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until his death in 1951) as the standard way The New Yorker did things. Oddly enough, it was writer and illustrator James Thurber’s 1958 book
Ross was regularly referred to as a bumbling, anti-feminist, stingy, The Years with Ross that was taken as the most reliable eyewitness
inept, undisciplined, “high-school dropout and wastrel newspaperman” account of The New Yorker’s office antics from the time it launched
(Earl Rovit, 1985), and “the unlikeliest of candidates to found a until the 1990s.
magazine that would place the best modern American humorists In advance of its 70th Anniversary in 1995, The New Yorker opened
between slick covers and draft the manifesto under which The New its archives to scholars in 1994, albeit a heavily edited and at times
Yorker would prosper,” (Sanford unverifiable version of the facts. Once the archives were opened, the
Pinsker, 1984). truth about Ross that was hidden for over 69 years came to light. The
Those who worked with Ross biography Genius in Disguise, written by Thomas Kunkel, followed
continued to keep up the talk quickly thereafter in 1995, finally revealing the Founding Editor as a
about his incompetency—notably sharply skilled humorist and editor who carefully reviewed every aspect of
author and illustrator James the magazine’s content week after week.
Thurber—to the point of almost
starting a war amongst the staff.
Author and Editor for The New Illustrative Content: The Blend
Yorker E.B. White and his wife The cover image for The New Yorker has always been and likely
Katherine took great offense to always will be an illustration of some sort or another, and Eustace Tilley
Thurber’s piercing (yet funny) its favorite subject. Using the drawing talents on his staff and contribu-
book The Years with Ross (1958), tors, Ross felt an illustration could stretch the cover message beyond a
saying that it caused “much sorrow photo through the use of artis-
and pain around the shop,” and tic license.
thought Thurber was using it as a Ross was the first to use
form of retribution. Katherine illustrated humor within the
White even drafted a letter to editorial copy to drive home
Helen Thurber in 1975 regarding a particular point or carefully
James Thurber’s assertion that place a wink to the reader.
“Ross was an illiterate Genius in Disguise Ross was successful because of
clown” by saying “He by Thomas Kunkel, 1994 his innate sense for identifying
was one of the most what drawing was best suited
literate men I’ve for factual vs. ficticious con-
known. “He wrote tent. He used different illus-
awfully well him- trators for different articles
self and was a because he felt their style of
wonderful drawing suited it better than
editor.” someone else’s.
The cartoon became the
center of a thought that had
been, or sometimes not, put
in writing. This changed the
role of comic art from just a
representation of something
Katherine’s
Husband E.B. written to an expression or The Talk of the Town, September 13, 1930
White wrote in a commentary all by itself.
never-published his- Illustration was also allowed to interact with copy, with cars crash-
tory of The New ing into copy when reporting on races to characters talking back to
Yorker that Ross “was a paragraphs as if to defend themselves. This was a way to present all sides
genius at encouraging of a topic without having to present it as a sidebar or talk about it in a
people.” separate article.
The Whites
considered Ross The Stand-Alone
the “hero” of the The use of stand-alone
magazine. cartoons not part of a story

came about in the 1930s.
Unveiling These gave the reader a quick
As noted, the nod and a quick wink repre-
facts regarding the senting something that could
establishment of The New Yorker’s wry be told quickly and succinctly.
approach to its covered topics were Most of the earlier
obscured, kept hidden, and, frankly, lied comedic examples centered
about regularly. Books written about around the man of the house
y, The New Yorker from such “insiders” as and the cacophony of activity
and social pressures reeling
James
Thurber,
Case
Margaret
g. Harriman, and Brendan Gill, among around his daily life, or as “So what if people do laugh?
Lee put it, “tales of neurotic
many other writers were filled
with the sometimes snarky little men driven insane The world can use a little more laughter,
tone that was The New by jumbo women and can’t it?”
Yorker’s signature style. modern life – especially things technical or commercial.”
In February, 1925, Rea Irvin, The New Yorker’s first art editor, designed the cover of the magazine’s
inaugural issue. That cover’s central character, a dandy peering at a butterfly through a monocle,
would come to be known as Eustace Tilley, and he has graced the cover of the magazine nearly every
February in the ninety-five years since. – Barry Blitt’s “Origin Story”
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