You are now entering the Jewish Currents archive.
August 8: Let’s Face It
Two dogs are walking side by side, above the caption: “Let’s face it — man’s best friend is money.” A girl is complimented on her painting by her teacher, above the caption: “Yes, but is it marketable?” Two moguls sit in their club, over the caption: “Sure, life isn’t fair, but that’s all right!” Two guys sit in a jail cell above the caption: “All along I thought our level of corruption fell well within community standards.” Bernard Schoenbaum, the New Yorker cartoonist who published these and 459 other images over the course of almost thirty years, tweaking the pretensions of upper middle-class life and speaking sardonic volumes about greed and social status, was born in Manhattan on this date in 1920. A graduate of Parsons School of Design, he also drew for the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and as a portraitist on cruise ships. Schoenbaum died at 89 in 2010.
“Joyce, I’m madly in love with you. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I can’t live without you. But that’s not why I called.” —Bernard Schoenbaum
I’m Arielle Angel, editor-at-large of Jewish Currents. Before you go, there’s something I need to ask.
We’ve seen over and over how the mainstream media falters in telling stories on our beats—whether it’s antisemitism, Israel/Palestine in American politics, Jewish identity, or the American left. At Jewish Currents we’re committed to uncompromising analysis and longform reporting on these issues and more—stories you won’t find anywhere else. In a media landscape that obscures injustice and flattens discussion, we’re changing the conversation. But we need you.
If you believe in this work, please consider making a donation—or even better, a recurring one—to ensure that we are able to keep publishing stories like this one. We can’t do it without you.
