Athlete Admissions: Whitney Darrow, Jr., On Campus with Max Shulman

Humorist Max Shulman, is best known as the author of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1951), the basis for the popular television show (1959-1963), and Rally Round the Flag, Boys! (1957), the basis for the popular movie (1958). He published a collection of collegiate humor in Max Shulman's Guided Tour of Campus Humor (1955) and published the column "On Campus with Max Shulman" in the 1950s and 1960s.

An original illustration for the column by New Yorker cartoonist Whitney Darrow, Jr., has just surfaced and been sold on eBay. The drawing depicts a university's dean of admissions offering a place in the class to an overly tall athlete who is unable to sign his name, save with an x. Today, the idea of athlete who can't pass academic muster is a tired cliche, and perhaps it was one even then.

That athlete would have to be at least twice as tall as the dean of admissions, an exaggeration we'll allow. Darrow seems almost unable to resist naming the administrator Dean Martin, like the popular entertainer. The blue wash indicates shading with Ben-Day.

Signature of Whitney Darrow, Jr.

Whitney Darrow, Jr.
eBay listing ended June 5, 2021

https://www.ebay.com/itm/144056575011?hash=item218a70e423:g:4ygAAOSwI3Vgskwh

Whitney Darrow, Jr.
eBay item description

Whitney Darrow, Jr.
eBay bid history
As is often the case, the last bid gets it.

Note:  I would like to hear from anyone who can locate a copy of the column in which this illustration was published.

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