Student Publications: The Ghost, 1920s
From GWUEncyc
Article
From 1921-22 and again from 1926-29, the student body of GW published a humor magazine called The Ghost, which bordered on the risqué for the times. In an early struggle with censorship, GW’s president prohibited one of its issues from being published because he deemed it too extreme. The following are excerpts of articles from the student newspaper the Hatchet, discussing the controversy.
December 23, 1921 - “The ‘Ghost’ Suppressed”
The “Ghost,” George Washington’s humorous monthly, was suppressed Wednesday afternoon when it was put on sale, upon advice of President Howard L. Hodgkins. Director of Student Activities Bryan Morse notified the editor and business manager of the “Ghost” that the sale of the publication was to be discontinued and further advertising of the sale stopped…The “Ghost” was started last year along the lines of other college humorous monthly papers. It has been financing itself independent of student activity funds and was recently turned over to the Student Council to be recognized as a regular student activity.
January 6, 1922 - “Censor”
Censors, censorship and the need for censorship will be burlesques in the next issue of the much discussed and suppressed “Ghost,” which will make its appearance January 30 according to “Tex” Nall, chief of the board of spirits. To carry out the spirit of the issue the staff will change its name from the “board of spirits” to the board of censors. The previous plan for an intoxication edition will not be abandoned but will be combined with the censor idea which should result in the most peppy, witty and snappy of all “Ghosts” yet issued. Little difficulty is expected in selling this issue as President Hodgkins’ order for suppression of the holiday number proved to be great publicity for GW’s newest activity. The next day all of the Washington dailies carried big stories on it, until everybody had heard about the suppressed “Ghost.”
Many opinions were voiced by various organizations in regard to the tone of the magazine and the advisability of its suppression. Some said President Hodgkins was entirely justified in his action; others declared the contents of the magazine were in every way suitable for publication in a magazine of that type. President Hodgkins declared he objected to the tenor of the “Ghost” and particularly to the cover design, not because he considered it indecent or immoral but because he believed a college magazine should be conservative rather than extreme…Mrs. Giles Scott Rafter, president of the Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations of Washington said, “People who send their children to college often with great effort and sacrifice do so because they expect their children to be benefited. The University authorities would not be doing their duties toward the parents of the students unless they censured such matter.”
Mrs. Francis St. Clair, State regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution said: “Dr. Hodgkins was exactly right, and you can quote me for saying so. All the mothers of the city should stand in back of him. I admire his bravery in taking the stand he has and stopping this thing at once. If he let this issue of the paper go out, there is no telling what the next one would be like. I am sorry any of the girls had any part in publishing the things which Dr. Hodgkins disapproved.”
Most of the professors declared they could see nothing wrong with the “Ghost,” and, in fact, got copies, even though some of them had to get “bootlegged” copies paying increased prices therefore, and then enjoyed pleasant hours looking over the much discussed publication. The Post Office Department rendered a favorable opinion, allowing the Christmas number to be mailed….
February 3, 1922 - “Ghost” Triples Sales For Censored Edition
As proof of the increased popularity of “Ghost,” due to the suppression of the December issue, more than 2,000 copies have been sold to date at newsstands and 600 or more copies at the University, while the newsstands keep asking for more, according to Albert Musher, business manager of “Ghost.” “Ghost” had never been sold out at newsstands before the publication of the December issue, and only 800 copies had been printed when the issue was suppressed. Five hundred totaled the sale of the November issue and only 400 copies have been sold of the October issue.
“Splendid” was the comment by President Hodgkins when shown a copy of the last edition. Everybody agrees that the last issue is very clever, but the girls especially declare that is too “tame” or too “dead” and that the next issue ought to be a little livelier, and as the girls are considered the best authority in such matters, the business manager has promised to use his best efforts in getting the president’s permission for a little more spice for that edition.
In an oral history interview conducted in 1991, Francis Brown (A.B. 1924, LL.B. 1926, LL.M 1927), who was a reporter for the Ghost, remembered it this way:
Now, there’s one issue there that really made it for us. We - it was suppressed. Dean Hodgkins thought, “oh, this is naughty.” So, he suppressed it, and collected all the copies. Well, I have one, and the stuff was not, well, it’s too mild for today. It was the humorous magazine, like the Harvard Lampoon, although it wasn’t in the Lampoon type. It was, we had some darned good artists. Winnie Deboe was an excellent artist. Jim Berryman was a cartoonist. His father was the cartoonist for the Star for many years. And he was also a cartoonist for papers. And a lot of good writers, Dick Vidmer ended up with the New York papers, a sports writer. We had a, oh, Earle Chesney was a writer, an excellent writer. And Earle was later on Eisenhower’s staff in the White House. So, we had quite a bunch there. That particular issue was really something.
Document Information
Images: 1
Photographic Credit: RG0115/Ghost magazine
Author or Source: Hatchet, Dec. 23, 1921; Jan. 6, 1922; February 3, 1922; MS0371
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: December 21, 2006
Prepared by: Lyle Slovick, Assistant University Archivist
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