Speaking of cartoons, alumni magazines (a favorite genre of mine, as some of you know) love to profile cartoonist graduates, especially when they make it to the Show. Here’s longtime quality starter—and retired pilot!—Leo Cullum, Holy Cross ’63, in an entertaining and in-depth profile in Holy Cross Magazine. From the story (forgive me, no time to add itals, but will insert soon!):

Finding he had plenty of spare time between flights and during layovers, Cullum revived his old interest in art. He took a couple of painting classes and developed an interest in cartooning.

“It looked like something I could do,” he says. “I bought some instructional books which explained the format, and I began studying the work of various cartoonists.”

At that time Manhattan was the Mecca of cartooning, and every Wednesday Cullum and other cartoonists, both neophyte and established, would make the pilgrimage to those cartoon editors who traditionally held an open house that day.

“The first time I drew a batch of cartoons and took them to the city, I met a number of the artists I had been studying,” Cullum says. “It was enormous fun for me, and, though I didn’t sell anything, I did receive some encouragement from some editors. I was hooked.”

In 1973, TWA transferred Cullum to Los Angeles. He took up residence in Malibu and continued to draw cartoons when he wasn’t flying.

“I think what I loved about trying to create a cartoon was the writing at least as much as the drawing,” Cullum says. “Trying to think of a funny or pithy comment came naturally to me and here was a chance to put it to use.”

Soon he was actually selling cartoons. His first was to Air Line Pilot Magazine. Cullum’s cartoons also showed up in True, Argosy, The Saturday Evening Post and Sports Afield.

“It didn’t take long to realize that, both in terms of prestige and money. the place to be was The New Yorker,” he says. “At that time The New Yorker used gag writers, and, though my drawings were rejected on a weekly basis, they eventually started buying some of my ideas and pairing me with Charles Addams.”

In 1977, the magazine bought one of Cullum’s cartoons, and pretty soon he was a regular.

“The New Yorker, did not, as is widely supposed, invent the magazine cartoon,” Mankoff says, “but, between the late 1920s and the mid 1930s, it certainly perfected it and made it part of American and, then, world culture. We’re proud of that tradition and intend to maintain it. As long as we have cartoonists like Leo Cullum, I don’t think we’ll have anything to worry about.”

I’m sure this has been around for a while and I haven’t noticed it, but when I was voting for Harry Effron and his hilariously apt and democratically triumphant anti-caption-turned-real-caption, this offer turned up in the thank-you page:

If you can’t read printing that small, it says “Purchase this cartoon with the caption you voted on as a matted print for only $49.95 now.” So now you can have the caption you were rooting for, and the non-winners can be satisfied that their captions really were the most fitting, forevermore. Nice move, Cartoon Bank!

Update: I see you can also order a cartoon with your own caption. That’s probably been around for a while, too. I’m adjusting to working full-time again, folks; this is how things get missed!

If you’re curious about how the winning caption evolved for another inspired Drew Dernavich contest cartoon, the exclusive interview is here, and continues right here.