UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE The Adolescent in American Print and Comics DISSERTATION submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Visual Studies by Christine Elizabeth Mugnolo Dissertation Committee: Professor Cécile Whiting, Chair Professor Kristen Hatch Professor Lyle Massey 2021 © 2021 Christine Elizabeth Mugnolo TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS x VITA xii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 2: THE IMMIGRANT JUVENILE AS URBAN AVATAR: 30 SUNDAY COMICS AND THE YELLOW KID The Sunday Supplement vs. the Comic Weekly 32 Bad Boy Comic Strips 50 The Yellow Kid and the Residents of Hogan’s Alley 56 The Return Gaze and a New Form of Political Humor 65 The Yellow Kid as Mask and Mirror 79 CHAPTER 3: THE MIDDLE-CLASS JUVENILE AS CULTURAL IDIOT: BUSTER BROWN 95 Reform in Comics and Buster Brown 96 Buster Brown Breaks the Comic Strip Formula 99 Buster and Middle-Class Child Rearing 109 “Resolved!” 115 Spank as Shock 121 CHAPTER 4: THE ADOLESCENT BODY IN THE AMERICAN IMAGINATION, 130 PAINTING, AND PRINT Formulating the Adolescent as a Visual Type 132 The Adolescent Body and the Masculine Ideal 138 Adolescence in the Comics 155 George Bellows: Merging Painting and Cartooning Traditions 162 in the Youthful Body ii Bellows and the College Adolescent 175 CHAPTER 5: THE UNDERGRADUATE: AN AMERICAN PROBLEM 191 College Students as a Modern Crisis: The College Adolescent as a Social Cause 192 Visualizing the Modern College Adolescent in Popular Culture 199 College Humor Magazines – Adolescents Representing Themselves Inventing the College Humor Magazine 208 The College Humor Magazine: A New Medium 215 The College Humor Magazine in the Debate on Manliness 228 The College Humor Magazine as a Counter Cultural Voice 245 CHAPTER 6: NORMAN ROCKWELL: CARTOONIST AND CULTURAL CRITIC 272 American Masculinity in Afloat and Ashore 276 Illustrating Boys and Adolescents for the Saturday Evening Post 291 Exercising, Inverting, and Inventing the American Boy 306 How Rockwell Unraveled Illustration’s Convincing Fictions 318 Boyhood, the Imagination, and Plasmatic Potential 334 Willie Gillis and the Adolescent Spirit in World War II 351 Willie’s Girlfriend, Lady Liberty, and the Homecoming GI 367 CHAPTER 7: EPILOGUE 387 BIBLIOGRAPHY 406 APPENDIX A: IMAGE PERMISSIONS 420 iii LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1.1 Newspaper advertisement for “The New Boy.” Los Angeles Herald, 29 December 2, 1894. From Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress, Image provided by University of California, Riverside, via Wikimedia Commons Fig. 2.1 Frederick Burr Opper. “Puck’s pyrotechnics – 90 Fourth-of-July fireworks free to all.” Puck, July 5, 1882. From Library of Congress. Fig. 2.2 Joseph Keppler. “Puck’s Pallete.” Puck, September 9, 1885. 90 From Library of Congress. Fig. 2.3 Louis Dalrymple. “Out of the Silver Flood!” Puck, September 13, 1893. 90 From Library of Congress. Fig. 2.4 Bernhard Gillam. “Grand Triumph of Brains.” Puck, January 25, 1885. 91 From Library of Congress. Fig. 2.5 Frank Marion Hutchin. “An Old Fable with New Application.” Puck, 91 May 23, 1894. From Library of Congress. Fig. 2.6 Puck, February 5, 1896, p. 3. Courtesy Hathitrust. 91 Original from University of Iowa. Fig. 2.7 “The New York Sunday World,” 1895 . From Library of Congress. 92 Fig. 2.8 “The Sunday World Sept. 27,” 1896. From Library of Congress. 92 Fig. 2.9 “The Sunday World Sept. 13” and “The Sunday World Nov. 15,” 1896. 92 From Library of Congress. Fig. 2.10 The New York Journal, February 17, 1897, p. 2. 93 From Library of Congress. Fig. 2.11 The New York Journal, February 14, 1897, p. 7. 93 From Library of Congress. Fig. 2.12 The New York Journal, February 21, 1897. 93 From Library of Congress. Fig. 2.13 Frank Marion Hutchins, “Puck Christmas number,” Puck, 94 December 5, 1894. From Library of Congress. Fig. 2.14 Archie Gunn and R. F. Outcault “New York Journal’s Colored 94 Comic Supplement,” 1896. From Library of Congress. Fig. 3.1 “Accounting for its smallness,” Judge, May 1894. 127 Courtesy Hathitrust. Original from University of Michigan. Fig. 3.2 “A Matter of Congratulation,” Judge, May 1894. 127 Courtesy Hathitrust. Original from University of Michigan. University Cartoon Research Library. Fig. 3.3 J.S. Pughe, “Bryan’s hobby,” Puck, March 27, 1903. 128 From Library of Congress. Fig. 3.4 “Trimming the Pampered Darling,” Puck, April 7, 1909. 128 From Library of Congress. Fig. 3.5 Judge, May 1894. Courtesy Hathitrust. 128 iv Original from University of Michigan. Fig. 3.6 S. D. Ehrhart, “Concerning race suicide,” Puck, April 1, 1903. 129 From Library of Congress. Fig. 4.1 George Bellows. (American, 1882-1925). Forty-two Kids. 1907. 182 Oil on canvas. 