Thursday, December 16, 2021

George Price Cartoons from We Buy Old Gold (1951)

 

New Yorker cartoonist George Price (1901-1995) contributed to The New Yorker for seven decades. Despite this, he may not be as well remembered as, say, a James Thurber or a Charles Addams. I don't know why. His gags were always a lot of fun. Some remind me of crazy Far Side kinda jokes. His ink line work was impeccable. There is a breeziness in his lines, particularly in the first couple of decades. 


The absurdity is what makes these still vibrant cartoons. These are all from We Buy Old Gold, one of his many book collections. (Others include titles like: Good Humor Man, It's Smart To Be People, Who's In Charge Here?, Is It Anyone We Know?, George Price's Ice Cold War.) The cartoons are copyright 1951 by Mr. Price. 

 


The interesting thing about this collection is how many of his cartoons deal with water, and flooding in particular. What with Climate Change, these seem like an even more vital cartoon genre today. 

 


So, I thought I would just put up the cartoons that dealt with floods, but I found I got distracted. First, by other water cartoons (plumbing, flooded basements) and then just by ones that struck me as funny/well drawn. 

 

 

So here's a small selection from We Buy Old Gold (1951). You will see why Mr. Price should be better remembered! 

 
















1 comment:

JR said...

Yes, it is interesting how many of his cartoons deal with flooding.

With the climate change in focus, one would suppose that it would be our time that would feature more flooding cartoons: 1) they would be more frequent, and 2) the media are concerned about climate change consequences.

But George Price bests our generation. What could be the reason for it?

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature17418
https://judithcurry.com/?s=extreme+weather
https://archive.is/sz9fa

Now kill me, Mike :))))