'The Mahogany Tree'

British satirical magazine Punch famously had a table installed at their offices where the subject of the week's political cartoon would be decided.  A seat at the table was strictly reserved for members only but on the 7th April 1953 Searle was the first guest since Mark Twain to be permitted to observe proceedings.  He was later to become the youngest member of the Punch cabal, his beard only just tolerated by the older men!  'At the invitation of the new editor, Malcolm Muggeridge, a self- confessed 'addict' of Searle's work who wished to bind him closer to the magazine' (Russell Davies).

It was customary that each member or guest inscribe their initials into the surface lacquer-and Searle, in typical fashion, etched an elegantly gothic R.S.

The position of Searle's initials on the table can be determined from this diagram from the Punch Cartoons website.  It's at the centre bottom.

On his first lunch at the Punch Table on the first of February 1956 Searle recorded the welcome exended to him and took note of where each were sat at the table:

Alan Agnew: 'The first business is to welcome to the table Ronald Searle.  I'm sure we all hope he will enjoy our company and conversation as much as we shall enjoy having him with us.

A.A. Milne died the night before 'They replaced him quickly' said somebody.
Malcolm M. (Muggeridge) was on the ferry boat delayed from France, Russell (Brockbank) was in the editorial chair.
Basil Boothroyd - I'd like to add my personal congratulations now I'm not the youngest member.'

This last notation reinforces just how conservative the group was:
'First beard at the table since 1901.  The last was E.T. Reed and he was sacked for homosexuality.'

Punch cartoonists Bill hewison and Russell Brockbank are observed in this 1962 Pathe newsreel on the magazine's cartoonists and the table. 

In this video of out-takes the above 1961 cover can be glimpsed on the wall display bottom right

To celebrate this prestigious membership Searle bought himself a handsome 1955 1st edition of Picasso's Graphic Works. (Recently sold on eBay)

In this photo published in Russell Davies' biography of Searle we see James Thurber visit the Punch offices with a young Searle seated next to him on the left.  One of his 'Heroes of Our Time' pictures hangs on the wall beyond him.

One more book plug!

Helen Walasek has put out another handsome collection of past cartoons from the Punch magazine archives -this time a fine selection of colour work including several Searle covers and his 'Heroes Of Our Time' series.

It also contains glorious reproductions of cartoons by Fougasse, E H Shepard, Rowland Emett, H M Bateman, Arthur Watts, Anton, Russell Brockbank, Quentin Blake, Norman Thelwell, André François, Trog, With  a foreword by Quentin Blake and over 400 cartoons it's available at a very decent price on Amazon uk

Searle's Eye View: Imaginary Portraits

After Searle left England for France in 1961 his work still appeared in Punch magazine for another year. This long series of Imaginary Portraits depicted Searle's version of well known creative types of the day.  Unlike the more serious Heroes of Our Time portraits from the late fifties these are much more cartoon-like.

 1 Enid Blyton

2 Colin Wilson

3 Samuel Beckett (Punch, 13 December 1961)

4 P.G Wodehouse

(Punch, 20 December, 1961.)

5 C. S. Forester

 6 John Osborne

7 Robert Graves

(Punch, Imaginary Portraits: 7, 10 January, 1962.)

Photographed from the original artwork

8

9 Eugene Ionesco

10  Tennesee Williams

11 Veronica Wedgwood

12 Alan Sillitoe

13  Angus Wilson

 14  C. P. Snow

 15 Ivy Compton Burnett

16 Lawrence Durrell

17 Iris Murdoch

(PUNCH, 21 MARCH 1962, PAGE 478)

Photographed from the original artwork

18 Aldous Huxley

19 Muriel Sparke

20 Sir Arthur Bryant

21 Georges Simenon

 Photographed from the original artwork

22 Alberto Moravia

23 Jack Kerouac

24 Denise Robbins

 25 Freya Starke

 26 Benjamin Britten

27 Alfred Hitchcock

Photographed from the original artwork

28 Walt Disney

(Punch, 30 May, 1962.)

(annotated by Searle)

29 Ingmar Bergman (annotated by Searle)

30 John Betjeman (annotated by Searle)

31 Compton Mackenzie (annotated by Searle)

32 Brendan Behan (annotated by Searle)

33 Agatha Christie

34 Ian Fleming (annotated by Searle)

35 John Bratby (annotated by Searle)

36 Pietro Annigoni (annotated by Searle)

37 Shelagh Delaney (annotated by Searle)

38 Harold Hobson (annotated by Searle)

39 Graham Sutherland Graham Sutherland
(Punch, Issue 22, August 1962)
(annotated by Searle)

40 C. N. Parkinson

41 Bernard Buffet
(PUNCH, 5 SEPTEMBER 1962, PAGE 356)

42 N. F. Simpson
(Punch, 12 September, 1962.)
(annotated by Searle)

Photographed from the original artwork

Harold Pinter

British Theatre drawings for Punch
French Theatre drawings for Punch
Heroes of Our Time Portraits for Punch