The Chicagoan
Encyclopedia
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.
In an early issue, the Chicagoans 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.
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 recently written a book on the subject, The Chicagoan: A Lost History of the Jazz Age (the University of Chicago Press
).
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.
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
.
(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, like 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
.
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
.
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
.
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.
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
.
Boris Riedel (no dates available). Creator of the Chicagoans 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.
has signed on as a contributor and fiction editor.
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
published from June 1926 until April 1935. Focusing on the cultural life of the city of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, 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.
In an early issue, the Chicagoans editors claimed to represent "a cultural, civilized and vibrant" city "which needs make no obeisance to Park Avenue
Park Avenue (Manhattan)
Park Avenue is a wide boulevard that carries north and southbound traffic in New York City borough of Manhattan. Through most of its length, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenue to the east....
, Mayfair
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...
, 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.
Only two substantial collections remain, one at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
's Regenstein Library
Regenstein Library
The Joseph Regenstein Library is the main library of the University of Chicago, named after industrialist and philanthropist Joseph Regenstein. Holding over 7.9 million volumes, it is one of the largest repositories of books in the world, and is noted for its brutalist architecture.-History:The...
and the other at the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
. Cultural historian Neil Harris
Neil Harris
Neil Harris is an English footballer who plays for Southend United as a striker. He is currently Millwall's all-time record goalscorer, with 125 league goals and 138 in all competitions. He broke the previous record of 111 goals, held by Teddy Sheringham, on 13 January 2009, during a 3–2 away win...
has recently written a book on the subject, The Chicagoan: A Lost History of the Jazz Age (the University of Chicago Press
University of Chicago Press
The University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including Critical Inquiry, and a wide array of...
).
Authors
Marie Armstrong Hecht (1892-?). First editor of the Chicagoan, a writer and literary critic. Married to journalist-author Ben HechtBen Hecht
Ben Hecht was an American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, and novelist. Called "the Shakespeare of Hollywood", he received screen credits, alone or in collaboration, for the stories or screenplays of some 70 films and as a prolific storyteller, authored 35 books and created some of...
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.
Richard Atwater
Richard & Florence Atwater
Richard and Florence Atwater co-authored the book Mr. Popper's Penguins, which won the 1939 Newbery Honor Award.-Florence:Florence Hasseltine Atwater was born in Chicago, the last child of Mary Josephine Delany, a former concert pianist with the Philadelphia Conservatory, and James Carroll, a...
, "Riq" (1892–1948). Born in Chicago as Frederick Mund Atwater, he attended the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, 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
Chicago Daily News
The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper published between 1876 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.-History:The Daily News was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty in 1875 and began publishing early the next year...
, the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, and the Herald-Examiner
Chicago's American
Chicago American, an afternoon newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, was the last flowering of the aggressive journalistic tradition depicted in the play and movie The Front Page....
. With his wife, Florence Atwater, in 1938 he coauthored Mr. Popper's Penguins
Mr. Popper's Penguins
Mr. Popper's Penguins is a children's book written by Richard and Florence Atwater, originally published in 1938. It tells the story of a poor house painter named Mr. Popper and his family, who live in the small town of Stillwater in the 1930s...
, which won the Newbery Medal
Newbery Medal
The John Newbery Medal is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association . The award is given to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The award has been given since 1922. ...
.
Artists
E. Simms CampbellE. Simms Campbell
Elmer Simms Campbell was an American cartoonist who signed his work E. Simms Campbell. He was the first African American cartoonist published in nationally distributed slick magazines, and he was the creator of Esky, the familiar pop-eyed mascot of Esquire.-Humor magazines:Born in St...
(1908–71). The first African American cartoonist with a national reputation, Campbell was born in St. Louis and graduated from Englewood High School
Englewood Technical Prep Academy
Englewood Technical Prep Academy or sometimes referred to as simply Englewood High School , part of the Chicago Public School system, served the Englewood community on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois....
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, like Crisis and Opportunity, but was better known for his color cartoons in Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
. He would later work for a string of national advertisers and for Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
.
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
Chicago Daily News
The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper published between 1876 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.-History:The Daily News was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty in 1875 and began publishing early the next year...
. He then moved to New York and was employed by a series of publishers and comic-book producers including Fawcett
Fawcett Comics
Fawcett Comics, a division of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful comic book publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s...
, National
National Comics
National Comics may refer to:* National Comics: An early name for the comic book publisher known later as DC Comics.* National Comics : a 1940's comic book series published by Quality Comics....
, and Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
.
Nat Karson (1908–54). Born in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, 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
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
.
A. Raymond Katz (1895–1974), aka Sandor. Born in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, 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.
Isadore Klein (1897–1986). Magazine cartoonist, animator, sketcher, painter, and story writer, Klein worked for the New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
as well as for the Chicagoan and was involved with a series of famous studios and celebrated cartoons, from Krazy Kat
Krazy Kat
Krazy Kat is an American comic strip created by cartoonist George Herriman, published daily in newspapers between 1913 and 1944. It first appeared in the New York Evening Journal, whose owner, William Randolph Hearst, was a major booster for the strip throughout its run...
and Betty Boop
Betty Boop
Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick. She originally appeared in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. She has also been featured in...
to Popeye
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who has appeared in comic strips and animated cartoons in the cinema as well as on television. He first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929...
. He was widely credited with originating the idea for Mighty Mouse
Mighty Mouse
Mighty Mouse is an animated superhero mouse character created by the Terrytoons studio for 20th Century Fox.-History:The character was created by story man Izzy Klein as a super-powered housefly named Superfly. Studio head Paul Terry changed the character into a cartoon mouse instead...
.
Boris Riedel (no dates available). Creator of the Chicagoans 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
Clara Bow
Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. It was her appearance as a spunky shopgirl in the film It that brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl." Bow came to personify the roaring twenties and is described as its leading sex...
, Lon Chaney, Sr.
Lon Chaney, Sr.
Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema...
, and Adolphe Menjou
Adolphe Menjou
Adolphe Jean Menjou was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies, appearing in such films as The Sheik, A Woman of Paris, Morocco, and A Star is Born...
and contributed to The Linebook, a publication put out for WGN
WGN (AM)
WGN is a radio station in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It is the only radio station owned by the Tribune Company, which also owns the flagship television station WGN-TV, the Chicago Tribune newspaper and Chicago magazine locally. WGN's transmitter is located in Elk Grove Village, Illinois...
Radio, a Tribune Company
Tribune Company
The Tribune Company is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with ten daily newspapers and commuter tabloids including Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida...
outlet in Chicago.
Resurrection
J.C. Gabel, former publisher of Stop Smiling, has acquired the rights to the magazine and plans to launch the restored magazine in September, 2011 as a biannual publication with weekly Website updates. Jessa CrispinJessa Crispin
Jessa Crispin is a critic and the editor-in-chief of Bookslut, a litblog and webzine founded in 2002. Crispin is a publishing outsider who started the blog on the side while working at Planned Parenthood in Austin, Texas and came to support herself by writing and editing the site full-time. In...
has signed on as a contributor and fiction editor.
External links
- Gallery of covers and other illustrations from the Chicagoan
- Sample pages from The Chicagoan:A Lost Magazine of the Jazz Age by Neil Harris
- An interview with Neil Harris about the Chicagoan