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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A Vintage Photo of Barbara Shermund

Amanda Gormley shares a "recently unearthed" photograph of her aunt, the pioneering cartoonist Barbara Shermund (1899-1978). As you can see, she was quite a looker. 

Barbara Shermund

Vintage photo by Lucy Sander Sceery courtesy of Amanda Gormley

Ms. Gormley responds:

Yes, she was quite beautiful and talented. I do wish to have known her…The photo is attributed to Lucy Sander Sceery, an artist in CT who is also the niece of Barbara’s former husband, NY abstract artist, Ludwig Sander. 

I posted it to my Instagram page…and Caitlin [McGurk] posted the photo in an update to the GoFundMe page.  

We are still trying to date the photo but I would guess it’s in the 1930s or early 1940s. I’m guesstimating only based on how old she appears to me, a highly subjective guess. 

The photo was taken outside the home of Ludwig Sander’s family on Staten Island. Barbara lived in the home while Ludwig Sander served in the US Army during WWII.

More to research…

Note:  More indeed. My thanks to Amanda Gormley for her assistance with this post, by which I mean for doing everything. I'm sure she would like to hear from anyone with photographs, correspondence, documents, artwork, or personal reminiscences relating to Barbara Shermund. There is a lot more to be learned about this important cartoonist.

"Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund" is currently on view at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, Sullivant Hall, 1813 N. High St., Columbus OH 43210. Through March 31, 2019.

Posts on Instagram with the hashtag #barbarashermund may be seen here.

Ludwig Sander's page on Modernist West may be seen here.

The website of Lucy Sander Sceery may be seen here.

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