Thurber Thursday: Tablecloth Art

Tablecloth Art

The other day I came to discover a Thurber article, “James Thurber: Doodler Extraordinary”* by Barbara Klaw in a now somewhat ancient American Heritage (February 1965). The two-page article centered on a photograph of a tablecloth covered with Thurber drawings.

According to the American Heritage story, Thurber drew (in pencil) on the tablecloth while at Tim Costello’s restaurant one night (Costello’s will be forever remembered as the restaurant adorned with Thurber murals). At the end of the evening, Thurber friend, J.P. Gude, asked Costello for the tablecloth.

From the article:

“He [Gude] didn’t look at it til the following morning, and then he was revolted by its spattered state. ‘Frankly, it was one of the filthiest tablecloths I ever saw.’ Yet if it were sent to the laundry, the pencil lines of the drawings would obviously wash out along with the beer and the steak juice.”

Another person at Costello’s that night, Mrs. Elizabeth McGhee (whose nickname was “Buddy”) offered to “preserve” the drawings by embroidering over the pencil lines. Mrs. McGhee signed “Buddy fecit” on the tablecloth (you can see her signature on the top right in the above photo).

Here’s a photo from the article showing the tablecloth at Costello’s. You can see some of Thurber’s drawings on the wall. :

* I’ve read that Thurber disliked the word “doodle.”