Thurber Thursday: The Dog Wish; Video Of Interest…Barry Blitt; Latest Addition To The Spill Archive…A William Steig Paperweight
“Man is troubled by what might be called the Dog Wish, a strange and involved compulsion to be as happy and carefree as a dog”
— James Thurber
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Video Of Interest…Barry Blitt
From The New Yorker, November 4, 2024, “How The Artist Barry Blitt Turns Politics Into Cartoon Cover Gold”
Mr. Blitt has been contributing to The New Yorker since 1994. Visit his website here.
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Latest Addition To The Spill Archive…A William Steig Paperweight
It’s rare to see a New Yorker cartoonist paperweight, so this was a pleasant surprise.
Even with a magnifying glass I couldn’t quite make out the copyright — it’s 1960, or possibly 1966. The drawing itself doesn’t show up in The New Yorker database.
When I think of paperweights, I think of William Shawn‘s desk at The New Yorker (this was pre-personal computer age times); it was covered with piles of paper, a number of the piles held in place by glass paperweights (a few small, and at least one large one).
In this photo that appeared on Ved Mehta’s Remembering Mr. Shawn’s New Yorker, taken by our late colleague, James Stevenson, you can see the large glass paperweight front and center on the desk.
The only other New Yorker themed paperweights in the archive are these:
Ink Spill is really interesting, thank you for writing for us!
I read you via Substack now; did you realise that not all the illustrations appear here? For example: "The only other New Yorker themed paperweights in the archive are these:" shows only the “Eustacia Tilley” paperweight. The clue of you writing THESE to refer to one (apparent) thing made me go to michaelmaslin.com, where I was able to view the "1925" paperweight.