The New Yorker covers: November 25, 1961

When was the first thanksgiving in what would become the United States? Virginia says 1619 in, of course, Virginia. More familiar, though, is a 1621 feast in what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, involving Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people. Competing claims aside, the American holiday is now celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.

Frank Modell
(covers untitled until February 1993)

And now, a few words from . . . Elvis Presley

Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine.

"What is art but a way of seeing?" Saul Bellow

"Declaration of Independence," 1819, John Trumbull

Movie Posters, 2025: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!

Today in the history of the American comic strip: July 4

American cartoonists and writers may not have invented the comic strip, but some argue that the comics, as we know them today, are an American creation. Clearly, the United States has played an outsize role in the development of this underappreciated art form.

7.4.1883: Rube Goldberg, cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor, is born in San Francisco, California. He was named 1967 Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year by the National Cartoonists Society.

7.4.1943: Jimmy Hatlo’s Little Iodine, a spin-off from They’ll Do It Every Time, begins its run as a Sunday-only strip. It ended in July 1986.

7.4.1991: Art Sansom, creator of The Born Loser, dies at 70. The titular character is Brutus P. "Thorny" Thornapple, who simply can't catch a break.

 

The Born Loser

Most of the information listed here from one day to the next comes from two online sites -- Wikipedia, and Don Markstein's Toonopedia -- as well as 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics, edited by Maurice Horn. Note that my focus is on American newspaper comic strips (and the occasional foreign strip that gained popularity in the United States). Thus, comic books and exclusively online comics are not included here.

The New Yorker covers: August 9, 1958

Over the years, there have been many magazines whose covers have featured the work of highly talented artists and illustrators. But probably no magazine has had more varied and memorable covers, over a longer period of time, than The New Yorker, which was founded in 1925.

Perry Barlow
(covers untitled until February 1993)

And now, a few words from . . . Zbigniew Brzezinski

History is much more the product of chaos than of conspiracy.

"What is art but a way of seeing?" Saul Bellow

"Le Manteau Chinois," 1909, J.D. Fergusson

Movie Posters, 1981: Two adults, please, and a large popcorn!