Gargoyle Humor Magazine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 over 90 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.
To current and former editors and staff, Gargoyle Humor Magazine is often known simply as The Garg.
Contents |
[edit] Location
The Gargoyle's office is located on the ground floor of the Student Publications Building at 420 Maynard Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The office serves as the staff's production area; it is also home to a number of relics, including two bombshells obtained from the local army surplus and a six-foot-tall inflatable phallus.
[edit] History
The Gargoyle was founded by its first editor in chief, Lee A. White, in 1909. White eventually became editor of the Detroit News. Gargoyle was initially a combination literary and comedy magazine.
In the 1920s and 30s, Gargoyle was published monthly during the school year. The decrease in male students brought about by World War II resulted in the first woman, Olga Gruhzit, becoming editor of Gargoyle in 1942. In 1944, at the height of the war, Gargoyle briefly ceased publication, only to return in the fall of 1945.
Gargoyle was declared dead in 1950 when the Board in Control of Student Publications took offense to the "The Smooth Gargoyle" issue. Publication continued off campus for a year, and when Gargoyle returned the next year, literary pieces were discontinued and the focus became solely humor. During the 1950s the magazine acquired a counterculture reputation, promoting everything from co-ed housing (then progressive) in the '50s to Vietnam War protests in the '60s. In response to the advent of Playboy in the '50s and the sexual revolution of the '60s, Gargoyle became progressively more risque. While sex, illegal drugs, and otherwise raunchy jokes have been common fare in issues of the Gargoyle since the 1970s, the magazine has generally tried to maintain a level of intelligence and artistry in its humor.
Art editor Phil Zaret's satirical cartoon, "Kill a Commie for Christ," originally published in the Gargoyle in 1967, became extremely popular during the Vietnam War and was re-published by college publications throughout the United States.
Though the Gargoyle was very successful in the '60's, it struggled to publish in the early '70s before returning to consistent publication in 1974. The magazine has been forced off-campus (in 1950) and shut down completely (1960-61, 1997) as the result of editorial and financial conflicts with the Board for Student Publications (previously the Board in Control of Student Publications). At one time the magazine was sold for prices varying from fifty cents to two dollars, but for the last five years, it has been free, all revenue being generated by advertisements.
In 1962 cartoonist Charles Schultz responded to a request for a Peanuts cartoon by drawing Snoopy with his nose perched over the end of his dog house in the manner of a gargoyle -- this became a standard Snoopy pose.
[edit] Mascots
Over the decades it has been a Gargoyle tradition for the mascot to periodically change at the whims of the current editor and artists on staff.
[edit] Sources
- Dobbertin, John (1999). Gargoyle Laughs at the 20th Century. Percheron, Inc. ISBN 0967423805.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor |
