The Chicagoan

Last updated

The Chicagoan
The Chicagoan Cover 1926-06-14.jpg
Cover of Vol. 1, No. 1, dated June 14, 1926
Categories Politics, social issues, popular culture
FrequencyTwice monthly from June 1926 until July 1931; Monthly from July 1931 until April 1935
PublisherMartin J. Quigley
Paid circulationUpwards of 20,000 at its peak
First issueJune 14, 1926
Final issueApril 1935
CountryUnited States
Based inChicago
LanguageEnglish

The Chicagoan was an American magazine modeled after The New Yorker published from June 1926 until April 1935. Focusing on the cultural life of the city of Chicago, each issue of The Chicagoan contained art, music, and drama reviews, profiles of personalities and institutions, commentaries on the local scene, and editorials, along with cartoons and original art.

Contents

In an early issue, The Chicagoan's editors claimed to represent "a cultural, civilized and vibrant" city "which needs make no obeisance to Park Avenue, Mayfair, or the Champs Elysees." Despite its lofty aims, the stalwart assertions of publisher Martin J. Quigley (who once wrote that "Whatever Chicago was and was to be, The Chicagoan must be and become"), and a circulation that sometimes rose above 20,000, the magazine was largely forgotten after its last issue. [1]

Only two substantial collections remain, one at the University of Chicago's Regenstein Library and the other at the New York Public Library. Cultural historian Neil Harris has written a book on the subject, The Chicagoan: A Lost Magazine of the Jazz Age (the University of Chicago Press).

Authors

Marie Armstrong Hecht (1892–?). First editor of The Chicagoan, a writer and literary critic. Married to journalist-author Ben Hecht from 1915 to 1925. Marie Hecht published several volumes of poetry in the 1920s and created or adapted some Broadway plays in the 1920s and 1930s. Under a later married name, Marie Essipoff, she produced a number of books in the 1950s emphasizing economical cooking with new techniques, including Making the Most of Your Food Freezer. [2]

Richard Atwater, "Riq" (1892–1948). Born in Chicago as Frederick Mund Atwater, he attended the University of Chicago, where he wrote for the student newspaper and later taught Classical Greek. He went on to work for various local newspapers, including the Chicago Daily News , the Chicago Tribune , and the Herald-Examiner . With his wife, Florence Atwater, in 1938 he coauthored Mr. Popper's Penguins , which won the Newbery Medal. [3]

Artists

E. Simms Campbell (1908–71). The first African American cartoonist with a national reputation, Campbell was born in St. Louis and graduated from Englewood High School in Chicago. He attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago between 1924 and 1926 and later he moved to New York, where he was employed as a cartoonist at the Daily Mirror . He did important illustrations for some African American publications, including Crisis and Opportunity , but was better known for his color cartoons in Esquire . He would later work for a string of national advertisers and for Playboy . [4]

Albert Carreno (1905–64). This Mexican-born caricaturist and cartoonist portrayed stage and sports personalities for The Chicagoan in the late 1920s while working for the Chicago Daily News . He then moved to New York and was employed by a series of publishers and comic-book producers including Fawcett, National, and Marvel. [5]

Nat Karson (1908–54). Born in Switzerland, he attended Chicago public schools and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and increasingly concentrated his efforts on theatrical caricature. After he moved to New York, his theatrical designs and productions attracted wide attention; he created both sets and costumes with the Federal Theater Project and with Orson Welles. [6]

A. Raymond Katz (1895–1974), aka Sandor. Born in Hungary, Katz attended both the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He created car cards, posters, and other commercial art before becoming the featured artist of The Chicagoan. [7]

Isadore Klein (1897–1986). Magazine cartoonist, animator, sketcher, painter, and story writer, Klein worked for The New Yorker as well as for The Chicagoan and was involved with a series of famous studios and celebrated cartoons, from Krazy Kat and Betty Boop to Popeye. He was widely credited with originating the idea for Mighty Mouse. [8]

Boris Riedel (no dates available). Creator of The Chicagoan's first cover, Riedel served for a while as the magazine's art editor. He illustrated a book of poetry by Marie Hecht, a novel by J. V. Nicholson, and a children's book, The Timid Giant, written by advertising executive Earle Ludgin. Riedel also created movie posters for films starring Clara Bow, Lon Chaney Sr., and Adolphe Menjou, and contributed to The Linebook , a publication put out for WGN Radio, a Tribune Company outlet in Chicago. [9]

Resurrection

In October 1973, the magazine was relaunched by Jon and Abra Anderson of The Chicago Daily News. [10] It was later sold and ceased publication with its October 1974 issue.

