 Cover ofPuck (April 6, 1901):Columbia wearing a warship bearing the words "World Power" as her "Easter bonnet" | |
| Editor | Henry Cuyler Bunner (1877–1896) Harry Leon Wilson (1896–1902) Joseph Keppler Jr. (1902–1918) |
|---|---|
| Categories | Humor |
| Frequency | Weekly |
| Publisher | William Randolph Hearst (1916–1918) |
| Founder | Joseph Keppler (1876-1894)Adolph Schwarzmann (1876-1904) |
| First issue | German-language edition (1876; 149 years ago (1876)) English-language edition (1877; 148 years ago (1877)) |
| Final issue | September 5, 1918; 107 years ago (1918-09-05) |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | St. Louis, later New York City |
| Language | German English |
Puck was the first successfulhumor magazine in the United States of colorfulcartoons,caricatures andpolitical satire of the issues of the day. It was founded in 1876 as a German-language publication byJoseph Keppler, an Austrian immigrant cartoonist[1] and Adolph Schwarzmann[2], a Germanbusinessman, co-founder and financial backer[3].Puck's first English-language edition was published in 1877, covering issues likeNew York City's Tammany Hall, presidential politics, andsocial issues of the late 19th century to the early 20th century.
"Puckish" means "childishly mischievous". This ledShakespeare'sPuck character (fromA Midsummer Night's Dream) to be recast as a charming near-naked boy and used as the title of the magazine.Puck was the first magazine to carry illustrated advertising and the first to successfully adopt full-colorlithography printing for a weekly publication.[4]
Puck was published from 1876 until 1918.[1][5]
After working withLeslie's Illustrated Weekly in New York – a well-established magazine at the time – Keppler created a satirical magazine calledPuck,. The weekly magazine was founded by Keppler inSt. Louis, Missouri. Keppler had begun publishing German-language periodicals in 1869, though they failed. In 1871,[6] he attempted another cartoon weekly,Puck, which lasted until August 1872.[7] Then in 1876, he again began publishingPuck in German. Interested backers wantedPuck in English so he published it in both languages for 15 years until he ceased the German version.[5]
In 1877, after gaining wide support for an English version ofPuck, Keppler Joseph Keppler and his business partner Adolph Schwarzmann published its first issue in English. The first English edition was 16 pages long and was sold for 16 cents.[5]
Sometime before 1887,Puck moved its editorial offices from St. Louis to New York City.
In May 1893, Puck Press publishedA Selection of Cartoons from Puck by Joseph Keppler (1877–1892) featuring 56 cartoons chosen by Keppler as his best work. Also during 1893, Keppler temporarily moved to Chicago and published a smaller-format, 12-page version ofPuck from theChicago World's Fair grounds. Shortly thereafter, Joseph Keppler died, andHenry Cuyler Bunner, editor ofPuck since 1877 continued the magazine until his own death in 1896.Harry Leon Wilson replaced Bunner and remained editor until he resigned in 1902.[8]Joseph Keppler Jr. then became the editor.
The English-language magazine continued in operation for more than 40 years under several owners and editors, until it was bought by theWilliam Randolph Hearst company in 1916 (ironically, one 1906 cartoon mocked Hearst's bid for Congress with his newspapers' cartoon characters). The Hearst conglomerate discontinued the political material and switched to fine art and social fads. Within 2 years, subscriptions fell off and Hearst stopped publication; the final edition was distributed on September 5, 1918.
A London edition ofPuck was published between January 1889 and June 1890.[citation needed] Among contributors was the English cartoonist and political satiristTom Merry.[9]
The magazine consisted of 16 pages measuring 10 inches by 13.5 inches with front and back covers in color and a color double-pagecenterfold. The cover always quoted Puck saying, "What fools these mortals be!" The jaunty symbol of Puck is conceived as aputto in a top hat who admires himself in a hand-mirror. He appears not only on the magazine covers but over the entrance to thePuck Building in New York'sNolita neighborhood, where the magazine was published, as well.
Puck gained notoriety for its witty, humorous cartoons and was the first to publish weekly cartoons using chromolithography in place of wood engraving, offering three cartoons instead of one.[1] In its early years of publication,Puck's cartoons were largely printed in black and white, though later editions featured colorful, eye-catching lithographic prints in vivid color. A typical 32-page issue contained a full-color political cartoon on the front cover and a color non-political cartoon orcomic strip on the back cover. There was always a double-page color centerfold, usually on a political topic. There were numerous black-and-white cartoons used to illustrate humorous anecdotes. A page of editorials commented on the issues of the day, and the last few pages were devoted to advertisements.
