The New Yorker cartoons are famous, and have certainly appeared in more PowerPoint presentations than words starting with Q. I have no real way of knowing that, but I'll bet it's true. Unless it's Iceland.
The book, reviewed by Mr. Edward Kosner is, 'How about Never--Is Never Good for You?' by Bob Mankoff. The title is taken from one of the all-time single panel cartoon classics, also by Mr. Mankoff, and has I'm sure appeared in umpteen presentations, with or without permission.
Mr. Mankoff's origins and background are described to the point that Mr. Kosner simply tells us Mr. Mankoff was born in the Bronx, but raised in Queens, and seems to have majored at Syracuse in the art of being a wise guy--"as in Jewish from Queens, not Italian from Little Italy."
I've never met Mr. Mankoff, but I know this guy. I'm the same kind of wise guy from Queens, not Jewish however, but exposed to Jewish, who could easily sit at the same table as Mr. Mankoff at the deli. "Are you done with the mustard?"
Over the years I've subscribed to The New Yorker just for the cartoons. I put all of 1967 in a scrap book. I've also let my subscription lapse many times and I don't think I've been getting the magazine now since we invaded Kuwait.
One particular doctor I see has a great waiting room selection of magazines, and it's there I catch up a little with the cartoons. But I only see this physician once a year, and any others I see are not in the same league of magazine choice. Maybe it's because they're not in Manhattan.
It's because of this annual reunion with the magazine that I became aware of the contest to send in ideas for a caption to a one panel cartoon setup. I've never done this, and I did previously read about Mr. Ebert's frustration of not having a caption selected after over 100 different submissions. Somewhere along the line the frustration became public and apparently a Mr. Ebert submission was a contest "winner." Seems like it was sort of getting into the college of your choice only after some arms might have been twisted.
Anyway, since I can't draw, and have proven to myself many times that that will never be possible...and...who needs rejection anyway?, I offer some described setups that can be easily imagined by the reader, and could be easily drawn by someone with a modicum of talent.
Scene 1
The small semi-circular bar we've seen many times, where the bartender is drying a glass and one fellow with a hat is in the foreground seated at the bar, thinking about the next sip from the shot glass, and seated to his right, several stools away, is a fellow dressed in a clown outfit, also with a shot glass in front of him, who speaks:
"Ever since the Internet, Skype, and YouTube, everyone thinks I'm a clown."
(Quite honestly, I'm not sure I haven't already seen this one in the magazine, but I offer it as original because, I don't really know, I'm not making any money off of this, and it is possible that different people can have the same comedic thoughts, sometimes simultaneously.
Scene 2
This one I'm certain I didn't see anywhere and happens to be one I anticipate after my wife's soon-to-be knee surgery. She doesn't read the blog, and that I know of, none of her friends do either, so I offer this one with my some confidence my well-being will be continued.
Woman is in a hospital bed with either her leg up on a pulley, or in some kind of position that gives the reader the impression that something orthopedic has been done. She looks calm, all is well and she his not in any distress or any pain.
The husband explains to either the nurse, or a physician, or both who are also bedside that:
"She understands that pain-killers can lead to constipation, but in my wife's case, I think it's going to be hard to know, since for her, not going for 5 days is usually just will-power."
Scene 3
Man and a woman at the front door of a single-family home, perhaps drawn by Chon Day. They're taking a survey, or collecting for some charity.
The front door of the house is a full-size locker door, drab green, fairly narrow, vented on the top, with the number 134 stamped on a piece of plain steel wedged between two brackets.
The man says to the woman:
"The people in his house are very into sports."
Scene 4
Finally, for now, something topical given Russia's annexation of the Crimean part of the Ukraine.
Briefing room, with only Vladimir Putin seated, looking intently at the presenter, who points to a map that shows Russia and the west coast of the United States, with Alaska and the Bering Strait quite prominent, and what the presenter is drawing Mr. Putin's attention to:
"We could try and get Alaska back as well, but there's that woman Palin to deal with. She says she sees everything we do."
The doctor's ready to see me now.
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