J. C. Gabel, former publisher of Stop Smiling , acquired the rights to the magazine and planned to launch the restored magazine in September, 2011 as a biannual publication with weekly Website updates. [11] Jessa Crispin has signed on as a contributor and fiction editor. [12] It launched in 2012. [13] However, Gabel discontinued publishing it after just one, 194-page issue. [14] [15] Gabel told Crain's Chicago Business in 2015 that "We only did one issue of our incarnation of the Chicagoan, and after a very valiant effort, we couldn't raise the necessary capital to do it properly without it being run like a sweat shop." [16]

Yet another resurrection of a magazine called The Chicagoan was proposed in 2015, [17] by former U.S. Senate candidate Jack Ryan. [18] However, before he began publishing the magazine, he changed its name to Chicagoly. [19] That magazine published nine issues before discontinuing publication with the issue published in December 2017. [20]

Related Research Articles

<i>The New Yorker</i> American weekly magazine since 1925

The New Yorker is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues covering two-week spans. Although its reviews and events listings often focus on the cultural life of New York City, The New Yorker also produces long-form journalism and shorter articles and commentary on a variety of topics, has a wide audience outside New York, and is read internationally.

<i>Puck</i> (magazine) United States humor magazine (1876–1918)

Puck was the first successful humor magazine in the United States of colorful cartoons, caricatures and political satire of the issues of the day. It was founded in 1876 as a German-language publication by Joseph Keppler, an Austrian immigrant cartoonist. Puck's first English-language edition was published in 1877, covering issues like New York City's Tammany Hall, presidential politics, and social issues of the late 19th century to the early 20th century.

<i>Daily Worker</i> 20th-century American newspaper (1924–1958)

The Daily Worker was a newspaper published in Chicago founded by communists, socialists, union members, and other activists. Publication began in 1924. It generally reflected the prevailing views of members of the CPUSA; it also reflected a broader spectrum of left-wing opinion. At its peak, the newspaper achieved a circulation of 35,000. Contributors to its pages included Robert Minor and Fred Ellis (cartoonists), Lester Rodney, David Karr, Richard Wright, John L. Spivak, Peter Fryer, Woody Guthrie and Louis F. Budenz.

<i>Judge</i> (magazine) Defunct American weekly satirical magazine

Judge was a weekly satirical magazine published in the United States from 1881 to 1947. It was launched by artists who had left the rival Puck Magazine. The founders included cartoonist James Albert Wales, dime novels publisher Frank Tousey and author George H. Jessop.

<i>Guitar World</i> Monthly music magazine

Guitar World is a monthly music magazine for guitarists – and fans of guitar-based music and trends – that has been published since July 1980. Guitar World, the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original artist interviews and profiles, plus lessons/columns, gear reviews, news and exclusive tablature of three songs per issue. The magazine is published 13 times per year by Future plc. Damian Fanelli has been Guitar World's Editor-in-Chief since June 2018.

The Gargoyle Humor Magazine or The Gargoyle is the official student-run humor magazine for the University of Michigan. It has been satirizing both local and national events for more than one hundred years. The magazine is part of the university's Student Publications, which also includes the campus newspaper, The Michigan Daily, as well as the yearbook, the Michiganensian.

PM was a liberal-leaning daily newspaper published in New York City by Ralph Ingersoll from June 1940 to June 1948 and financed by Chicago millionaire Marshall Field III.

Notable events of 2006 in comics.

<i>Crains Chicago Business</i> Weekly business newspaper in Chicago, Illinois

Crain's Chicago Business is a weekly business newspaper in Chicago, IL. It is owned by Detroit-based Crain Communications.

Richard and Florence Atwater co-authored the book Mr. Popper's Penguins, which won the 1939 Newbery Honor Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. Simms Campbell</span> American cartoonist (1906–1971)

Elmer Simms Campbell was an American commercial artist best known as the cartoonist who signed his work, E. Simms Campbell. The first African-American cartoonist published in nationally distributed, slick magazines, he created Esky, the familiar pop-eyed mascot of Esquire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Ellis (cartoonist)</span> American editorial cartoonist

Fred C. Ellis was an American editorial cartoonist. He is best remembered as one of the leading radical artists of the 1920s and 1930s as an artist for various publications of the Communist Party, USA (CPUSA), including stints on the staff of the CPUSA's daily newspaper.

