Well, dear readers, I am walking on air. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I, BK, am walking on air. For over thirty years I have longed for, lusted after, and desperately wanted an original James Thurber drawing. In the days pre-1996, I wouldn’t have even known how to imagine getting such a thing. Those who’ve read Kritzer Time know the impact seeing A Thurber Carnival at the Huntington Hartford Theater had on me – in a way, it changed my life. It was only my second non-musical theater experience. Until seeing it, I had no idea who Thurber was. After seeing it, I became a lifelong fan-atic. The show itself was truly funny, but when I bought the book version of A Thurber Carnival and read the stories and saw the cartoons that went along with the captions they only spoke in the show, I knew I was seeing absolute genius. He was completely unique – his cartoon style was revolutionary in its day and he was hugely popular. I’d walk around school quoting his captions and people would look at me askance, having no idea what the HELL I was going on about – rather like these days with these here notes. Of course, the captions divorced from the actual cartoon never quite did the captions justice, although they were and are mighty funny on their own. “Well, if I called the wrong number why did you answer the phone?” “You wait here and I’ll bring the etchings down.” “Her husband went up to bed one night and was never seen again.” The end of act one in A Thurber Carnival was The Last Flower, which was done with narration and projections of the drawings from that beautiful, rueful, sad, moving story. It instantly became one of my favorite things ever. I read it to people, I studied the simple yet beautiful drawings. The Columbia original cast album was worn out from my playing it over and over and over, and the gorgeous gatefold album had the entire The Last Flower story and drawings inside. I performed one of the sketches in my high school drama class and got all the laughs. When I began collecting first editions one of the first thing I bought was a pristine copy of the very rare first edition of The Last Flower. Collections have come and gone since then, but that book has remained through them all. In the 1980s I managed to score a copy of Thurber Country’s first edition – signed by Thurber in his late-in-life scrawl (he was going blind in his later years) – and next to the signature a little drawing of a Thurber dog.
I thought that was as close as I was ever going to get to an original Thurber drawing. When I began collecting illustration art in the late 1990s, one of the first questions I asked Illustration House, a New York gallery I was purchasing from (and where I got my J.C. Leyendecker painting for a Saturday Evening Post cover), was if they had any original Thurber drawings. They did – about four of them – only one of which, I think, was published (in the New Yorker) – even then the cost was prohibitive. One drawing came up on eBay about ten years ago and I tried for it, but was outbid and it went for a lot of dough, although not as much as others were going for – but again, it was not a published piece, although I was willing to take anything I could get and afford.
And then, a week ago, a book dealer I know on the East Coast mentioned that he had a Thurber drawing – he’d had it for quite some time and was ready to sell it. He’d gotten it from the estate of author Peter DeVries. Of course, I was interested, and of course I couldn’t afford it. But we began to discuss doing a trade – that discussion went on for a week and by the end of it we’d finally made a deal – one very favorable to me, actually. So, not only was I going to be the proud owner of an original Thurber drawing, I was going to be the proud owner of a Thurber cartoon – and one of his classics – one that appeared in 1938 in the New Yorker. Those are the prized collectibles. Not only that, this cartoon was first anthologized in – A Thurber Carnival, where it had been one of my favorites. So, as of today it is on its merry way and will be here tomorrow. I will figure out the perfect wall space for it (the Thurber cartoons are fairly small – 8×10 and then whatever the frame is). I think it’s coming in a simple black frame – if I like it, I’ll keep it in that – if not, I will re-frame it. It’s one of his cartoons where the caption does not work without the brilliant drawing – but together, caption and drawing are absolute perfection. And that is why I’m walking on air, dear readers.
Other than that, yesterday was perfectly fine – some annoying little things, but I didn’t let anything detract from my air walking. The shocking news was that in looking in the Lost in Boston 1 and 2 music boxes I found not one piano/vocal chart for any song. It was unbelievable – and to top that off, there wasn’t a Lost in Boston 3 box at all. Lost in Boston 4 had everything I needed. I immediately called our very own Mr. Harvey Schmidt and he’s overnighting me his four songs. Then I called Mr. Sheet Music, Michael Lavine, and, as I knew he would, he had everything else I needed and is sending them via priority mail tomorrow. So, we’ll be fine. I’ve already checked out the Unsung Musicals boxes and those have what I need (it will be the October show). The helper and I then packaged up some stuff and got it shipped out. There were still well over 100 invoices to do packages for, but we ran out of time. So, today the helper is going to pick up some tapes I need for upcoming projects, and then, by the time she gets here, I will have finished addressing all the extant packages and she can go directly to putting postage on them. After the helper left, Mr. Barry Pearl came over and we lunched at the Daily Grill, after which we went to the Beverly Garland Hotel and met with the lady who books out the big meeting rooms for events. She made us an incredible deal if we did four shows in 2011. We figured out tentative dates and will now go to work to see if we can make this happen. I think we can, and the price we got for the space is so affordable it’s not even funny. The show will be paid for just by selling ten dealer tables for each show. So, the admission is all gravy and any dealer tables over ten is also gravy. So, now we have to buckle down, Winsocki and figure out how it’s all going to work.
After that, I finally sat on my couch like so much fish and watched some episodes of Dragnet – but not much location stuff, which was very disappointing. I then addressed half the stack of invoices, and I’ll do the rest this morning. Then I did a mile and a half jog, after which I did some work on the computer, after which I jogged another half-mile over to Jerry’s Deli, where I had a sandwich. Then I briskly walked home.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get my beauty sleep because I’ve got a big event tomorrow night and I need to be alert and alive, which is not difficult when one is walking on air.
Today, I shall finish addressing boxes, then the helper will have to print out approximately 650 postage strips, maybe closer to 700. We’re just about sold out of the London Promises – if anyone has been procrastinating, now would be a good time to get off your ASS and get the thing. After that, I’ll relax, shave, shower, and make myself presentable, after which I shall mosey on over to the Burbank Library at 300 N. Buena Vista Street for my seven o’clock author event. I do hope we have a decent turnout – I do know some people are coming, and I’m just hoping they have a regular audience who comes to all their events. So, any of our West Coast denizens, please get off your ASS and come to the event.
Tomorrow, I think I will need to take it easy a little. I’m hoping that today or tomorrow I’ll pick up the CDRs of the transfers of our next two projects – I need to get them to the mastering guy. And hopefully, my new Thurber will arrive safe and sound by noon. I shall spend a few hours at least gazing at it lovingly.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, finish addressing packages, do a few errands and whatnot, and then do an author event, after which a few of us will go out for some foodstuffs. Today’s topic of discussion: Who are your all-time favorite cartoonists – and you’re all-time favorite humorists? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I continue walking on air because I am now the proud owner of an actual Thurber New Yorker cartoon.