In preparation for the Broadway debut of The Addams Family, I’ve been revisiting the wonderful New Yorker cartoons of Charles Addams, which are infinitely more artful and sophisticated than any of their offspring.
I ran across this cartoon on the Web the other day, and the reason why it caught my eye is that the visual “joke” Addams was making arises from a now-dead technology, that of the phonograph. As I looked at it, a disquieting thought occurred to me: what percentage of people under the age of thirty are likely to get the point of the cartoon?
Speaking as a middle-aged music lover, I find myself reluctant to poll my younger friends. Some things are better left unknown….
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
