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Robert Labossiere's avatar

Also, back in the day, cartoonists submitted drawings to the New Yorker and left it to the smartpants editors to caption them. That should tell us something. Or paint a picture. :~

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Jason Chatfield's avatar

I think it was the other way around; There were 'gag men' who submitted the ideas, and the editors would assign the artists to draw them up. It wasn't until later that the 'singer-songwriter' version of cartoonists came into their own, and the same person often filled both roles.

Michael Maslin did a dive on this on his great blog here: https://michaelmaslin.com/ideas-for-the-pictures-gag-writer-helene-parsons-speaks/

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