Peter Arno's Side-Show for March 1937

The March 1937 installment of Peter Arno's "Side-Show" is definitely a keeper. I'm keeping my copy. The magazine is College Humor. These Arno cartoons must have created a sensation among young readers, but they were never collected and have been lost to popular culture for many decades. My guess, though, is that the people who encountered these drawings when they were coming of age remembered them fondly for life.

"Hurry, dear! Our guests are beginning to arrive!"
Peter Arno
College Humor, March 1937, p. 18 

"Gosh, I forgot to look at your teeth, didn't I?"
* * * 
"After the part where you tell them to 'speak now or forever hold their peace'—er—don't pause too long."
Peter Arno
College Humor, March 1937, p. 19

Here's the original art for each of these as seen on a 1985 contact sheet from the Nicholls Gallery:

"Hurry, dear! Our guests are beginning to arrive!"

"Gosh, I forgot to look at your teeth, didn't I?"

"After the part where you tell them to 'speak now or forever hold their peace'—er—don't pause too long."

Note:  For those keeping score at home, I am still looking for the published versions of three of the Peter Arno College Humor cartoons consigned to the Nicholls Gallery in 1985. There's also a "rather dumb" Otto Soglow psychoanalysis cartoon that should be in one of these issues as well.

"It's the master's idea—says it keeps them out of the Stork Club."
Peter Arno
Original art
College Humor, c. 1936-1937

"It isn't every student I'd let mark her own examination paper, Miss Dawson."
College Humor, c. 1936-1937

"You may shut off the heater now, Oglethorpe."
Peter Arno
Original art
College Humor, c. 1936-1937

An organ grinder on the street feels sad that his monkey has more satisfying interactions with people than he does. He goes to a psychoanalyst and soon after changes places with the monkey.

"I think rather dumb." —Barbara Nicholls

Otto Soglow

So I'm keeping an eye out for "It's the master's idea—says it keeps them out of the Stork Club," "It isn't every student I'd let mark her own examination paper, Miss Dawson," and "You may shut off the heater now, Oglethorpe," but if any reader should already know where they are hiding out, please do tell.

All right, if you insist, I'll give you my own best guess for the location of these cartoons: College Humor, February 1937. Unfortunately, I don't see a copy currently available for sale but one was sold on eBay not all that long ago.

College Humor, February 1937
eBay listing ended June 28, 2024

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166055249480

College Humor, February 1937
eBay item description

Here are some better images made with a scanner:

https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=53000599

So please give a shout if you have a copy. And for heaven's sake, stay out of the Stork Club.

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Peter Arno's Side-Show for October 1936

Peter Arno's "Side-Show" feature for the College Humor issue of October 1936 covered the usual two pages with three cartoons. The initial full-page cartoon shows a menacing face in the window.

"Your husband, Eleanor—what sort of looking man is he?"
Peter Arno
College Humor, October 1936, p. 10

The pair of cartoons on the facing page concern a special delivery and a commuting suggestion.

"It's for you, dear."
* * *
"Here!—You folks ought to know each other."
Peter Arno
College Humor, October 1936, p. 11

The original art for each of these College Humor cartoons, in one form or another, has been seen on the blog here. I have corrected the captions from the Nicholls Gallery notes to what was actually printed.

"Your husband, Eleanor—what sort of looking man is he?"

"It's for you, dear."

"Here!—You folks ought to know each other."
Peter Arno
Original art at auction

Note:  Sometimes a photo from a contact sheet or an old auction listing just isn't enough. I'm still hoping to hear from people with original College Humor art by Peter Arno. You know where to find me.

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Peter Arno's Side-Show for January 1937

The final two pages of Peter Arno's "Side-Show" currently in my possession come from the January 1937 issue of College Humor. What do you suppose all those clever undergraduates found amusing during the Great Depression?

"By gad! I wish I were you father for about five minutes."
Peter Arno
College Humor, January 1937, p. 18

"Anything she does now will be an anti-climax."
"See here, Prentice—it's all right to look, but you needn't cheer them on!"
Peter Arno
College Humor, January 1937, p. 19

"Side-Show"
Peter Arno
College Humor, January 1937, pp. 18-19

Barbara Nicholls handled the original art for the full page cartoon. A photo of it appeared on a 1985 contact sheet from her New York gallery provided to the seller.

