Peter Arno Illustrates Munro Leaf Condensed Classics in The American Magazine

They're called "streamlined samples of the world's best stories," and they appeared in The American Magazine over twenty-one installments from December 1939 to September 1941. They're humorous rehashings of classic literary works that, because they each appeared on a single magazine page, aren't quite substitutes for reading one's full high school english assignments. The celebrated author of these condensed classics is Munro Leaf, who created Ferdinand the Bull. The celebrated illustrator is Peter Arno, who needs no introduction here.

Two weeks ago I speculated that a couple of original Arno illustrations from, apparently, The American Magazine—they were Ivanhoe and Cyrano de Bergerac—might be related to a page I once posted of an abbreviated version of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. I went on to suggest that they might also be related to four Arno illustrations of "Classics" from his 1944 collection Man in the Shower. I figured it might well take ages to track everything down.

Yet I heard on that very day from Jeff Nelson, one of those contributors who somehow provides me with what I need even when I don't know what I need. Once upon a time, it seems, he had scanned what is likely the entire run of this nearly impossible-to-find series and would I care to have a look-see? Yes, please.

And just like that, here they are—all of them, most probably. I have presented Jeff's scans in chronological order adding original art from the archives when available, and including four of the illustrations as they were reproduced in Man in the Shower. Jeff didn't scan the full text of Robinson Crusoe, but fortunately that's the one page I have available in the archives. So here it is, a post I thought could never be done just two weeks ago.

Romeo and Juliet, December 1939

The Classics:  II. Romeo and Juliet
Peter Arno's Man in the Shower (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1944, London: Duckworth, 1976)

The Three Musketeers, January 1940

The Classics:  I. The Three Musketeers
Peter Arno's Man in the Shower (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1944, London: Duckworth, 1976)

Ivanhoe, February 1940

Ivanhoe
Peter Arno
Original art
The American Magazine
February 1940, p. 80

https://attemptedbloggery.blogspot.com/2024/07/peter-arno-rebecca-and-wounded-ivanhoe.html

Rip Van Winkle, March 1940

Robinson Crusoe, April 1940

"There were some wild goats around, but you can't make a wild goat draw to an inside straight." 

—Munro Leaf

Peter Arno

                             Robinson Crusoe, April 1940, p. 60

https://attemptedbloggery.blogspot.com/2013/03/peter-arnos-robinson-crusoe-condensed.html

Don Quixote, May 1940

The Arabian Nights, June 1940

Macbeth, July 1940

The Classics:  III. Macbeth
Peter Arno's Man in the Shower (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1944, London: Duckworth, 1976)

The Count of Monte Cristo, August 1940

Treasure Island, September 1940

Silas Marner, October 1940

Lorna Doone, November 1940

A Tale of Two Cities, January 1941

The Virginian, February 1941

The House of the Seven Gables, March 1941

Hamlet, April 1941

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, May 1941

The Classics:  IV. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Peter Arno's Man in the Shower (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1944, London: Duckworth, 1976)

Moby Dick, June 1941

Cyrano de Bergerac, July 1941

Cyrano de Bergerac, 
Peter Arno
Original art
The American Magazine, July 1941, p. 52

https://attemptedbloggery.blogspot.com/2023/12/peter-arno-cyrano-de-bergerac.html

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, August 1941

Captains Courageous, September 1941

Note:  My thanks to Jeff Nelson, without whom Munro Leaf and Peter Arno's collaboration almost eighty-five years ago might have remained lost to posterity.

I'm so glad I could include two of the original illustrations. Where then are the nineteen Arno originals I did not get to post here? As depictions of well-known literary classics, I'd think they're quite desirable. My guess is they're mostly hidden away in private collections. If there's one of these that happens to be in your collection, why not get in touch with me and share a good photograph? Come on, people, Jeff can't do everything.

The Classics:  I. The Three Musketeers
II. Romeo and Juliet
Peter Arno's Man in the Shower (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1944, London: Duckworth, 1976)

The Classics:  III. Macbeth
IV. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Peter Arno's Man in the Shower (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1944, London: Duckworth, 1976)

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The Arden "Romeo and Juliet"

The Arden Shakespeare: "Romeo and Juliet"
William Shakespeare
Edited by Brian Gibbons

When I was in college I took an intensive monthlong course in "Hamlet," which has always been my favorite play of Shakespeare's. We approached the play through three different scholarly editions. One was Cyrus Hoy's edition for Norton. The second was John Dover Wilson's classic edition for The New Shakespeare. The third was Harold Jenkins's excellent volume for the Arden Shakespeare. This last was extremely memorable as an outstanding, accessible work of scholarship. I was impressed enough to pick up another Arden edition at Harrod's, "The Merchant of Venice."

The first series of the Arden Shakespeare was published between 1899 and 1944. Harold Jenkins and Brian Morris were the general editors of the second series, which began in 1946 and ran through 1982. This second series incorporated a lot of modern scholarship and is the one that won me over. A third series is currently underway.

When I decided to reread "Romeo and Juliet," it was a natural choice for me to look into the Arden Shakespeare. Brian Gibbons edited this edition, first published in 1980, which makes it one of the last works from the monumental second series. I think I made a very good choice here.

The introduction is excellent: 77 well-considered pages encapsulating some 400 years of scholarship. The play, of course, is one of Shakespeare's most enduring. It's presented with the usual textual variants and extensive notes and commentary. The first appendix presents the full text of the Queen Mab speech from Q1, the "bad" quarto. The second appendix is a lengthy excerpt from Arthur Brooke's translation "Romeus and Juliet," Shakespeare's source for the story. I had never seen this before and it gave me an appreciation of how Shakespeare transformed this popular if undistinguished Italian novelle into a dramatic gem with realistic characters, soaring poetry, and unmatched emotional depth.

"Romeo and Juliet" was the very first Shakespeare play I read back in Junior High School. Then, and in college, I was close to the age of Romeo, although never to his temperament. Now, I suppose, I'm more of a Capulet. I suppose that's how it goes.

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