In the background of Charlie Hankin’s oil field are four machines extracting crude oil from the ground. Next to several large holes in the ground are treasure chests, presumably filled with gold. Kneeling beside one of these treasure chests is a roughneck who’s saying something to his fellow roughneck. I suspect that Hankin drew this…
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“Ancient Mariner” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
In Joe Dator’s cartoon, the Ancient Mariner from Coleridge’s poem is standing barefoot and alone at a cocktail party, with the albatross tied around his neck. To his left, a female guest says something to her partner. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Coleridge’s longest poem, is about a sailor who recounts his story of…
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“Math TV” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
In Robert Leighton’s cartoon, a woman standing next to a large, wall-mounted flat-screen TV is addressing a man who’s sitting in an armchair and pointing a remote control at the screen, on which there appears an extremely complicated math problem. Seeing a couple and a TV made me think of the now-common phrase, “Netflix and…
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“Head above Water” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
In my fellow Chicagoan Pat Byrnes’ drawing, two mobsters have fitted their latest victim with concrete shoes and thrown him off a pier and into the river. His head, however, remains above water because he’s landed safely on top of a pile of other victims. He’s saying something to the mobsters on the pier. My…
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“50 dollar bill” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
In J.B. Handlesman’s cartoon, a bartender is addressing Ulysses S. Grant, whose face appears on a huge $50 bill. Ron Chernow, who wrote the Alexander Hamilton biography that Lin-Manuel Miranda turned into a smash Broadway musical, recently wrote a biography of Ulysses Grant, so I initially imagined the bartender speculating about Grant’s chances of becoming…
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“Robber and Therapist” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood
Charles Barsotti has drawn a robber on a therapist’s couch. Next to him is a huge bag of stolen money, and the therapist is sitting in a chair. The robber/patient is talking happily. There’s always a temptation when captioning a Barsotti cartoon to reference his classic drawing of a piece of pasta saying into the…
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