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Just wanted to start a new thread for this Caroll Spinney artwork because it's been awhile since it's been discussed. Chris uploaded File:Oscarcaninsideart.png back in 2018, and captioned it as being from a 1977 issue of Sesame Street Magazine. We discussed its origins (1, 2, 3), but all he could remember was that he downloaded it from the internet somewhere.
I have all but two issues of Sesame Street Magazine from 1977 and it's not in any of them. I suspect Chris or the source made a guess that it was from the May issue because of what the cover promises. However, it's not in there.
The image cropped up again in this May 21, 2023 Hartford Courant article about Debra Spinney setting up The Life and Legacy of Caroll Spinney exhibit at the Woodstock Academy's Bracken Memorial Library. It's a nice high resolution and uncropped capture of the art, but slightly different from the one Chris uploaded six years ago.
Spinney's signature on the exhibit version is different and it lacks the "To Sterg!" and "Rottonly - Oscar!" messages from our previous copy. I think this makes it less likely to have been printed in a magazine. It's probably just another one of his pieces (like the many we have on Caroll Spinney Artworks) that was done privately and may never have been used in a product.
Whatever the case, I'm keeping both versions on the wiki in case the question of tracking origins comes up again. For now, I'm going to change the captions around the wiki to remove references to the magazine as that's not confirmed. —Scott (talk) 13:21, 17 August 2024 (UTC)