Dogs Playing Poker

His Station and Four Aces by C. M. Coolidge, 1903.

Dogs Playing Poker (DPP) refers collectively to a series of sixteen oil paintings by C. M. Coolidge, commissioned in 1903 by Brown & Bigelow to advertise cigars.^[1] All the paintings in the series feature anthropomorphized dogs, but the nine in which dogs are seated around a card table have become derisively well-known in the United States as examples of mainly working-class taste in home decoration. Critic Annette Ferrara describes Dogs Playing Poker as "indelibly burned into (the American collective-schlock subconscious) through incessant reproduction on all manner of pop ephemera."^[2]

On February 15, 2005, the originals of "A Bold Bluff" and "Waterloo" were auctioned as a pair to an undisclosed buyer for US$590,400. The previous top price for a Coolidge was $74,000.^[3]

Painting titles

The titles in the Dogs Playing Poker series are:

In popular culture

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (September 2008)

• In the TV sitcom Cheers, Sam Malone loves the paintings (in particular one of "Dogs Playing Blackjack") while his more sophisticated lover, Diane Chambers, hates them.
• The set for the TV show Roseanne had a reproduction of one of the paintings in the family's living room.
• The cover of the 1981 album, Moving Pictures, by Rush, features several pictures being moved, one of which is DPP.
• The animated television series The Simpsons has made several references to the paintings, most notoriously in Treehouse of Horror IV, when Homer is driven to insanity by his mix of intense fear and intense amusement in response to one of the paintings. ^[4]
• The short story 'A Gamble with Wildthyme' by Steve Lyons (from the book Iris Wildthyme and the Celestial Omnibus) concerns the cheating taking place in the Coolidge painting 'A Friend in Need'
• Dogs Playing Poker TV ads were aired during ESPN Sunday Night Football during the 1998 and 1999 National Football League seasons. The 1998 ads showed animatronics dogs (the Bulldog's voiceover was by Gilbert Gottfried), while the 1999 commercials used human actors, including Herman Moore, Terrell Davis, Joe Theismann, and Jason Sehorn.
• The videogame Psychonauts by Tim Schafer has an entire level, named "Black Velvetopia", dedicated to kitsch art. After completing the level, the artist, Edgar Teglee, begins painting a DPP painting, remarking that although it is impossible for dogs to play cards without thumbs, still they go on, a metaphor for life. Also, if Raz reenters Edgar's mind after completing the level, he will see that Edgar is playing poker with the dogs he encountered in the alleys. Coincidentally, the level right before Black Velvetopia is called Waterloo World.
• In the 1993 computer game Day of the Tentacle, a stylized DPP painting decorates the bedroom of one of the characters.
• In the Family Guy episode "Saving Private Brian", Mayor West is discovered playing poker with dogs in the school's basement when Chris falls through the floor. Also in the Family Guy episode "Road to Rhode Island", Stewie comments on DPP paintings on the wall at Brian's mother's house. He suggests that since Jesus is alone in one of the paintings, the dogs should invite him to their card game.
• In the 2009 Disney Pixar animated film 'Up', several of the dog characters are briefly seen playing poker, using a pile of Milk-Bones as poker chips.
• In Larry Shue's play The Foreigner, a character complains that she does not want to be in her motel room because there is a "Damn picture on the wall of some dogs playin' poker."
• In the television show NewsRadio's spoof of the movie "Titanic", characters fleeing the sinking ship/radio broadcasting studio dump famous artworks, but hold on to one of the DPP paintings, which character Jimmy James claims is a "great picture".
• In the 1999 movie remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, the character Banning finds the stolen Monet in Crown's house and takes it back to her office. However, on expert examination it turns out to be a fake, painted on top of a DPP canvas.
• In an episode of the TV series That '70s Show ("Hunting"), DPP is parodied by the characters taking the places of the dogs.
• In 2000, Roger Waters and his band play cribbage on stage halfway through the song "Dogs" at each city of the entire tour. One show of the tour is captured on the DVD In the Flesh Live. The intent was for them to play one round of the game at each show and the winner would be determined by the end of the tour. This act gave the appearance of the DPP painting. It is unknown if this connection was intentional.
• In an episode of Animaniacs, a young Pablo Picasso's artistic frustration is demonstrated by his producing a DPP painting.
• "Weird Al" Yankovic mentions DPP in his song Velvet Elvis.
• In an episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog, Courage goes into a DPP painting and picks up an untouched hand. He then laughs and puts it down, which shocks the other dogs upon seeing that the hand is a royal flush. Courage is then kicked out of the painting by one of the other dogs.
• In one notable strip of "The Far Side", a homeless artist, named Gus Nickerson in the caption, is depicted lying on the street, surrounded by unsold paintings similar to DPP but depicting other animals such as giraffes, bugs, chickens and gators. The caption tells of how he was unemployed until someone said, "Hey, have you ever tried dogs playing poker"?
• In The First pilot of The New Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics, Bill Thompson is in the painting on the top.
• In the 2004 remake of Around the World in 80 Days, Monique has a painting of Dogs playing poker in her sketchbook.
• The Austin Lounge Lizards refer to DPP in the song Paint Me on Velvet, from their album of the same name.
• In the multiformat game Hitman: Blood Money a secret room can be accessed which features several rats playing poker imitating a DPP painting.
• In "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody", London decides to throw her dog a poker party after seeing the painting.
• In Pinhead Production's Nick Bounty in A Case of the Crabs, 'A Friend in Need' is clearly visible in Nick Bounty's office. It appears at the start of the game. http://www.otterarchives.com/cotc.html
• In Looney Tunes: Back in Action, a number of dog characters in the Looney Tunes series are seen playing poker at Yosemite Sam's casino.

References

• San Jose Mercury News, Feb 11, 2005; "A New York auction offers artistic treats for dog lovers"

1. ^ OooWoo.com: Dogs Playing Poker. Accessed 2006-09-01
2. ^ Annette Ferrara: Lucky Dog!. Published by Ten by Ten magazine online, accessed 2006-09-01 Note: "Collective-schlock" is transposed from the last paragraph of the Ferrara essay to replace a pronoun in this quote from the first paragaph.
3. ^ CNN Money.com: 'Dogs Playing Poker' sell for $590K. Accessed on 2006-09-01
4. ^ DogsPlayingPoker.org: The Simpsons. Accessed on 2009-04-30

External links

• http://www.dogsplayingpoker.org/ - A website dedicated to the motif.
• Short piece on the painting
• A collection of Coolidge paintings
• New York Times article