My Scrapbook
“Why, thanks. You’re looking very film-noir-ish tonight yourself.”
By Mort Gerberg (The New Yorker)
The term “film noir” has become so pretentious, so compromised, so misunderstood and so misappropriated, used to sell everything from perfume and jewelry to yogurt and Yoyos, and its definition so sloppily applied to novels, films and television to almost anything under the sun, that I shudder when I hear the term.
Why may be why I got such a chuckle out of this cartoon by Mort Gerberg, which appeared in the October 21, 2024 issue of The New Yorker. Those noir-ish pretensions were NAILED.
Mort Gerberg is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known mostly for his work in about a zillion magazines, most notably The New Yorker, Playboy, Harvard Business Review, Publishers Weekly and The Huffington Post. He’s done political cartoons and comic strips, and written, edited and/or illustrated over 45 books for adults and children, including  Cartooning: The Art and The Business (1983). He’s been a speaker and a teacher,  and Lord knows what else. Go check out his official page here.
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- Mort Gerberg
Cartoonist, Author, Illustrator, Speaker. - And while we’re at it, what the hell is “Noir”?
You were askin’? - Mistress Christa’s Ten Rules to Write Noir
DO NOT DISOBEY! - My Scrapbook
A Cornucopia of Tear Sheets, Illustrations, Photos, Scribbles & Other Crap That I Think is Cool.
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Please don’t sue me.
