In March of 1943, a periodical called The Artist reproduced a drawing by The New Yorker's most popular cartoonist Peter Arno. The gag had originally been meant for publication as a full page but here it appeared much smaller, somewhat ironically on the same page as an article about Punch cartoons. Most curious is an attribution stating the cartoon appeared "Courtesy of Men Only." Men Only was a British men's magazine launched in 1935. Is that where this Arno gag was first published?
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| Peter Arno The Artist, March 1943, page 17 |
Hardly. It should come as no surprise that this Arno gag first appeared more than a year earlier in The New Yorker. The misattribution to Men Only is a bit of a mystery. One wonders where the royalty check was sent.
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| Spot drawing by Abe Birnbaum and cartoon by Peter Arno |
I would love to hear of any Peter Arno drawings that may have actually been published in Men Only.
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| Abe Birnbaum |
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