 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] [edit] Painting titles The titles in the Dogs Playing Poker series are: - A Bachelor's Dog
- A Bold Bluff
- Breach of Promise Suit
- A Friend in Need
- His Station and Four Aces
- New Year's Eve in Dog Ville
- One to Tie Two to Win
- Pinched with Four Aces
| - Poker Sympathy
- Post Mortem
- The Reunion
- Riding the Goat
- Sitting up with a Sick Friend
- Stranger in Camp
- Ten Miles to a Garage
- Waterloo
- Your Future Told
| [edit] In popular culture - 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 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 and also in Days of Wine and D'oh'ses were Bart and Lisa attempt to create a real life version of one of the panting with actual dogs for a photo contest.[4]
- 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 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 Xiaolin Showdown, when Omi is fighting Chase Yung, the two martial artists yell many fictional martial arts moves, including Spider-dancing-hokey-pokey, duck-eating-crackers, and Dogs-playing-poker.
- 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 a Kids in the Hall sketch, two art collectors observe a painting of dogs playing pool.[5]
- 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 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.
- 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"?
- The Austin Lounge Lizards refer to DPP in the song Paint Me on Velvet, from their album of the same name.
- In "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody", London decides to throw her dog a poker party after seeing the painting.
- 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.
- In his song "Velvet Elvis" (a tribute to velvet paintings, which have a reputation similar to DPP in the United States), Weird Al Yankovic states that as long as he has his velvet painting of Elvis, he doesn't need pictures "of dogs playing poker", and also compares the kitsch quality of both paintings to that of "lava lamps" and "soap on a rope".
- The film Up includes a scene where dogs are playing cards
- In the beginning of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch episode "You Bet Your Family" (Season 3, Episode 7), Sabrina's cat Salem (the wizard who was sentenced to spend 100 years as a cat) is playing poker with 4 dogs. And in the end of this episode Sabrina herself is playing poker with dogs.
- In The TV Series Roseanne two of the paintings can be seen in the living room of the Conner house to tie in with the show's working class theme
- In A Nightmare on Elm Street by Wes Craven (1984) Nancy had the painting in her cave.
[edit] References - San Jose Mercury News, Feb 11, 2005; "A New York auction offers artistic treats for dog lovers"
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