Time And A Half For Overtime
(James Munves) - Sir Brown - May 4, 1942 - 24 pages
In the middle of World War II, the apparent message from this Brown University
parody of Time is: smoke as many cigarettes as you can. It's good
for the country. The person on the cover is Mr. Manny Motta, the guy who
has been selling candy and cigarettes in Faunce House since 1924. They
like him. There are also full-cover, full-page real cigarette ads from Joe
("I've smoked Camels for 8 years and they have the mildness that counts with
me.") DiMaggio (1914-1999) and Joan ("Make your next pack Chesterfields ...
regardless of price there is no better cigarette made today.") Bennett
(1910-1990). Throughout the magazine, the importance of cigarette smoking
to Brown students is emphasized.
The magazine has the look of Time but the stories are focused on the Brown U.
experience rather than a parody of the events of the day. The feature
article ("Brown At War") is an odd, seven-page account of the attempted
occupation and capture of the campus by 14-year-old Stinky Gunshy and company.
The story is weak and not funny but there are ten black-and-white photos of the
college. Other over-long articles are about working in the library
("Books"); how to make better movies ("Cinema"); "People" (Manny Motta); editing
photographs with scissors ("Art"); and the blondness of Stan Kenton ("Music").
The strangest article is the final "Story" about the sad life of a department
store Santa (in May in a humor magazine?).
There was really no mention of what was happening in the European and Asian
theatres of war, but there is a full-page ad for the USO ("We've Got A War To
Win"). I do not envy the task of the editors of a humor magazine whose
readers are primarily draft-age young men in 1942. At one point, the
editor states: "We decided that you ought to fill this page up. WRITE,
PLEASE PRINT, something funny here. Ha, Ha. We can't think of
anything funny, it's Monday 2 A.M. and this thing goes to press in about twenty
four hours." I agree with the editor.
Front cover – Manny Motta, Brown University Faunce House vendor
Inside front cover – “Joe DiMaggio’s Mighty Swing” (real
Camel ad)
1 – Letters; Rage (drawing by “Ink”)
2 – Sir Brown masthead
3 – Five-part cartoon of a newspaper reader with some jokes.
4 – Jokes and cartoons
5 – Brown at War
6 – Scene of Hostilities (Aerial View of Brown University)
7 – Brown Battlefronts
12 – Books
14 – Art (drawings by “Ennis”)
15 – People (Manny Motta)
16 – Cinema
17 – Music
18 – Theatre (drawings by DAS)
19 – Education (drawing by “Hackett”)
20 – Story
21 – We’ve Got a War to Win! (real ad for USO)
22 – Jokes and cartoons
Back cover – “His Cigarette and Mine” (Joan Bennett, American Women’s Voluntary
Services real ad for Chesterfield)