James Montgomery Flagg’s watercolor sketches were an endless source of amusement and cheer to his friends and colleagues.  Here, the artist works to cheer up his friend Cecil Humpheys after the poor reviews of the 1942 revival of J.M. Barrie’s play A Kiss for Cinderella in which he starred alongside Louise Rainer.

Flagg depicts laughably unflattering and off-kilter versions of all the central characters in the production (Humphreys, Rainer, Ralph Forbes and the playwright himself) and describes the scene as “A Kiss For Cinderella as seen by those sons-of-bitches the critics of 1942.”

Even in this quick working the wit and technical precision of Flagg is on display. Painting is framed behind glass in a handsome period frame.