Author: McCUTCHEON, John T. (1870-1949)
Title: Signed Ink Drawing
Description: Pulitzer prize-winning editorial cartoonist with the "Chicago Tribune" (1903-45). Original signed ink drawing, 14½" X 19", n.p. 1931. Very good. Very minor and bit of soiling. Labeled "Cartoons of the Day" in cursive by McCutcheon on the lower margin, followed by three subtitles, this handsome three-panel piece contains three unrelated topics. The top panel, titled "No time to waste," celebrates aviator Wiley Post and navigator Harold Gatty's June 1931 record-breaking eight-day flight around the world. At Left Post's plane, the "Winnie Mae," is about to land, and Post leans out, holding up two fingers and shouting "Lunch for two!" From a building at right (labeled "October Field Moscow") three waiters rush, each carrying a large platter (one labeled "Zakuski," another "Cabbage Soup" and the third "Cucumbers"). Moscow was one of fourteen stops the pair made on their famed flight. The middle panel, titled "The Grave Digger gets a big surprise," must have been occasioned by an unexpected rise in the stock market. Next to a street sign showing "Broad" and "Wall" streets, a wide-eyed bear rushes away from a tombstone, dropping his shovel and exclaiming "Great Scott! He seems to be alive!" The tombstone reads "Mr. Bull / Fatally / Injured / in October / and November / 1929," and a dazed bull is pulling itself up out of the whole. The lower panel, titled "When an Idealist runs up against a Realist," shows a puzzled Uncle Sam scratches his chin and reads a cable: "Cablegram / French Proposals / on Debt Moratorium / U.S. to Sacrifice $250,000,000 / Germany Gets the Benefit / on Only $150,000,000. / France Sacrifices / Nothing." To the right a sweaty little man gazes at a wall thermometer that's clearly rising, pushing up his hat (labeled "ADT") to mop his brow and exclaim "Whew!" Signed simply "McCutcheon" at lower right, as usual. A delightful trio. .

Keywords: Art & Architecture


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