RUBE GOLDBERG 1934 DAILY STRIP ORIGINAL ART FEATURING RUBE GOLDBERG MACHINE.
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Winning Bid:
$10,974.00 (Includes 18% Buyer's Premium)
Bids:
21
Bidding Ended:
Thursday, February 25, 2021 9:00:00 PM (20 Minute Clock Begins At Thursday, February 25, 2021 9:00:00 PM)
Time Left:
Ended
Auction:
Auction #231 Part II
Value Code:
L - $2,000 to $5,000 Help Icon
Item Description
While many are familiar w/Rube Goldberg Machines, many are unaware of the man who created them and were in fact, named after - cartoonist Rube Goldberg (1883-1970). Goldberg's complicated gadgets performing simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways have immortalized the artist. The character most closely associated w/Rube Goldberg Machines is Goldberg's Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts, A.K., who was credited as the inventor of these outlandish devices. Professor Butts first appeared in a prose piece published Nov. 3, 1928 in Collier's story It's The Little Things That Matter. After that, the character and his amazing inventions appeared exclusively in the pages of the nationally distributed weekly Collier's magazine. The Inventions of Professor Lucifer G. Butts, A.K. ran roughly every other week from Jan. 26, 1929 to Dec. 26, 1931, creating about 60 cartoons featuring Professor Butts and the character appeared sporadically in other publications after 1931. Offered here is 6.25x20-3/8" artboard for Jan. 5, 1934 "That's LIfe" daily strip, w/three panels of pen and ink original art, first featuring text explaining the 11 step Rube Goldberg Machine, a device to keep women from being insulted on the street. Steps include pest's voice loosening weight from magnet, which startles "Dwarf Duelist," who knocks over pedestal w/sword-knife that cuts string, releasing boot that kicks pest in the face. Third panel features Alphabetical Soup companion gag panel, showing doctor diagnosing ill man as having S.F.Y.B*, which stands for "Suffering From Your Biscuits" as wife looks on. Classic play-on-words gag. McNaught Syndicate copyright strip in first panel. Goldberg has signed/dated bottom right of second panel. Artboard has inked dated crossed out at bottom right w/corrected date written above it. Pin holes at corners and along top/bottom of art, w/two pin holes at top corners of second panel. Staple holes at center left/right. Lower left has some noticeable edge wear and artboard has moisture staining, most prominent at right, covering three-quarters of entirety of Alphabetical Soup panel and upper/lower right of second panel. VG/Fine. Pre-1950 examples of original art featuring Rube Goldberg Machines rarely come to market.
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