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The New Yorker

1979  Cover, The New Yorker, Oct. 22, ’79.  Arnie Levin.  Xerox copy, 8.5” x 11”.  Gift of Tom Beckman.

This tortoise is bedecked with all the stickers and symbols and advertisements of an Indy 500 race car.  The two faces tell a lot: the tortoise is eager.  The hare is surprised at the livery!

1989  “’Slow and Steady Wins the Race.’  What’s yours say?”  Mort Gerberg.  New Yorker.  March 6, 1989.  Xerox copy.

Here is a nice play on the aphoristic character of morals.  Much of the intriguing character of this cartoon comes from the two characters’ faces.

1990  “Odds on the TH Race.”  James Stevenson.  New Yorker.  Jan. 29, ‘90.  Xerox copy.

It does not look good for the tortoise with these odds announced before the race!

1990?  “Rabbit at Rest.”  Mort Gerberg.  New Yorker.  Xerox copy.  Unknown date and source.

In 1990, John Updike published his fourth novel about "Rabbit" Angstrom, titled Rabbit at Rest.  I presume that Gerberg is having fun carrying that book back into the fable.  Well done!  In fact, this particular cartoon was discussed in a famous retrospective conversation with Gerberg.

 

1990  Ninja TH.  J.P. Rini.  The New Yorker, May 7, ‘90.  Xerox copy.  Unknown source.

By contrast with a New Yorker cover a year later, this tortoise is a Ninja!  And it takes the poor hare completely by surprise.  Since he is a Ninja, he appears to be supremely confident.  Sometimes there is a reason why fables turn out in the their own surprising fashion!

1991  “Please!  I am neither teen-age, mutant, nor Ninja.”  James Stevenson.  The New Yorker, May 8, ‘91.  Xerox copy.  Unknown source.

Popular culture became so fascinated by teen-age Ninja mutant turtles that Stevenson suggests the old fable and has the turtle disclaiming that default modifier for any turtle.

1991  “I’m in Training.”  M(ick) Stevens.   New Yorker.  Sept., 23, 1991.  One xerox copy.  Unknown sources.

TH prompts endless role reversals and surprises of expectations. 

 

1991  Mice Medical Amphitheater.  John O'Brien.  New Yorker.  Nov. 4, 1991.  Unknown source.

I am trying to take this occasion to track down the source of the version in which it is a mouse that removes the thorn from the lion's paw.  AI only restates my question when it refers people to "Androcles and the Lion" and "The Lion and the Mouse."  If it is a version of AL, does the lion repay the mouse's kindness at some point?  If it is a version of LM, are we to presume the first phase of the mouse running over the sleeping lion.  Help!

1992  “Could you kindly pick up the tempo a bit?”   Bernard Schoenbaum.   New Yorker.  March 2, 1992.  Xerox copy.  Unknown source.

Part of the fun here is the caricaturing of the roles of the two principals, the large-bodied angry diva and the overweight tuxedoed supposedly-subservient pianist.

1995.  “After I won, I came all unglued.”  Victoria Roberts.  New Yorker.  August 7, ’95.  Xerox copy.  Source unknown.

Might the tortoise be speaking to a universal experience here, perhaps analogous to postpartum and post-super-bowl experiences.  I am glad he is still talking to the hare, and the hare – although drinking – is listening!

1998  “It is thornlike in appearance, but I need to order a battery of tests.”  Leo Collum.  New Yorker.  March 30, ’98.

This play on the mouse removing the thorn from the lion’s paw mocks modern medicine’s endless need for confirming tests.  I still wonder where this particular story arose.