngstad provides the drawing for this week’s contest)

The Rea Irvin Talk Watch

Back in May of 2017, Rea Irvin’s perfect Talk design, shown here, was displaced by — gasp! — a redrawn version executed by a contemporary illustrator. The Spill continues to hope that Mr. Irvin’s work returns. Read more here.

__________________________________

Rea Irvin’s A-Z Entry:

Rea Irvin (pictured above. Self portrait above from Meet the Artist) Born, San Francisco, 1881; died in the Virgin Islands,1972. Irvin was the cover artist for the New Yorker’s first issue, February 21, 1925. He was the magazine’s first art and only art supervisor (some refer to him as its first art editor) holding the position from 1925 until 1939 when James Geraghty assumed the title of art editor. Irvin then became art director and remained in that position until William Shawn officially succeeded Harold Ross in early 1952. Irvin’s last original work for the magazine was the magazine’s cover of July 12, 1958. The February 21, 1925 Eustace Tilley cover had been reproduced every year on the magazine’s anniversary until 1994, when R. Crumb’s Tilley-inspired cover appeared. Tilley has since reappeared, with other artists substituting from time-to-time. Number of New Yorker covers (not including the repeat appearances of the first cover every anniversary up to 1991): 179. Number of cartoons contributed: 261.

The post Monday Tilley Watch, The New Yorker Issue Of June 1, 2026 first appeared on Inkspill.

Exhibit Of Interest: Mick Stevens to Show Work On Martha’s Vineyard 

Mick Stevens, who began contributing to The New Yorker in December of 1979, tells the Spill that:

“There’s a show of a dozen or so of my older original New Yorker drawings here at The Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse in Vineyard Haven. The show will run for the entire month of May. The artist will be lurking there from time to time.”

Here’s a personal fave New Yorker drawing by Mr. Stevens (not sure this will be included in the exhibit) :

_____________________________________________________________________________

Some Stevens Cartoon Collections…

 

___________________________________________________________________________

A New Yorker State Of Mind Looks At The Issue Of April 18, 1936

Such fun New Yorker time traveling via the weekly New Yorker State of Mind posts.

This week: the issue of April 18, 1936.

Read it here!

Cover by the one-and-only Rea Irvin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post Tuesday Spill: Exhibit Of Interest…Mick Stevens To Show Work On Martha’s Vineyard; A New Yorker State Of Mind Looks At the Issue of April 18, 1936 first appeared on Inkspill.

Award Of Interest…Bruce Eric Kaplan

From New Jersey Stage, May 15, 2026, “Bruce Eric Kaplan To Receive The Maplewood Literary Award On May 21st” 

Mr. Kaplan (who signs his work “BEK”) began contributing to The New Yorker in 1991. His most recent book is They Went Another Way: A Hollywood Memoir (Henry Holt & co., 2024)

Below: his first cartoon collection (1999), and his memoir (2015):

______________________________________________________

Hilary Campbell Has A Sketchbook Club

Hilary Campbell began contributing to The New Yorker in 2017. All the details about her Sketchbook Club can be found here on Instagram.Her most recent book is The Joy Of Snacking (Andrews McMeel, 2025).

Visit her website here.

 

 

____________________________________________________

Liana Finck Speaks

From Dorotusa, “An Afternoon With Cartoonist Liana Finck” — notice of an online appearance on May 27th where, according to the organization’s  website:

“Cartoonist and graphic novelist Liana Finck talks about her New Yorker cartoons and her books, which include an adaptation of Yiddish advice column A Bintel Brief and Let There Be Light, an adaptation of the Book of Genesis.” All the info here.

Liana Finck began contributing to The New Yorker in 2013. Visit her website here.

 

The post Tuesday Spill: Award Of Interest…Bruce Eric Kaplan; Hilary Campbell Has A Sketchbook Club; Liana Finck Speaks first appeared on Inkspill.