<i>Chicago</i> (magazine) American monthly magazine

Chicago is a monthly magazine published by Tribune Publishing. It concentrates on lifestyle and human interest stories, and on reviewing restaurants, travel, fashion, and theatre from or nearby Chicago. Its circulation in 2004 was 165,000, larger than People in its market. Also in 2004, it received the National Magazine Award for General Excellence. It is a member of the City and Regional Magazine Association (CRMA).

Robert "Buck" Brown was an American painter and cartoonist best known for creating Playboy magazine's toothless, saggy-breasted, highly-sexed, naughty "Granny" character.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph Barton</span> American cartoonist and caricaturist (1891–1931)

Ralph Waldo Emerson Barton was a popular American cartoonist and caricaturist of actors and other celebrities. His work was in heavy demand through the 1920s and has been considered to epitomize the era. Barton was nearly forgotten soon after his death, shortly before his fortieth birthday.

Stop Smiling was an arts and culture magazine founded by J. C. Gabel in the Chicago suburb of Darien, Illinois. He started the magazine at age 19 in 1995. The magazine was published on a bimonthly basis. The headquarters was in both Chicago and New York. Each issue followed a theme and consisted of feature-length interviews, essays and oral histories. With a focus on preservation, Stop Smiling published some of the last in-depth conversations with Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Altman, Lee Hazlewood, and George Plimpton. The company ended the magazine in 2009 and became an independently owned imprint of Melville House Publishing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Norment</span> American cartoonist (1911–1988)

John Murray Norment (1911–1988) was an American illustrator, gag cartoonist, magazine editor, artist, and photographer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comics journalism</span> Journalism in comics form

Comics journalism is a form of journalism that covers news or nonfiction events using the framework of comics, a combination of words and drawn images. Typically, sources are actual people featured in each story, and word balloons are actual quotes. The term "comics journalism" was coined by one of its most notable practitioners, Joe Sacco. Other terms for the practice include "graphic journalism," "comic strip journalism", "cartoon journalism", "cartoon reporting", "comics reportage", "journalistic comics", and "sketchbook reports".

Tom Bachtell is a self-taught artist who is an illustrator and caricaturist for The New Yorker's Talk of the Town as well as other sections, contributing regularly for 23 years. He has done work for Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, Forbes, Bon Appétit, Town & Country, Mother Jones, New York, Poetry, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Observer and London's Evening Standard as well as Marshall Field, Lands' End and the chamber-music series at the University of Chicago as part of his ad-campaign clientele. His brush-and-ink style is considered to be reminiscent of American cartoonists from the 1920s and 1930s. He was a finalist for the 18th Lambda Literary Awards as illustrator along with editor Robert Trachtenberg for the book When I Knew under the Belles Lettres category.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luther D. Bradley</span> American cartoonist

Luther Daniels Bradley was an American illustrator and political cartoonist associated with the Chicago Daily News. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, he graduated from Yale University in 1875. After some years at his father's business, he traveled abroad, and spent over a decade in Melbourne, Australia, drawing for such publications as Melbourne Punch. He returned to Chicago in 1893, working for the Daily Journal and Inter Ocean, before joining the Daily News in 1899, where he spent the remainder of his life and career. He was known for strong anti-war sentiments, opposing U.S. involvement in World War I.

References

  1. ↑ Neil Harris, The Chicagoan: A Lost Magazine of the Jazz Age (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2008), 1–27.
  2. ↑ Harris, 371
  3. ↑ Harris, 370
  4. ↑ Harris, 370
  5. ↑ Harris, 370
  6. ↑ Harris, 372
  7. ↑ Harris, 372
  8. ↑ Harris, 372
  9. ↑ Harris, 374
  10. ↑ King, Seth S. (September 13, 1973). "A New Magazine, Chicagoan Is Out". The New York Times .
  11. ↑ "Handshake Media Interview".
  12. ↑ "PBS Interview". PBS .
  13. ↑ "Introducing The Chicagoan: a bold new vision in print".
  14. ↑ "How 'The Chicagoan' morphed into 'Chicagoly'".
  15. ↑ "Culture: Chicago Needs the Chicagoan". May 4, 2018.
  16. ↑ "The Chicagoan magazine makes a comeback | Crain's Chicago Business". August 18, 2015.
  17. ↑ "The Chicagoan magazine makes a comeback | Crain's Chicago Business". August 18, 2015.
  18. ↑ "How 'The Chicagoan' morphed into 'Chicagoly'".
  19. ↑ "How 'The Chicagoan' morphed into 'Chicagoly'".
  20. ↑ @chicagolymag (April 19, 2018). "You read that correctly. Chicagoly magazine published its ninth and final issue, Winter 2017, in December.For two…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.