Barbara Shermund: Of Another Stripe

By the Christmas season of 1942, the United States was a full year into the Second World War. Like other cartoonists, Barbara Shermund had adapted her subject matter to meet the moment. Her color cartoon for the December issue of Esquire, for example, has both the holiday season and the war for its setting.

The gag is tame by today's standards, but Shermund's adventuresome young woman still manages to scandalize the staid sales clerk. The original art was sold on eBay in May.

"Do you have any with sergeant's stripes on them?"
Barbara Shermund
Original art
Esquire, December 1942, p. 47

Shermund nicely contrasts the flatness of the pajamas with the roundness of the woman's figure. Compare the sales clerk's big, awkward hands with her petite, gloved ones.  

The fur coat befits the season while establishing her as a woman of means. Note the very different stripes on the pajamas and on the fur.

The salesman reacts with surprise to the woman's request, but his expression isn't overdone.

Pajamas are $4.95—not exactly cheap back then. Perhaps there will be a January white sale.
They are making eye contact.

She has donned makeup and jewelry for her outing.

And, of course, she wears heels as any fashionable woman would.

Barbara Shermund's signature

The December issue drawing received its OK on October 16, 1942.

"Sergeant stripes" became "sergeant's stripes" in print—an improvement.

And let's assume that stamped E is for Esquire.

Barbara Shermund
eBay listing ended May 9, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/137294137303?

Barbara Shermund
eBay item description

Shermund's original works sold in rapid succession.

"Do you have any with sergeant's stripes on them?"
Barbara Shermund
Esquire, December 1942, p. 47

https://www.ebay.com/itm/334479935671

"Do you have any with sergeant's stripes on them?"
Barbara Shermund
Original art
Esquire, December 1942, p. 47

 "Do you have any with sergeant's stripes on them?"
Barbara Shermund
Esquire, December 1942, p. 47

https://classic.esquire.com/article/1942/12/1/do-you-have-any-with-sergeants-stripes-on-them

Note:  Readers can earn their stripes by submitteing orignal art by Barbara Shermund to the blog. 

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Barbara Shermund: Redefining The Bohemian Life

A group of Barbara Shermund's original cartoons was listed on eBay and promptly sold in May. One of them shows a group of art students sitting around a dinner table drinking and smoking. And, as it happens, talking. 

"Well, Russia's been shot out from under us. Now what?"

Barbara Shermund

Original cartoon art

The eBay seller speculates that this is a World War II-era cartoon. Whatever the case, the students may soon be in the market for a new ideology.

Barbara Shermund's signature

Barbara Shermund
eBay listing ended May 10, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/147303767676?_skw=signed+Barbara+Shermund&itmmeta=01KWTHRV3FFT7FYS556YKTA5MB&hash=item224bfd1e7c:g:H88AAeSwYudqAHV~&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA0GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xDB2IBAw2PkATz90UE0A%2BgJukkuKNdOO3ta%2FRWVr%2BElLIFZtf%2FjzDGVLGDN

J8do2W49cMpR5NSQaS8nLVnK2g7tnVp2XLHZPICjfuYAL3DEnKV01tRZPd5XJiB6xlLbtlaaHz2uW24LA09FNj5zUWAtAJJJcWKJfE73EYlKcWYG0Z4I4ySxcOf1Y902Nd6%2BSY4dNFoazQPTwvzcMUTexTpXJrC3VP1GSZWYrIhIqvJKbdXSftjxNzHH6CF6rJPIVAs%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR_Kx49HmZw

Barbara Shermund
eBay item description

Note:  Do you have your own Barbara Shermund originals? Why not share them here, now that Russia's got nothing to offer?

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Barbara Shermund: No Time for Crime by Charlotte Murray Russell

No Time for Crime by Charlotte Murray Russell is the eighth book in the Jane Amanda Edwards mystery series. It seems we have some catching up to do. This wartime novel was published in 1945. Original art by illustrator Barbara Shermund was evidently intended for and presumably used as the book jacket. It was sold recently on eBay. The story looks . . . eventful.

Barbara Shermund's signature

Barbara Shermund
eBay listing ended May 9, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/147302644383?_skw=signed+Barbara+Shermund&itmmeta=01KWTHRV3FAE4AEX6A2XYWW49Z&hash=item224bebfa9f:gdl0AAeSwrWdp~3fz&itmpr

p=enc%3AAQALAAAA8GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xCsSUjLc3wconGa9uSHF%2FrZmy4YfKX%2FGF7g%2BRPwRUqmyrsK%2B5pwvwV6EHk2EL9%2B4IWWYeDlW%

2B8xSDEFNKiJez0JrWlEir7vWlz4JlEORlgMqqs%2B%2FnA%2BiBL4%2FiCwiYFEcyWZPlIZE4y44trinARGHYqWayWtqhqysrJB6HPL8Jrdtm2x1LeLnq

3pmx8x5PqhqEWpKtLSh1zBpIWx1AoHSLfFcoIpxPMzGMT9GYvNlDn05DS7Js5CO0zv3%2FJVCdJei08nt2D73t%2FGnSDnH0pPBTSRrq1%2Fk

6G4JX1pNMRWTAAtqQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR_Kx49HmZw

Barbara Shermund
eBay item description

Note:  After scarcely more than eighty years, you'd think it was a simple enough thing to find an image of the dust jacket, right? Despite my self-proclaimed Googling skills, I've come up with nothing so far. Perhaps someone else can do better. 

The book is reviewed not unfavorably in the New York Times here.

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