Buttering up the boss, though, is still in fashion.
This one’s a CIDU for me. Giant hamburger? Portal into another dimension?
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On the last one, I first thought it was one of those round, mid-century sofas. But I’m not sure I understand why that would be drawn any more than a giant hamburger.
Eh, it’s a stretch, but a hamburger that size would be inconvenient to have around. “What should we do with it?” “Oh, let’s put it in the attic.”
I don’t know. The drawing doesn’t seem to contain anything humorous.
At first I thought the boss in the first one was dictating to a voice-recognition computer dictation program. (The specification of “comma” was the triggering element, I think.)
I actually understood 3/4 of the New Yorker comics! This is epic!
And in my experience, that first one is right on the money. If you don’t know what he means by et cetera, you must be stupid, and he’ll tell you so. Girlie.
My guess is that a big burger was featured as a piece of art or stylish furniture somewhere, and the cartoonist envisioned it eventually joining other out-of-date relics in a stereotypical attic full of Grandma’s bric-a-brac.
Recalling one of my favorite Saul Steinberg drawings, showing a decayed art deco house surrounded by untended grass. It was drawn in the 30s or 40s, when the very idea of sleek moderne buildings looking old was an unexpected joke.
I’m intrigued. Is there a copy of this particular comic online?
Grawlix: I officially submitted a jpeg to this site. It comes from book “The Passport”, which collects Steinberg art from 1949 to 1954 — a bit later than I recalled, so it might have been less a comic prophecy than something he actually saw. It has no caption, so not sure where to seek online although a Saul Steinberg image search might yield something.
@bensondonald, Oddly I cannot find any “Steinberg” tag. –The tags are generally for cartoons included in a main post (not a comment), so it’s possible though odd that Bill and subsequent editors never had occasion to include any Steinberg in a main post, but that’s what it looks like.
I’m not familiar with The Passport but had memories from the 1970s of deeply enjoying The New World, and recently bought a copy. I was very pleased to see they were still super, even with my aged frame of mind.
Here is the Steinberg drawing that @bensondonald above [perhaps literally below] mentions sending in.
His comment in the contribution mail:
Sending as I mentioned it under “50 Years Ago in the New Yorker”.
It’s from Steinberg’s book “The Passport”, a collection of drawings from 1949 to 1954. I thought it was older, reflecting a time when art deco in decay would have been as incongruous as a modern art object banished to an attic full of out-of-fashion stuff.
bing image search: giant hamburger attic
The first image is a photograph of a giant hamburger, made out of fabricCala in somebody’s attic.
I love those Art Deco / Moderne / Modern houses.
Thanks for posting the picture. A quick web search brought up this fascinating article regarding Steinberg and the modern era of design.
Steinberg’s trip to California was a major influence on him. His drawings from the period noted a contrast between the modern sensibility and popular tastes in art and design:
“…As a “chronicler of the absurd,” Steinberg was ever-observant of America’s changing cultural landscape and seemed to delight in the widening gulf between popular tastes and the vanguard of modernist art and design.”
The idea of a neglected modern house is interesting, but sadly many don’t get that far. They either get replaced by even more modern homes, or get wiped out by various natural disasters.
Looking at the cartoon, I can hear in my head, “This week on This Old House…”
Comics I Don't Understand 
On the last one, I first thought it was one of those round, mid-century sofas. But I’m not sure I understand why that would be drawn any more than a giant hamburger.
Eh, it’s a stretch, but a hamburger that size would be inconvenient to have around. “What should we do with it?” “Oh, let’s put it in the attic.”
I don’t know. The drawing doesn’t seem to contain anything humorous.
At first I thought the boss in the first one was dictating to a voice-recognition computer dictation program. (The specification of “comma” was the triggering element, I think.)
I actually understood 3/4 of the New Yorker comics! This is epic!
And in my experience, that first one is right on the money. If you don’t know what he means by et cetera, you must be stupid, and he’ll tell you so. Girlie.
My guess is that a big burger was featured as a piece of art or stylish furniture somewhere, and the cartoonist envisioned it eventually joining other out-of-date relics in a stereotypical attic full of Grandma’s bric-a-brac.
Recalling one of my favorite Saul Steinberg drawings, showing a decayed art deco house surrounded by untended grass. It was drawn in the 30s or 40s, when the very idea of sleek moderne buildings looking old was an unexpected joke.
Jamison! Take a letter! https://youtu.be/_2LqmcjIeMU?si=qqKEb_yUQchk-a98
bensondonald:
I’m intrigued. Is there a copy of this particular comic online?
Grawlix: I officially submitted a jpeg to this site. It comes from book “The Passport”, which collects Steinberg art from 1949 to 1954 — a bit later than I recalled, so it might have been less a comic prophecy than something he actually saw. It has no caption, so not sure where to seek online although a Saul Steinberg image search might yield something.
@bensondonald, Oddly I cannot find any “Steinberg” tag. –The tags are generally for cartoons included in a main post (not a comment), so it’s possible though odd that Bill and subsequent editors never had occasion to include any Steinberg in a main post, but that’s what it looks like.
Searching for the name in comment text [there is an admin tool for that] brings up plenty of hits where the name was mentioned, including a comment from you, which mentions him but does not include an image. This was on https://cidu.info/2022/10/28/50-years-ago-in-the-new-yorker-october-1972/#comments
There were also some Steinberg cartoons that I mentioned and linked-in in a Random Comments thread. This was at https://cidu.info/2023/08/20/random-comments-august-2023-edition/#comments
I’m not familiar with The Passport but had memories from the 1970s of deeply enjoying The New World, and recently bought a copy. I was very pleased to see they were still super, even with my aged frame of mind.
Here is the Steinberg drawing that @bensondonald above [perhaps literally below] mentions sending in.
His comment in the contribution mail:
bing image search: giant hamburger attic
The first image is a photograph of a giant hamburger, made out of fabricCala in somebody’s attic.
I love those Art Deco / Moderne / Modern houses.
Thanks for posting the picture. A quick web search brought up this fascinating article regarding Steinberg and the modern era of design.
https://www.eamesinstitute.org/collection/saul-steinberg/
The article does include the house cartoon, and captions it thusly:
“Original drawing for the portfolio “The Coast,” The New Yorker, January 27, 1951. Untitled, 1951, ink on paper, 14 ¾ x 11 ¾ in. Private collection. © The Saul Steinberg Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.”
Steinberg’s trip to California was a major influence on him. His drawings from the period noted a contrast between the modern sensibility and popular tastes in art and design:
“…As a “chronicler of the absurd,” Steinberg was ever-observant of America’s changing cultural landscape and seemed to delight in the widening gulf between popular tastes and the vanguard of modernist art and design.”
The idea of a neglected modern house is interesting, but sadly many don’t get that far. They either get replaced by even more modern homes, or get wiped out by various natural disasters.
Looking at the cartoon, I can hear in my head, “This week on This Old House…”
There might even be an Eames chair inside.
Thanks for the Eames (/Steinberg) article!