The Prince of Wales and Other Famous Americans

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The Prince of Wales and Other Famous Americans is a 1925 book by Miguel Covarrubias, a Mexican cartoonist. It is a collection of 66 black-and-white caricatures of famous American (mostly New York-based) personalities from the 1920s. [1] The future Edward VIII, alluded to in the title, appears as the frontispiece at a race track; he had made a widely publicized visit to the United States in 1924. [2] [3] Many of the drawings were originally published in Vanity Fair magazine, which employed Covarrubias as a staff cartoonist.

Contents

The book's introduction is by Carl Van Vechten.

Reception

The book was well received and increased Covarrubias's reputation, [1] although a reviewer in Theatre Arts Monthly described the characterizations as "surgically cruel". [4] Katherine Ann Porter described them as demonstrating "genius" in their "keen satirical comment", with "only one failure: Babe Ruth." [5] The following year, William Spratling and William Faulkner published Sherwood Anderson and Other Famous Creoles, [3] whose title Spratling later described as a parody of Covarrubias's. [6]

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References

  1. 1 2 Kathleen Drowne and Patrick Huber, The 1920s, American Popular Culture Through History, Westport, Connecticut / London: Greenwood, 2004, ISBN   0-313-32013-6, p. 278.
  2. Ted Powell, King Edward VIII: An American Life, Oxford: Oxford University, 2018, ISBN   978-0-19-251457-8, Fig. 6.6.
  3. 1 2 Taylor D. Littleton, The Color of Silver: William Spratling, His Life and Art, Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University, 2000, ISBN   9780807125335, p. 75.
  4. Review, "Other New Books", Theatre Arts Monthly, Volume 10, 1926, p. 138.
  5. Katherine Ann Porter, "Ay, Que Chamaco", New Republic, December 23, 1925, pp. 141–42, repr. Darlene Harbour Unrue, ed., This Strange, Old World and Other Book Reviews by Katherine Anne Porter, Athens, Georgia / London: University of Georgia, [1991], repr. 2008, ISBN   978-0-8203-3353-3, pp. 39–41.
  6. William Spratling, "Chronicle of a Friendship: William Faulkner in New Orleans", in: William Spratling and William Faulkner, Sherwood Anderson and Other Famous Creoles, [1926], Open Road Media, 2022, ISBN   9781504068154.