The Complete New Yorker Cartoons 1925-2004

Cafe Society
1

Anyone else have it? I did a search, and found no mention of it. But I got it from Mr. Rilch, for Christmas!

I. Am. Loving it. The book itself doesn’t have all the cartoons, but it’s huge as it is. The complete collection is on two CD-Roms, through which I have been scanning. Chas Addams, Peter Arno, Roz Chast, Otto Soglow, Edward Koren, George Booth, Richard Taylor…the list goes on. You can search by keyword, date, or artist.

Found an interesting one from 1942. Man listening to radio, which has a news broadcast about Hitler. Woman comes into room and switches over to soap opera; man doesn’t protest and they continue listening. Must remember that when someone complains that people today care more about entertainment than Real News.

Now off to track down one that I swear I remember from 1985 or '86. Revival house (cinema); people lined up to get in, dressed as Marx Brothers and…other characters. But I can’t remember what other characters, which is why I’m looking it up.

2

Oooooooooooooh, can you look up one for me? It’s been bothering me for years, and I know I saw it in TNYer:

full page cartoon - two people holding cigarettes, sitting in an elegant boat floating down a river. Gorgeous scenery, towering trees, possible wildlife or angels cavorting about. (The scenery is what I am looking for).

One says to the other (non-quoted): “we have to find out what exactly is in this stuff.”

3

Sure! You want the date, you mean, so you can track down a copy of the magazine?

4

Date. Artist. Description. Exact quote. How bad my memory is (how far off was I?). What page it’s on in the collection.

Ooooh, mucho thank you.

5

Okay. Gimme some time, though: I’m looking on the disks, and I’m still figuring out how their search engine works. I don’t know if you’re supposed to separate words with spaces, commas, or plus signs, or if you can put phrases in quote marks. Searches for “stuff” , “exactly”, “boat” and “river” (individually) yielded a lot of cartoons, but not the one you’re asking for.

Similarly, my search for the one where the father and son looking at a beautiful pastoral scene, with the caption “It’s not advertising anything, dammit!” has also been fruitless. Tried “advertising” and “dammit”, no luck for that specific cartoon. Tomorrow I’ll be able to do a more extensive search.

6

Hey, no sweat. Take your time, since you’re the one doing me the favor. I haven’t seen the cartoon in years, I suppose I could wait a few more minutes.
<d&r> :smiley:

Try “swan” or “angel” or “cherub” - I am pretty sure at least one of those were in the picture. Prolly sometime late 80s early 90s.
[sheesh - talk about high tech! I’d be flipping page after page after page, etc. of all 6 thousand pages.]
Now I have to get this book!

7

BTW, I was paraphrasing the caption. Time and age will do that to me (however, I can still remember the combination from my 7th grade locker from my now closed middle school. :rolleyes: )

8

Wahoo! Thanks for pointing this out, Rilchiam. I just Amazonned a copy for my mom for a New Year’s present. That’s like a Christmas present except you give it when you see something that would be a totally awesome gift a day or two after Christmas. Mom’s been a New Yorker subscriber for centuries.

9

“I’d be more apathetic if I weren’t so lethargic.”

10

I got one for Christmas, too! Spent some time yesterday trying to figure out the search engine. So far, as best I can determine, it searches the entire cd (1965-2004 was the one I was working with), and thus takes forever! I wasn’t able to get it to search a particular year.

I did finally find the 1974 Charles Addams cartoon I was looking for: On the college campus, underneath a banner that says “Class of 1954,” are a bunch of bums in dirty raincoats, lying around drinking out of paper bags. One is saying to another, “I thought it was me, but maybe it’s the school that’s no damned good!” :smiley:

11

My only complaint is that it’s too heavy to read. At least, while lounging on the sofa. We need to get a library dictionary stand to support its massive bulk.

12
  1. Two chic young women sitting on couches and apparently gossiping about a couple one of them knows.

“They have this arrangement. He earns the money and she takes care of the house.”

13

Still haven’t found it.

Are you sure it was from the New Yorker?

Are you sure it was from the late 80s/early 90s?

Are you sure the people were holding cigarettes?

I’m sure I’ll run across it eventually; when I do I’ll let you know.

14

That one’s actually in the book. My mom had it out and she’s gonna order me a copy.

15

Cool!

(I found it, BTW. It was “damn it”, not “dammit”.)

16

Pretty sure. I’m stopping at Borders this afternoon and may pick up a copy for myself. (Your glowing review has convinced me to splurge.)

Thanks for trying. Now go back and read it at your leisure. :slight_smile:

17

I got a copy for my sister-in-law as an X-mas present and felt bad that she had it and I didn’t. Then my mother gave me one. Wonderful book. I’ve not run the CD yet. Yea, it is a big heavy book. The nearsighted can’t hold it on their lap and read it. If you try to read it in bed you can’t breathe.

I was surprised to see that the speaker in the “I say it’s spinach and I say to hell with it” cartoon is a sweet little girl – not the nasty Dennis the Menace type I had imagined.

18

Put it on the bed, lie face down and prop yourself on elbows. Classic pose!

And when you do run the CD, be advised: There’s an average of 1000 cartoons per year. I’m reading a year a day.

19

I am so tempted to buy this. I wonder how I can justify it to myself…

20

What’s to justify? There’s so much more substance than you can get from just a book! Look at it as two DVDs, or three best-sellers, or one visit to a cineplex, or whatever the price comes to.