March 16, 1946 cover of The New Yorker

I like this cover from a 1946 edition of The New Yorker.

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Anonymous

A couple of years ago I got my wife the hard drive with every single NY mag on it. It is pure heaven to browse through the covers, the cartoons and the articles.
Anonymous

It is about turning a beauty into a beast with movie make up….
elleomnom

Definitely Jack Pierce. Good to see some monster kid material on bb :)
Anonymous

I can see where Keith Weesner gets some inspiration: http://www.keithweesner.com/gallery.html
napstimpy

I’m guessing that’s Jack Pierce?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Pierce_(makeup_artist)
- TimDrew
  
  My thought as well when I first saw the image! Today, she’d still probably have a similar expression of concern, in anticipation of having a bucket of alginate dumped on her head…
bwcbwc

What’s strange to me is that this isn’t a Charles Addams (of Addams Family fame) cartoon. This would be right up his alley, except he probably would have used real heads rather than masks.
nanuq

From the frightened look on the woman’s face, it could be Sweeney Todd.
microcars

I’ve been staring at her sweater all evening.
I think this is my new iPhone wallpaper

I like the wig holder too. “Dim Bulb” ?
Cefeida

The hidden picture never gets old, either. :D
Patrick Dodds

You are not a well man, Mark!
Anonymous

I’m glad the “Asian” mask is up there with the other monstrous options.
- dculberson
  
  I’m glad the “Asian” mask is up there with the other monstrous options.
  
  Uhh, the other “monstrous” options like the white guy and the white woman? I think you’re reading a bit too much into it..
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  I’m glad the “Asian” mask is up there with the other monstrous options.
  
  Actually, it’s next to Dobie Gillis and Veronica Lake.
angry young man

Ah, those days when Asian women, plain women and old women could be lumped in with monsters and no one batted an eye.
- princeminski
  
  Well, it’s nice to have a focus. Going through life examining *everything* for some bit of context to get pissed off about.
Tdawwg

Ah, those days when raffish, eye-patched, bearded white men could be lumped with monsters and no one batted an eye (unless it was the eye behind the patch, in which case you might not see the batting). Those were the days!

Seriously, I like how the creepy old man in green sort-of-but-not-quite looks like Joe E. Brown, of “Nobody’s perfect” fame.
cuvtixo

Will I get moderated for mentioning the improbably sharp nipple showing through the girl’s sweater? That drew my attention a lot more than the masks! ;)
- strangefriend
  
  I think ’46 was when the nose cone bra fad was in full swing . . .
- GaryF
  
  An outstanding point, cuvtixo!
gary21cp

This is almost certainly Bud Westmore, the most famous Hollywood makeup artist, and patriarch of a family of Hollywood makeup artists, who I met as a child. . . . http://bit.ly/bTUZto
- GaryF
  
  That seems possible, but if my sources are correct Bud Westmore’s fame as a makeup artist was only just beginning in 1946 (“Devil Bat’s Daughter,” “The Flying Serpent” and “The Strangler of the Swamp.”) His later work could certainly have sprung from that wall, but that was a few years down the road.
thatbob

This cover has many points in common with one of my current obsessions: the gothic humor/gothic horror comic book art of Richard Sala.
Nemo1

I like the price. 15 cents! Current issues are $5.99!
- Avram / Moderator
  
  15¢ in 1946 is $1.64 in 2008 money, so compensating for inflation, the New Yorker has nearly quadrupled in price!
  - Brainspore
    
    Does that take into account that we’ve had a major financial collapse since 2008?
yokimon

I didn’t even look at the date for a few seconds and I thought it was the latest issue, I had never realized how “stylized” The New Yorker covers are
Anonymous

What’s also interesting about this cover is the artist, an emigre from Russia named Constantin Alajalov. He started out as an artist at the Russian court, and ended up in New York. The only artist to do covers for both the New Yorker and the Saturday evening post, he was a prolific artist who did advertising, illustrated books (the Cornelia Otis Skinners’ books in the 40′s), and also did many covers for Fortune. His work is very distinctive and recognizable.
- princeminski
  
  Thanks for the info. I was not familiar with his work. It’s good to know somebody’s keeping track, as I hate it when talented people slip through the cracks of history.
ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive

There’s a scene like that in Flip the Frog’s “Funny Face”. He wants a handsome face, not a frog face, so he goes to a plastic surgeon…

Image from cartoon
Anonymous

Wait, isn’t eyepatch guy actually Sawyer from Lost? Holy cats – do you realize they pre-inserted him in NINETEEN FOURTY SIX! Man. That series is deeper than I though! I’m thinking he has to lose the eye in order to maintain a sort of “vision” only in one universe in order to not go mad. Yea.
GaryF

Was there a story associated with this cover? That might answer some questions.
Mim

@#9 – thank you! and ha! to @#16 — I can’t believe it took 2 hours for anyone to comment on that — it was the first thing I saw in the image. :-O
Teller

That’s the issue McPhee wrote about Kiowa arrowheads.