"By gad! I wish I were your father for about five minutes."
January 1937

Eventually she sold the piece not in her gallery but at a Guernsey's illustration art auction:

"By gad! I wish I were your father for about five minutes."
January 1937
Guernsey's March 1986 illustration art auction catalogue, Lot A726

Nicholls also handled the original art for the biology lab cartoon:

"See here, Prentice—it's all right to look, but you needn't cheer them on!"
January 1937

The original art was later sold at auction, but I don't have any idea where or when:

"See here, Prentice—it's all right to look, but you needn't cheer them on!"
Peter Arno
Original art at auction
College Humor, January 1937

http://www.artnet.com/artists/peter-arno/gag-cartoon-teacher-admonishing-adult-students-at-c2gIAc6HbdUwh3VSJ7EDeQ2

Note:  So where is the original art for "Anything she does now will be an anti-climax?" Perhaps Peter Arno sold that one himself. Some say a decent blog can never have enough original Arno art. Share yours here and I'll be sure to cheer you on.

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Peter Arno's Side-Show for November 1936

Chances are, if you didn't catch Peter Arno's "Side-Show" cartoon feature when it first appeared in the November 1936 issue of College Humor, you didn't get a second chance. Until now, that is.

"Here's a hot one, lambie—'Dear sir: As an old friend, I feel it my duty to warn
you to keep an eye on your new chauffeur.'"
Peter Arno
College Humor, November 1936, p. 18

"Now?"
"She keeps asking for you! She's delirious."
Peter Arno
College Humor, November 1936, p. 19

Peter Arno's "Side-Show"
College Humor, November 1936, pp. 18-19

The original College Humor artwork for that third cartoon appeared on a contact sheet prepared by the Nicholls Gallery back in 1985.

"She keeps asking for you!  She's delirious."
November 1936

Note:  I'd like to hear from the current owners of Peter Arno's original art for College Humor. Now? Yes, now.

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Peter Arno's Side-Show for November 1937

There was quite a bit of hanky-panky taking place in Peter Arno's trio of cartoons published in College Humor's issue of November 1937. The drawings appeared, of course, in the popular cartoonist's regular "Side-Show" feature. Arno's deft depictions of all those well-dressed (and well-underdressed) grown-ups misbehaving seemed to keep that young college crowd perpetually entertained. Go figure.

"There must be some mistake, sir! The charge here is for crêpes suzettes!"               "This Miss Maxwell, sir—Shall we send her a thank-you note?"
                                                                                                                   "Why, Hartley—you're jealous!"
Peter Arno
College Humor, November 1937

Note:  Of the 600 million-odd blogs in the world, this is the only one which regularly seeks out cartoonist Peter Arno's mid-1930s work that appeared in the magazine College Humor. That's an oversight on those other blogs' part, I'm sure. Needless to say, submissions of other obscure Arno works are always welcome here. I might even send contributors a thank-you note.

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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.

["?"]

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?"               

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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Peter Arno's Side-Show for December 1936

A regular installment of Peter Arno's "Side-Show" appeared in College Humor's issue of December 1936. All three cartoons deal rather distinctively with male-female relationships, a specialty of the artist and a subject of keen interest, no doubt, to the college crowd.

"I do wish you'd change your mind and come along!"                                                      "Well—put up a fight! Don't just sit there!"
                                                                                                                                            "Come right in, madam. The marster's awaiting you in his lair."
Peter Arno
College Humor, December 1936, pp. 18-19

Original art for two of these three cartoons were consigned to the Nicholls Gallery in July of 1985. Thumbnail photographic images of the artwork from a gallery contact sheet are shown below, as well as the original art for the third cartoon which the gallery did not accept because of some regrettable paper loss. This and a number of other College Humor cartoons are in the archives here.

"I do wish you'd change your mind and come along!"

"Well—put up a fight! Don't just sit there!"

"Come right in, madam. The marster's awaiting you in his lair."

"Come right in, madam. The marster's awaiting you in his lair."
Peter Arno
Original art
College Humor, December 1936

Note:  I do love to match up original artwork with published cartoons. How else could we learn that Peter Arno had to initial the above artwork twice because the crop line was raised? 

