Anyone know where the original (if it still exists) is of John McCutcheon’s “Injun Summer” cartoon?
Does it still appear in the Tribune every year?
MODERATOR NOTES: This thread was from 2010, until post #9 in 11/2013. In fairness to Cheryl44, it was actually revived by a spammer; she responded before the spam could be “disappeared.” Anyhow, just be aware. – CKDH
I don’t know about the original drawing, but according to this article it last appeared in the Tribune on October 25, 1992. I remember it appearing on the cover of the Tribune magazine every fall when I was a kid, and regretted its disappearance.
From the above-referenced article:
"The “Injun Summer” era ended on Oct. 25, 1992, when it appeared for the last time. The drawings may be timeless, but the text had outlived its day. Complaints had been voiced for several years about its offensiveness to Native Americans. Wisps of smoke have continued to rise from those smoldering leaves, however. Every fall, some readers complain that they miss it. "
Once again political correctness deprives us of something good. Surely this timeless classic can be viewd in the context if its time without disparaging Native Americans and/or the EPA.
PC makes me ill.
Please, let’s be sensitive; it has been rebranded as “Native American Summer.” Our founding parents would have wanted it that way. :rolleyes:
I think I have an electronic copy of it somewhere. I’ll check when I get home from work.
Google books is your friend.
Here’s a link to a JPG of it. I don’t know how good the Picasa link will look. I’ve got it as a 675x1024 resolution image; if you want, I can email it to you, just let me know…TRM (trying to keep non-PC alive)
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/1LJomTW9-idwCpDTV9QzhA?feat=directlink
Here is a better copy of it. There’s also a link to the Chicago Tribune store, where you can buy a 14 x 16 poster of it.
And I agree with **SanDiegoTim]/b]'s comments about Political Correctness.
Your website asks “Does anyone know where the original of “Injun Summer” is?”
Up until September 1952 my new bride and I visited it at the Chicago Historical Society Museum. where it hung all through age 7 - 12. We were on our honeymoon.
I hope to obtain a large print version of the cartoon’s story to display along with the “Suitable for framing” poster in our retirement home (Foundation House at Northgate) in Seattle hung today.
Thanks
That’s the crappy sentimental crap the Trib used to run once a year, right?
Yeah. IIRC, Jean Shepherd’s father was an illustrator for the Trib but got sick of being stuck in that asshole’s shadow (if we learned anything about the Old Man over the years it’s that’s how he probably described him) so he went to Borden to draw Elsie and Elmer ads.
Racism, privilege, and so on is far more sickening.
Jesus Christ, that was considered acceptable in 1992?
I always detested that combination of treacly sentimentality and thoughtless racism, and I don’t miss it one bit.
Another bit of Tribune mawkishness that is blissfully gone is Bob Greene’s annual “pebbles in a jar” ode to summer. When Greene was fired, my first thought was “Thank God! Now we’ll be spared that sappy ‘pebbles in a jar’ column!”