Stan Hunt: Operating Room 3

In an undated ink drawing, cartoonist Stan Hunt reveals the secret of Operating Room 3.

It's all linework; there is no shading.

Stan Hunt's signature

Stan Hunt
Allure Auctioneers listing of July 13, 2025

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/209726956_/?from=alert&utm_source=LA_SavedAlert&utm_campaign=SearchAlert_20250627_B&utm_medium=email&utm_content=item

The item details for this lot provided by Allure Auctioneers identify the artist as Stanley Richard Hunt (1929-2006), a newspaper cartoonist, but this framed drawing is clearly the work of magazine cartoonist Stan Hunt (1912-1990?). The information seems to come from Stan[ley Richard] Hunt's Wikipedia page.

Stan Hunt
Allure Auctioneers item description

Previously, the lot was offered on eBay:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/226298113191

Note:  I am grateful to Michael Maslin for helping me to disambiguate—a Wikipedia term—the two Stan Hunts. I would be pleased if someone would start a Wikipedia page for the magazine cartoonist Stan Hunt.

If anyone knows where this cartoon was published, please inform the management.

05003

My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #826

I was called stat to The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #826 from the issue of November 7, 2022. My caption is shown below. The drawing is by Shannon Wheeler.

"What now? The anesthesiologist was turned away by the bouncer."

November 14, 2022 Update:  The Finalists

November 21, 2022 Update:  I voted for the caption from Mertztown.

November 28, 2022 Update:  The Winner

04131

National Doctors' Day: Stanley Stamaty in the O.R.

National Doctors' Day comes around every year on March 30. I always assumed the date was chosen for its proximity to April Fools' Day, but actually it marks the anniversary of the first use of general anesthesia in surgery. And, speaking of surgery, a 1952 cartoon by Stanley Stamaty take us right into the operating room for a dose of medical humor.

"Robert, how much longer do we have to go on meeting like this?"
Stanley Stamaty
Cartoon Humor, Vol. 16, No. 3, 1952, page 80

Steven Boss humor magazine collection

Note:  This 1952 issue of Cartoon Humor is one of more than 5,600 magazines in the Steven Boss humor magazine collection at Columbia University. I took this photograph in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library more than five years ago on March 10, 2016, a time when lovers wearing masks had no particular social significance beyond the confines of the operating room. Today's post marks the fiftieth I got out of that half day's work—so far! I'm overdue for a return visit, but while the Butler Library where this wonderful collection is housed is now open to Columbia students, it is not yet open to the general public. Still, Curator for Comics and Cartoons Karen Green can provide interested parties with up-to-date information on access to the collection.

This issue contains several other full-page cartoons by Stanley Stamaty, but I did not photograph them, a serious error in judgment on my part. I'd like to redeem myself and post these other cartoons too when I get the chance. To that end, anyone with a copy of this magazine and a camera or scanner could be a tremendous help. Otherwise, this issue of Cartoon Humor should be my first stop when I return, eventually, to the RBML.

Stanley Stamaty still doesn't have a Wikipedia page. Shouldn't somebody do something about that?

03579

Peter Arno and Otto Soglow in the Operating Room

Was cartoonist Otto Soglow aware of a drawing that Peter Arno published in College Humor? Were the New Yorker's editors? Here are two cartoons published more than four years apart in the different magazines. Both cartoons have similar setups but different payoffs. Might Soglow perhaps have seen the Arno drawing? It's a medical mystery.

"Peter Arno's "Side-Show," College Humor, Vol. 6, No. 2, October 1937, page 11

http://attemptedbloggery.blogspot.com/2016/03/peter-arnos-side-show-for-october-1937.html

Otto Soglow, The New Yorker, January 24, 1942, page 14

http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1942-01-24#folio=014

Note:  If the Arno image from College Humor, Vol. 6, No. 2, dated October 1937 looks familiar, that's because it appeared on this blog in my March 25 post. The magazine I photographed is part of the Steven Boss humor magazine collection at Columbia University located in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Comics librarian Karen Green is the person to contact regarding access to the collection. Why should I have all the fun?

Otto Soglow doesn't get nearly enough play on this blog. Whose fault is that?

Peter Arno: The Mad, Mad World of The New Yorker's Greatest Cartoonist by Michael Maslin is at the top of my reading list.

Peter Arno posts on Ink Spill. 

Peter Arno in Chris Wheeler's Cartoon(ist) Gallery. 

Peter Arno in the April 26 Record.

Peter Arno in April's Vanity Fair. 

Peter Arno in the March 29 Wall Street Journal. 

Peter Arno posts here on Attempted Bloggery. 

01849

Peter Arno's Side-Show for October 1937

Peter Arno's cartoons for the October 1937 issue of College Humor are wordless; they tell their story without the use of any captions. In the first drawing, a secretary is shocked to learn that all is not well within the office. This cartoon seems to be an anomaly in terms of subject matter. Is this really the lighthearted, devil-may-care corporate gag the college crowd was looking for in1937?

"Peter Arno's "Side-Show," College Humor, Vol. 6, No. 2, October 1937, page 10

On the second page, Arno has a two-panel gag revealing the back-and-forth of the operating room.

"Peter Arno's "Side-Show," College Humor, Vol. 6, No. 2, October 1937, page 11

Note:  Artist Peter Arno published cartoons over many years in College Humor. This week I have presented his contributions from five issues:  July 1936 and May, July, September, and October 1937. His New Yorker cartoons are generally well known, but there are many other forgotten Arno treasures hidden away in hard-to-find issues of College Humor and likely many other magazines. Ideally, these lost classics should be seen and appreciated by today's Arno fans. So to all you collectors of vintage paper, get out your camera and start shooting. If you've got the Arno, I've got the blog.

What sort of a man created these cartoons? Peter Arno's fascinating story will be told in Michael Maslin's brand new biography coming your way on April 19 from Regan Arts. Peter Arno:  The Mad, Mad World of The New Yorker's Greatest Cartoonist is available right now for pre-order on Amazon.com, where you can also get new ping-pong paddles for your home theater. Home operating theater, that is.

Michael Maslin's Ink Spill blog has many fine posts about Peter Arno, all of which are worth a look-see. Some of the recent ones even mention the College Humor posts that have been all the rage here at Attempted Bloggery this week.

This copy of College Humor, Vol. 6, No. 2, dated October 1937 resides in the Steven Boss humor magazine collection at Columbia University. Of the magazine issues currently in the collection, this is the fifth and last with any Arno cartoons. The good news on the horizon is that more magazines donated by Mr. Boss—including other issues of College Humor—will soon be making their way to the Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Thanks once again to comics librarian Karen Green for making  my research possible. Left to my own devices, I'd still be trying to find the card catalogue. By the way, I hope to have several more posts based on the Boss collection in the not-too-distant future.

01816

My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #388

I don't know why The New Yorker's cartoonists think doctors are so funny. I'm pretty sure we aren't. But I love Tom Cheney's cartoons, so I'll play along to the best of my ability. Here then is my entry for The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #388 for July 22, 2013.

"Hey, only doctors play golf in here!"

July 29, 2013 Update:  The Finalists

August 19, 2013 Update:  Winning Caption

Note:  My previous entry in The New Yorker's Cartoon Caption Contest is here. Or see some earlier blog posts with Tom Cheney here.

0819