Evening star., 1911-08-27
A TALK ON ILLUSTRATING
BY JAMES MONTGOMERY FLAGG

their stories around You all have NOTICED the abb
surd discrepancies between the pictures ans the cap
tions The unthinking man in the street iaames the
illustrator he turns reluctantly from the ads TO the
minor part of the magazine and gances at picture by
Gibze or Wenzon. He reads the caption, ":he waved
her red flannel nghtgown frantcaly at thes oncoming
engine" and the picture shows Nellie the: Beautiful
Cloak Model dining with her father and mother at Kec
tors. The the magazine aside with marcel
in his upper p lip and 1 says d bls v,s
That's what get from the ordinary person. the
kind of man who would say, 3She asked Biz and to
dinner who would wear a top hat with dinner
jacket-you know what sort | mean. cultivated
man, on the other hand, in the know world, never
makes break like that-he would know that it was
Robert w. Chambers fault. He would know that Mr.
Chambers had received the proofs OF the drawings III
ample time fully weeks before he had to have his
novel finished. He would know, your clever, well in
formed man, he would know that there was absolutely
no excuse for Mr. Chambers to have written such rot
around those pictures-even Henry James would nave
known that.
believe it is the jealousy of the professions the
literary men know that has time to read their
old Stories and that all people look at in magazines are
the pictures. people read anything in the magazines
it the ads Elbert Hubbard the Aurora Boryelberus
has got onto that; so he writes ads now.
So in order to put crimp in the illustrators the
writers scrbble something foolish under the pictures
The favorite bromidiom in our game is, Now. do you
have to read the manuscripts? You see what people
think-s vast conspiracy to oust the artists from the
periodicals It's clever, too. III acknowledge that
writers have certain low cunning see they don't
like to have to write fit pictures they feel that
it is perhaps mira dig. They would like to revolution
ze the magazines and fix things that the illustrators
would be obliged to read their dreadful manuscripts and
make pictures from them.
There's literary man in our club, The Dutch
Treat who, after plying himself with wine he had to
ply hinself-nobody else could or would ply hin-a
rule of the cub), let slip remark which showed me
that there really concerted movement foot to
bring about condition of this kind. don't think any
serious outbreak will for year two anyway
and after 1872 after Theodore has been crowned En-
peror we shall know what to do with revolutionists
Exile to darkest New Rochelle is very likely.
Here is the situation as it is today:
Suppose one is illustrator, one-no, III say you,
it's natural-you are just getting into your motor
car for days sport, say Chipmunk Hunt meet IN
Central Park, and messenger rushes up to you with
note from some editor, "Need your drawings today
Back you 60 your studio telling your chauffeur to
wait do the four drawings give them to the messenger
Messenger editor wants to know to whom shall he
send the drawings it would be better to tele
phone. Hello, Editor Is that you? Uh, huh. Well
had much to do lately It'll please her. No. not this
time. III let Howells have the next bunch. No, be-
heve me- ladies first; but tell her to take little
pains this time. Her last story wasn't very good fit
you remember she said the heroine nearly bald.
Yes, had of the Seven Sutherland Sisters posing
for that figure Sure tell her my next lot to Marie
Coreli if she doesn't watch sharp Goodby."
Now, that is snapshot picture of conditions as they
today. Can't you why the literary people want
to change things? don't blame them. Of
of you have been this before; but isn't in
the nature of great white light to quite number?
Some pulp professor paper expert has predicted
that in comparatively short time there will be nothing