Funny Ladies: The New Yorker's Greatest Women Cartoonists And Their Cartoons

by Liza Donnelly

It''s no secret that most New Yorker readers flip through the magazine to look at the cartoons before they ever lay eyes on a word of the text. But what isn''t generally known is that over the decades a growing cadre of women artists have contributed to the witty, memorable cartoons that readers look forward to each week. Now Liza Donnelly, herself a renowned cartoonist with The New Yorker for more than twenty years, has written this wonderful, in-depth celebration of women cartoonists who have graced the pages of the famous magazine from the Roaring Twenties to the present day.An anthology of funny, poignant, and entertaining cartoons, biographical sketches, and social history all in one, Funny Ladies offers a unique slant on 20th-century and early 21st-century America through the humorous perspectives of the talented women who have captured in pictures and captions many of the key social issues of their time. As someone who understands firsthand the cartoonist''s art, Donnelly is in a position to offer distinctive insights on the creative process, the relationships between artists and editors, what it means to be a female cartoonist, and the personalities of the other New Yorker women cartoonists, whom she has known over the years.Funny Ladies reveals never-before-published material from The New Yorker archives, including correspondence from Harold Ross, Katharine White, and many others. In addition, Donnelly has interviewed all of the living female cartoonists, many of their male counterparts, and editors and David Remnick, Roger Angell, Lee Lorenz, Harriet Walden (legendary editor Harold Ross''s secretary), Bob Mankoff, Eldon Dedini, Dana Fradon, Frank Model, Bob Weber, Sam Gross, Gahan Wilson, Joe Farris, among others.Combining a wealth of information with an engaging and charming narrative, plus more than seventy cartoons, along with photographs and self-portraits of the cartoonists, Funny Ladies beautifully portrays the art and contributions of the brilliant female cartoonists in America''s greatest magazine.

Genres: Nonfiction, Womens, Art, Comics, Humor

214 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 3, 2005

Reviews

[malu · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 if I could. Overall a really interesting book and a great look into the female cartoonist of the New Yorker, especially the early cartoonists of the 1920s. The added context of editors and owners of the magazine was great and Liza Donnelly is such a great person to tell these stories and contextualize them in the current (2005) landscape for cartoonists.

The content was great, but unfortunately the print and set up is messy and really hard to read. Full paragraphs go into the gutter, some of asides in bold take up full pages and are sometimes unrelated to the main text, everything is aligned in a confusing way that I first found fun, but quickly struggled to read through. I also wish there were more comics, so many sections would refer to comics and describe them instead of showing them, which was a bit frustrating.

A really interesting read, but just wish the print itself measured up to the material.

[Sandra de Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. A great history of women cartoonists as well as of The New Yorker cartoons in general. A delight to see the cartoons too.

[Sally Kilpatrick]

Fascinating history of women cartoonists at the New Yorker. I confess I still don't always get the humor of those cartoons--maybe I'm too country?--but it was interesting to see how cartoons by women changed over the years. Also disheartening to see that stretch in the middle where there were practically no women cartoonists. But, hey, Donnelly is great. I'm glad I got to hear her speak at the Erma Bombeck workshop, and I enjoyed this book.

[Prakash Loungani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Semi-interesting glimpse into the lives of the cartoonists.

[Abby Frye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this books. It was interesting to learn about the lives and work of these women.

[Krystie Herndon · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 3.5. I appreciate the historical look at women cartoonists, and of course I enjoy reading cartoons. The combination is just not that satisfying a reading experience.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a short and breezy read that covers the history of women cartoonists in the New Yorker magazine. It was written by a one of the female cartoonists. It offers a good overview of the history of women cartoonists and some analysis of their artwork, the role of women at different periods, and how the cartoonists submit their work. The interviews and historical information is interesting. I would recommend it to anyone interesting in history, women cartoonists, and the New Yorker. Sadly, there was only one non-white woman cartoonist. Sure, this book isn't as thorough as Trina Robbins's biographies and histories of women cartoonists and comic book artists, but it's helped by the narrow focus.

I recommended it; I'm reading it for research, but I want to buy it, too.