Dean Cornwell, Columnist

Dean Cornwell

When famed newspaper columnist Walter Winchell took an August break in 1942, he invited illustrator Dean Cornwell to pinch-hit. Cornwell offered some intriguing observations about the popular artists of his time, noting: 

"That most artists, particularly illustrators, are hams at heart. That Peter Arno was a professional musician and had difficulty choosing between music and a contract with the New Yorker. Otto Soglow is one of our best actors and he writes his own stuff (some stuff). Al Parker is a demon on trap drums and used to play the boats out of St. Louis. John Falter is up and down the piano like a Kansas cyclone—his boogie woogie is terrific! James Montgomery Flagg, Arthur William Brown and Russell Patterson have been movie directors. Russell's marionettes are something, if you haven't been lucky enough to have seen them."

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Thanks, Ian Schoenherr and Brian Kramer

James Montgomery Flagg posing for a reference photo with an artists' lay figure.