42” x 60 ¼”. Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, William A. Clark Fund). 2014.79.2. Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Fig. 4.2 Winslow Homer (American, 1836-1910). Undertow. 1886. 182 Oil on canvas. 29 3/16” x 47 5/8”. The Clark Institute. 1955.4 Image courtesy of the Clark Institute. Clarkart.edu Fig. 4.3 Thomas Eakins (American, 1844-1916). Arcadia. 1883. Oil on canvas. 183 38 5/8” x 45”. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876-1967), 1967. 67.187.125. Image courtesy of the Met’s Open Access policy. Fig. 4.4 Thomas Eakins (American, 1844–1916). Swimming. 1885. 184 Oil on canvas. 27 3/8 x 36 3/8 in. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas. Purchased by the Friends of Art, Fort Worth Art Association, 1925; acquired by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, 1990, from the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth through grants and donations from the Amon G. Carter Foundation, the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, the Anne Burnett and Charles Tandy Foundation, Capital Cities/ABC Foundation, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The R. D. and Joan Dale Hubbard Foundation and the people of Fort Worth 1990.19.1. Image courtesy Amon Carter Museum of Art Fig. 4.5 “Eugen Sandow.” photographed by George Steckel. c. 1894. 185 From Library of Congress Fig. 4.6 Thomas Hovenden (American, born Ireland, 1840-1895). 185 Breaking Home Ties. 1890. Oil on canvas. 52 1/8” x 6’ 1/4”. Philadelphia Museum of Art. Gift of Ellen Harrison McMichael in memory of C. Emory McMichael, 1942. 1942-60-1. Image courtesy the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Fig. 4.7 S. D. Ehrhart, “Which brand?,” Puck, December 31, 1913. 186 From Library of Congress. Fig. 4.8 “Snobbish Society’s Schoolmaster,” Judge, November 8, 1890. 186 From Library of Congress. Fig. 4.9 George Bellows (American, 1882-1925). Boy in a Blue Coat. 1915. 187 Oil on canvas. Unframed: 91.5 x 61 cm (36” x 24”). Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Mrs. Henry A. Everett for the Dorothy Burnham Everett Memorial Collection. 1938.45. Image courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Fig. 4.10 George Bellows (American, 1882-1925). Splinter Beach. 1916. 187 Lithograph on wove paper. 15” x 19 3/4”. National Gallery of Art. Purchased as the Gift of Max N. Berry. 2014.21.1. v Image courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington Fig. 4.11 George Bellows (American, 1882-1925). Riverfront. 1923-1924. 188 Lithograph. 14 7/8” x 20 7/8”. Indianapolis Museum of Art. Acquired by exchange. 26.11. Image courtesy Indianapolis Museum of Art Fig. 4.12 George Bellows (American, 1882-1925). Business Men’s Class. 1916. 188 Lithograph. 11 ½” x 17 ¼”. Philadelphia Museum of Art. Purchased with the SmithKline Beckman Corporation Fund, 1958. 1958.150.7. Image courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art. Fig. 4.13 George Bellows (1882-1925). Shower-Bath. 1917. Lithograph. 189 15 7/8” x 23 7/8”. Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas. 1985.306. Image Courtesy Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Fig. 4.14 George Bellows (1882-1925). Business-men’s Bath. 1923. Lithograph. 189 (39 x 55 cm) 16 7/8” x 11 7/8”. Boston Public Library. Gift; Albert H. Wiggin. Image courtesy Digital Commonwealth: Massachusetts Collections Online. Fig. 4.15 George Bellows (1882-1925). Sweeney, The Idol of the Kids, 190 Had Hit a Home Run. 19th – 20th century. Drawing. 13 1/6” x 17 9/16”. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop. 1943.568. Fig. 4.16 George Bellows (1882-1925). Initiation in the Frat. 1917. Lithograph. 190 12 5/8” x 10 1/8”. From Library of Congress. Fig. 5.1 “Sliding Down the Banister of Life,” Goodyear Welt Shoe Advertisement, 252 Yale Record 40, no. 1, October 21, 1911 Fig. 5.2 Dalrymple Louis, “The Modern Plague,” Puck, September 22, 1897. 252 From Library of Congress. Fig. 5.3 “Self-Denying,” Judge, September 1894. 253 Courtesy Hathitrust. Original from New York Public Library. Fig. 5.4 “Power of Love,” Judge, September 1894 253 Courtesy Hathitrust. Original from New York Public Library. Fig. 5.5 “The Farmer’s Boy, Aged 7 / The City Boy, Aged 7,” Judge, June 1894 253 Courtesy Hathitrust. Original from New York Public Library. Fig. 5.6 Inset image from “The rail at wealth is not entirely justified,” 254 Puck, July 7, 1897. From Library of Congress. Fig. 5.7 J. J. Gould, “The Modern Maid – as Changeable as the Seasons, 254 Puck, November 23, 1898. From Library of Congress. Fig. 5.8 “The Right Man for the Job,” Judge, February 1902, 155. 255 Courtesy Hathitrust. Original from New York Public Library. Fig. 5.9 “When Duty Calls,” Puck, September 24, 1913.