You might ask yourself, as I did this Christmas morning: “When did the first Santa Claus appear in a New Yorker cartoon?” If you asked, you might’ve been tempted to guess it was sometime during the magazine’s first opportunity, in December of 1925. Wrong! Hard to believe, but it was not until the second Christmas in the New Yorker‘s lifetime that it published a cartoon containing the jolly old fellow. There were cartoons in 1925 referencing Christmas — the earliest was in June(!) of 1925 by Al Frueh, but no Santa there — just a letter written to Santa.
No, it wasn’t until the issue of November 27, 1926 that a Santa Claus debuted in one of the magazine’s cartoons. The cartoon was by Helen Hokinson, one of the magazine’s two stars (Peter Arno being the other. The very same issue bore Mr. Arno’s first of many covers for the magazine).
As usual with Ms. Hokinson, the drawing looks as if she dashed it off with brilliant ease. I love the little glimpse of a village. Was it a flat backdrop, or an actual small constructed set. Santa, sitting in front of what seems to be a chimney top, or low wall, looks weary in his debut.
And if you were wondering when Santa made his first appearance on the magazine’s cover, it was just a few issues later, December 11, 1926, when the magazine’s go-to cover artist, Rea Irvin produced a tree bearing Santa-like ornaments.
