Peter Arno: Not the Crosstown Bus

What cartoonist, one may ask, seems more at home drawing the inside of a police van than Peter Arno? A work of original art from a 1937 issue of the magazine College Humor was sold at auction on Thursday by Nate D. Sanders in L.A. It is the sale's second lot, offered right after the scouting drawing by Chas Addams we saw in yesterday's post.

"Am I to understand this is not the Forty-ninth Street crosstown 'bus?"
Peter Arno
Original art
College Humor, April 1937, p. 11

The caption written on the matte is in the hand of gallerist Barbara Nicholls to whom the work was consigned, with others, in 1985.

"Am I to understand this is not the Forty-ninth Street crosstown 'bus?"
Peter Arno
Matted original art
College Humor, April 1937, p. 11

With the matte opened up, we see Arno's caption written across the top. He planned to italicize the word not for emphasis and to hyphenate crosstown. He wrote out 49th Street with its numerals. He did not, though, have an apostrophe before bus. That punctuation must have originated with an editor keen to show that the word is a shortening of omnibus. The drawing is signed at the lower left with Arno's initials.

"Am I to understand this is not the Forty-ninth Street crosstown 'bus?"
Peter Arno
Original art
College Humor, April 1937, p. 11

The bidding started at $250. Four bids were placed and the art sold for $506 including the premium. If memory serves, that's well under half of its 1985 price.

Peter Arno
Nate D. Sanders auction listing of November 20, 2025

https://natedsanders.com/aOiginal_Artwork_by_Peter_Arno_Published_in__Colle-lot69488.aspx

By some cosmic quirk of blogging, we've seen this cartoon here on the blog before. 

"Am I to understand this is not the Forty-ninth Street crosstown 'bus?"
Peter Arno
College Humor, April 1937, p. 11

"Am I to understand this is not the Forty-ninth Street crosstown 'bus?"
Peter Arno
Original art
College Humor, April 1937, p. 11

Here's how it appeared with two other cartoons in "Peter Arno's Side-Show," a two-page spread delighting readers of College Humor in April of 1937. None of these have ever been republished

"All right—I take the key, to to your hotel, go to the twelfth floor and walk down one flight, and go                                                        "—And then he assaulted me without so much as a 'Thank you'!"       

                        in your room and wait till you come—and then what do I do?"                                                                            "Am I to understand this is not the Forty-ninth Street crosstown 'bus?"

Peter Arno

College Humor, April 1937, pp. 10-11

The artwork was photographed by the Nicholls Gallery. It appeared on a contact sheet with other consigned or purchased work, nearly all of it Arno's.

"Am I to understand this is not the Forty-ninth Street crosstown 'bus?"

Note:  I wrote at length about the full contact sheet from the Nicholls Gallery here. You may survey this blog's collective posts on Peter Arno's work for College Humor here. There's nothing else like it on the internet. Trust me, I've looked.

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Peter Arno's Side-Show for April 1937

Arno's work for College Humor has long fascinated me. The April 1937 number of the magazine includes three Peter Arno cartoons making up his "Side-Show" feature. As it happens, each of these has been seen previously on this blog, in one form or another.

"All right—I take the key, to to your hotel, go to the twelfth floor and walk down one flight, and go                                                        "—And then he assaulted me without so much as a 'Thank you'!"       

                        in your room and wait till you come—and then what do I do?"                                                                            "Am I to understand this is not the Forty-ninth Street crosstown 'bus?"

Peter Arno

College Humor, April 1937, pp. 10-11

The original art to the first drawing was offered by the Nicholls Gallery of New York in 1985, but the caption was then unknown. As it turns out, it's quite a mouthful. One wonders whether it could have been sold sans caption. I suspect it could.

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Original art to the second one was sold on eBay in 2016 and appeared on this blog an inexplicable two years later. I had something to say about prevailing attitudes in the 1930s towards nonconsensual sex in my post here, although I'm sure I didn't say it as well as I meant to. At the time I was thinking a lot about Byron but in no way living up to his example.

"—And then he assaulted me without so much as a 'Thank you'!"
Peter Arno
Original art
College Humor, April 1937

The third cartoon is far and away my favorite of the trio. There is a photo on the Nicholls Gallery contact sheet of the original art and the caption was then known. But was it sold?

"Am I to understand this is not the

        Forty-ninth Street crosstown 'bus?"               

November 22, 2025 Update:  Yes, it was sold.

"Am I to understand this is not the Forty-ninth Street crosstown 'bus?"

Original art

Peter Arno

College Humor, April 1937

Note:  That exceptional Nicholls Gallery contact sheet I keep referring to may be seen on my 2016 post here.

Not surprisingly, much of Peter Arno's original art is hidden from public view. Any collectors willing to share original Arno works on this blog are welcome to submit scans or photographs. As you may be aware, I accept even contact sheets.

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