The magazine was founded by German immigrants who were sympathetic toOtto von Bismarck who launched a majorKulturkampf against the Catholic Church in Germany.Puck especially targeted Irish Catholics in New York City, where they controlledTammany Hall.[10] According to historian Samuel Thomas, himself a Catholic:[11]
[I]n an age of partisan politics and partisan journalism,Puck became the nation's premier journal of graphic humor and political satire, played an important role as a non-partisan crusader forgood government and the triumph of American constitutional ideals. Its prime targets, however, were not just corruptmachine politicians. The magazine included as well ...[the] political agenda of the Catholic Church, especially its new Pope,Leo XIII....Tammany Hall... was all the more dangerous toPuck because, beginning in the 1870s, Irish Catholics dominated it.... In cartoons and editorials spanning two decades, the magazine blasted and often conjoined both Tammany and the papacy with invidious comparisons that left few readers in doubt as to their sympathies.[12]
Puck engaged in a sustained and aggressive campaign practice ofplural marriage (polygamy) by theChurch of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints (LDS Church) in the Utah Territory. Referred to in the press as the "Mormon Question," the magazine treated polygamy as one of the fundamental social and political issues facing the United States.
Using vivid chromolithography,Puck visually characterized the practice as an intolerable threat to the United States morality and laws:
The magazine's anti-Mormon cartoons often coincided with congressional actions, lending visual support to legislation like theEdmunds Act of 1882, which increased penalties for polygamy. The intensity ofPuck's focus on the issued subsided after the LDS Church issued the1890 Manifesto, officially discontinuing the practice of plural marriage.
By the late 1800s in aera of theprogressive movement the magazine was fierce critic of the immense wealth and power accumulated by industrial time (often calledRobber Barons) likeJ. P. Morgan,John D. Rockefeller,Jay Gould andWilliam H. Vanderbilt.[19]
Famous cartoons likeThe Bosses of the Senate (1999 byJoseph Keppler) depicted massive, corpulent monopolists towering over and dictating to the trusts and monopolies. This cartoon is often cited as contributing to the development of theSherman Antitrust Act.
It skewered issues of its times, including conspicuous consumptions and widening wealth gap that defied the Gilded Age.[19]
Cartoons like Protectors of our Industries (1883 byBernhard Gillam) vividly illustrated the parasitic relationship between wealthy businessmen (sitting atop a raft and the struggling workers holding them up.
As theProgressive Era emerged in the late 1880sPuck maintained its prominence as a voice for political satire, shifting its focus from Gilded Age spoils to new demands for social and regulatory reform. The magazine's satire often maintained aDemocratic Party bias, but targeted corruption and inefficiency across the political spectrum.Puck generally supported progressive goals in that era, such asCivil Service Reform, supporting efforts to professionalize government and curb machine politics—anddirect democracy by backing initiatives like the direct election of senators and primary elections.
Puck's coverage of thewoman suffrage movement was overwhelmingly antagonistic, making the magazine a powerful visual proponent of theanti-suffrage perspective throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The magazine's cartoons often employed negative stereotypes and fear-based commentary, depicting suffragists as:
The magazine's cartoons often employed negative stereotypes and fear-based commentary depictingsuffragists as:
Due to the suffrage movement's close ties to theTemperance movement (Prohibition), a causePuck generally opposed, the magazine often linked and satirized both simultaneously. While the magazine's tone became less aggressive as the movement gained momentum in the 1910s, a notable exception occurred during the 1915 campaign for aNew York suffrage referendum.Puck published a special pro-suffrage issue guest-edited by suffrage organizations; this issue featured the iconic centerfoldThe Awakening (1915 byHy Mayer) which depicted a torch-bearing Lady Liberty striding across the western states (where women already had the vote) to liberate the women in the darkened eastern states[23], the magazine rarely offered supportive coverage;Puck ceased publication in 1918, two years before the ratification of theNineteenth Amendment.[24]
Over the years,Puck employed many early cartoonists of note, including,Louis Dalrymple,Bernhard Gillam,Friedrich Graetz,Livingston Hopkins,Frederick Burr Opper,Louis Glackens, Albert Levering,Frank Nankivell,J. S. Pughe,Rose O'Neill, Charles Taylor,James Albert Wales, andEugene Zimmerman.
Puck was housed from 1887 in the landmarkChicago-style,Romanesque RevivalPuck Building atLafayette andHouston streets, New York City. The steel-frame building was designed by architects Albert and Herman Wagner in 1885, as the world's largestlithographic pressworks under a single roof, with its own electricity-generatingdynamo. It takes up a full block on Houston Street, bounded by Lafayette andMulberry streets.
Years after its conclusion, the "Puck" name and slogan were revived as part of theComic WeeklySunday comic section that ran on Hearst's newspaper chain beginning in September 1931 and continuing until the 1970s. It was then revived again by Hearst'sLos Angeles Herald Examiner, which folded in 1989.
A collection ofPuckcartoons dating from 1879 to 1903 is maintained by the Special Collections Research Center within theGelman Library of TheGeorge Washington University.[25] TheLibrary of Congress also has an extensive collection ofPuck Magazine prints online. TheFlorida Atlantic University Libraries Special Collections Department also maintains a collection of both English and German editionPuck cartoons dating from 1878 to 1916.[26][27]
The complete collection ofPuck magazine's issues, digitized in black and white, can be accessed through theInternet Archives.[28]
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