I have long sought to make this blog a virtual repository of original Arno art and all I need to continue doing this is . . . more Arno art. It sounds so simple, doesn't it? Please help me keep up this tradition by providing me with images of great Arno originals.

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Peter Arno's Side-Show for September 1936

It's been a while since I've shared the cartoon feature Peter Arno's "Side-Show" which appeared in the magazine College Humor for maybe a couple of years in the 1930s, mostly 1936 to 1937. Recently, I've obtained four issues with Arno content and another three are on the way. This one is September of 1936. Arno knew how to give the college crowd what it liked, just as he did with the upscale readers at the far tonier New Yorker.

"I'd like a picture of my boy."                                         "Psst, Granville! You've ripped something!"
                                                                                   "I think she's in trouble again."
Peter Arno
College Humor, September 1936, pp. 10-11

The "Side-Show" format gave Arno the freedom to produce three different types of cartoons for the two-page spread. Here we have a man who misunderstands the paparazzi, a sophomoric—if you will—cartoon about hurdling, and a rather sophisticated take on the tribulations of a very small dog. Arno's technique seems effortless; it probably wasn't. You can see why, throughout his career, he was an extremely popular cartoonist.

Note:  And he's still popular on this blog. I'm ready to post examples of obscure Peter Arno cartoons published in off-the-beaten-track publications like College Humor. Just send me images of what you've got and tell me what you know. And, for heaven's sake, don't rip anything.

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Peter Arno's Side-Show for August 1937

It'a hard to think of a cartoonist who got more mileage than Peter Arno did simply from observing the mutual attraction of the sexes. But here we are in the August 1937 issue of College Humor and our boy is at it again...

The full page College Humor cartoon of a motorcycle cop confronting an unseen couple calls to mind a famous gag Arno did for the New Yorker of December 7, 1929. In that cartoon a couple approach a police officer on a motorcycle. The man carries a car seat cushion and says, "We want to report a stolen car." The reader is left to surmise what the couple has been doing outdoors with just the seat cushion. This cartoon was assigned to Arno by Harold Ross, the magazine's founding editor, who nevertheless was later rumored not to have gotten the joke. Supposedly Ross believed any car part would have been equally as funny as the car seat. Arno seems confident, though, that the College Humor crowd will understand a similar scenario without any further need for explanation.

"We want to report a stolen car."
Peter Arno
The New Yorker, December 7, 1929, page 31

https://condenaststore.com/products/we-want-to-report-a-stolen-car-peter-arno-art-print.html

"Ready or not—I'm gonna give you a ticket!"
Peter Arno
College Humor, Vol. 5, No. 4, August 1937, page 10

Scanned by Dick Buchanan

The two remaining half-page gags are set at a nudist colony and on board a cruise ship. Arno sets each one up so the knowing reader can feel more perceptive than the naive speaker. Vive la différence.

"And what do you do for excitement?" [above]
"Herbert—who is that man daughter is talking to?" [below]
Peter Arno
College Humor, Vol. 5, No. 4, August 1937, page 11

Scanned by Dick Buchanan

Note:  For more on Harold Ross and whether he did or didn't understand Arno's stolen car gag, see Dale Kramer's Ross and The New Yorker, 1952, pages 201-202; James Thurber's The Years with Ross, 1957, page 255; Brendan Gill's Here at the New Yorker, 1975, page 33; and Michael Maslin's Peter Arno: The Mad, Mad World of The New Yorker's Greatest Cartoonist, 2016, pages 64-65. Thurber and Gill treat the story as fact; Kramer and Maslin are more circumspect.

Thanks again to Dick Buchanan for using his world class scanning skills to obtain such gorgeous results. Dick contributes regularly to Mike Lynch Cartoons, most recently a captionless piece entitled "'Captions? Who Needs 'Em?' Wordless Gag Cartoons 1947 – 1970."

You too can make scans for Attempted Bloggery. Together we can make obscure published art by Peter Arno and other New Yorker artists the order of the day.

Quick Links to the Attempted Bloggery Archives

Peter Arno

Harold Ross

College Humor

Dick Buchanan

Attempted Bloggery's Clothing-Optional Index

02336

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. 

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