Coming Soon: Four Issues of College Humor

For some decades—yes, decades!—I have wanted to know everything I could about cartoonist Peter Arno's work in the magazine College Humor. Though significantly downscale from the rarefied pages of The New Yorker where Arno gained his fame, the humor magazine offered the popular cartoonist a young and educated audience eager to see more of his lively and sophisticated work. I have posted quite a bit of this material already in the archives. Now I am taking the next small step, purchasing four more issues of College Humor, each with Arno's "Side-Show," the two-page spread on which three of his cartoons regularly appeared.

These four issues were procured last month from four different eBay sellers, this being too important a mission to worry about combining postage. As it happened, not one of these sellers chose to photograph any of the Arno pages; clearly that will have to be for me to do. To begin with, though, let me post the four magazines the way the eBay sellers chose to present them but with my added commentary. Think of it as a coming attraction.

The September 1936 cover is modeled by caricaturist Sam Berman and photographed by Dudley Lee. Berman, along with cartoonist E. Simms Campbell, created the Esquire magazine mascot Esky and sculpted a number of covers for the men's magazine. Arno was a big newsstand draw and is therefore the first of the eight names listed at the bottom of the cover. 

For those who think disinformation in the mass media is a new thing, a leading cigarette brand advertises "For Digestion's sake—smoke Camels."

Here's the view of the magazine's spine:

On the right, a dog cartoon from the reliable Dorothy McKay:

College Humor, September 1936
eBay listing ended June 30, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/135117395561?itmmeta=01J25FR5ZTHG4638HYMZKFV8PF&hash=item1f759fd669:g:eEsAAOSwUlZmeHeL&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAAwF7Xe%2F99XvkMXQRhr5z9wggWbc55FYI6v0XaoP0BT9pVsEQIkDmRXmACFub%2BwIfpBi%2BHAHqGDh98h5CHX

0MfqGlJr9rhTeMSihhrDVWH9qPCzSiu8xn2BM8My2VNaXx%2FCKtWffivRGB6jJ1k14x%2FKMg2POLbR2kvAA%2FBK57ac4AezhQkTw8xkZmuTrqFTnVzzR%2FNtsNg0mpEgm%2FJOCVtw6OSL8buGCoiAst94k7sljr3sWXvri9Wl5Qwn10GDUotyQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR_7f4K-RZA

College Humor, September 1936
eBay item description

Thank you for not bidding against me:

The December 1936 cover is also by Berman and is again photographed by Lee. Arno's name still has pride of place on the lower banner.

I wonder whether the College Humor crowd is the right audience for the promotion of original etchings.

The boxing illustration is by Carl Mueller:

Four cartoons to a page seems about right for the illustrated humor section. Here we have work by Syd Hoff, Jay Irving, Reamer Keller, and Gregory d'Alessio. At the top left we see just a fragment of a drawing by Chon Day.

Jefferson Machamer educates readers on politics and . . . other things.

The Camel ads continue. If you don't believe that these cigarettes aid digestion, perhaps three testimonials will set you straight.

College Humor, December 1936
eBay listing ended June 24, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/335375255703

College Humor, December 1936
eBay item description

By April of 1937, the cover sculptures were made by puppeteer Bil Baird. The dog here steals the show. To this day, Baird is remembered for his work on "The Lonely Goatherd" sequence in the 1965 film version of "The Sound of Music." The photography of the model is still done by Lee. Arno does not get top billing this go-round. A mistake?

It's uncanny how few eBay sellers think to include the table of contents:

Prepare to be teased. Eloise Martin of Drake University is the Co-ed of the Month. She alone might have been worth the 15 cent cover price. My guess is that this sold out quickly on newsstands in Des Moines.

Otto Soglow pokes some fun at an old moralizer, a surefire target when cartooning for the hip on-campus crowd:

Ty Mahon is given a full page to ponder the dilemmas of the wealthy:

The nation's top campus humor magazines also get some space in the issue:

Call my taste sophomoric, but I love this club's name, left. McKay's cartoon, right, taps into some of the discomfort with traditional sex roles present even back in 1937.

College Humor, April 1937
Best offer of $5.59 accepted
eBay listing ended June 24, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/226081677435

College Humor, April 1937
eBay item description

Finally, the November 1937 cover is by Baird again. Readers must have understood that even football players could get distracted. Arno is once again restored to top billing and all's right with the world.

Including the table of contents, again, is really helpful. The "Don't be a cave man" ad for Packard Lectro-Shaver is just an added bonus.

If College Humor's young readers aren't hopelessly addicted to Camels by this point, you can't blame the ads.

College Humor, November 1937
eBay listing ended June 25, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166833385903?itmmeta=01J25FR5ZVG9QX75WF3M9QJFN8&hash=item26d80b71af:g:dRYAAOSwjOpmdEWj&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAAwEJrjqt0iK8fSmTAEb7j5YBr6DcL1uYebM6--hZUqYtmnnbei4qaY4ABxmQk%2BfMV7BPWqQOYaV9C9BSsTE8LtEKgZl5C%2F5s3NLdzSUrvA

cmlHx2sLSnocvuZMJNWq73ciWnAkBP8t2%2B8UltSbTMf05no7RhgiwXamXR2vIumciwp8y14YXtQ1aLmMakCsW%2BpRcfWGGp0XOJ1jLWcUaMJkHoUL3HxamlNP7h3CSYIHP%2Bqeu%2F041New%2BNRK2DaeAQ5CQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4Lg4K-RZA

College Humor, November 1937
eBay item description

The April 1937 best offer of $5.59 was accepted.

Note:  There's a lot more to see of caricaturist Sam Berman's work and a good place to see it is in Drew Friedman's 2011 post here.

What is the significance of the ticket clerk grabbing the male ticket holder's tie? I'm not sure I understand Berman's cover for the December 1936 issue. Anybody?

What sort of co-ed  do you suppose sits for a provocative College Humor photoshoot? Perhaps the backstory provided in this 1972 clipping will help to explain Eloise Martin's contribution to our collegiate culture:

https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=jou19720111-01.1.13&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN----------

After all these years, a press photo of Martin, the first image in the Co-ed of the Month spread, can still be purchased here.

The $5 etching, Sardine Fleet at Anchor (1936) by George Elmer Browne (1871-1946), is available today on eBay for $239.20. If you somehow missed out back in the day, you can get it here.

Peter Arno's work published in The New Yorker is generally well enough known, but his cartoons and illustrations from other publications such as College Humor or The American Magazine remain hard to locate. I am always eager to hear from paper collectors with examples of obscure Arno published work or cartoon collectors with original Arno art. You know where to find me.

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