Sundial Humor Magazine

File:Sundial at ohio state.jpg

The Sundial's notable name is derived from the Sundial located on the north side of Thompson Library. Donated by the class of 1905, it was designed by Albert Crehole,{{Cite web|title=Sundial Registry|url=https://sundials.org/sundial-registry/onedial/681.html|access-date=2021-08-28|website=sundials.org|language=en-gb}} and is one of three remaining sundials designed by him left in the world.{{Cite web|title=Searching for Crehore's Sundial {{!}} Invention & Technology Magazine|url=https://www.inventionandtech.com/content/searching-crehores-sundial|access-date=2021-08-28|website=www.inventionandtech.com}}

The Sundial was founded in 1911 by several students in the style of other previously founded college humor magazines, such as Harvard's Lampoon or the Yale Record. Gardner Rea, one of the first contributing cartoonists to The New Yorker, was a founding member.{{Cite web|date=2009-11-24|title=Gardner Rea Obituary|url=http://brookhavensouthhaven.org/history/Rea/GardnerReaObituary.htm|access-date=2021-08-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091124222442/http://brookhavensouthhaven.org/history/Rea/GardnerReaObituary.htm|archive-date=2009-11-24}} From 1916 to 1918, then-student James Thurber served as the editor of the magazine.

After Thurber's graduation, the Sundial continued to publish, making fun of University officials. The magazine was briefly banned in 1944 by university President Howard Bevis after publishing an obscene cover of its Freshman Uplift edition, where a student is leering at a buxom coed.{{Cite book|last=Shkurti|first=William J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8CvyDwAAQBAJ&dq=sundial+humor+magazine&pg=PA73|title=Ohio State University Student Life in the 1960s|date=2020-08-17|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-1-4671-4599-2|language=en}}

In 1946, after the magazine was accused of obscenity, the University replaced it with a new one called Scarlet Fever. Thurber, who by then was a famous author, wrote a letter to the president objecting to the name change, promising to remain "...actively indignant on this subject until the cheap title Scarlet Fever is abandoned." The university later restored the name The Sundial.{{Cite web|title=So to Speak {{!}} Joe Blundo commentary: Humor mag rises again at Ohio State|url=https://www.dispatch.com/article/20110123/ENTERTAINMENT/301239904|access-date=2021-08-28|website=The Columbus Dispatch|language=en}}

In the fall of 1961, R.L Stine joined the staff of The Sundial, and took over as editor the following spring. Stine, known to the student body as "Jovial Bob Stine", revamped the magazine best described as "sarcasm, satire, and sex." During this period, the magazine often poked fun of those in power, the student newspaper The Lantern, the Columbus newspaper The Dispatch, the Women's Self Government Association, the Greek System, the university's agricultural heritage, and the administration.

In 1965, Stine took the magazine to new heights. He first announced his candidacy as student body president in February as Jovial Bob Stine, despite being ineligible to run for the position as he was about to graduate. His reasoning for running was simply stated as "Students had come to expect nothing of student government, and he was in the best position to deliver it." In April, the magazine began selling sweatshirts with the phrase "The Big Farm: Ohia State". This proved to be a successful endeavor, as The Sundial garnered eight thousand new subscriptions, and in May 1965, was voted a top five college humor magazine by editors across the nation.

Falling on financial struggles, the magazine ceased production in 1968, and since has had an on and off again history. In 2011, backed by financial assistance from R.L Stine, student Nathan Varrone restarted the publishing of The Sundial. The modern edition is published online and in-print (in the form of several themed zines throughout the semester), as well as featuring comics, videos, and articles frequently on their website.

In 2016, many of the Sundial Humor Magazine's staff writers created Backburner Sketch Comedy, a separate student organization{{Cite web |title=Backburner Sketch Comedy Group : Find a Student Organization : Student Activities |url=https://activities.osu.edu/involvement/student_organizations/find_a_student_org/?i=13aad805-137c-44e0-b100-2311ff5bbdc6&l=B&c=Columbus&page=0 |access-date=2022-05-31 |website=activities.osu.edu}} at Ohio State University with the shared purpose of writing original, student sketch comedy. Since then, the organization has put on over seventy live sketch comedy shows, both solo and as a collaboration with other student organizations on campus.{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://backburnercomedy.com/?page_id=70 |access-date=2022-05-31 |website=Backburner Sketch Comedy |language=en-US}}

• R. L. Stine, American novelist, producer, screenwriter, and creator of the popular series Goosebumps{{Cite web|title=The Sundial Humor Magazine - About|url=https://www.facebook.com/TheSundial/about_details|access-date=2023-12-10|via=Facebook|language=en}}
• James Thurber, American cartoonist, humorist, journalist, playwright, and author of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"
• Milton Caniff, American cartoonist and creator of Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon
• Gardner Rea, American cartoonist and one of the first contributing artists to The New Yorker
• Phil Ochs, American singer and songwriter, and figurehead in the 1960s counterculture era{{Cite book|last=Schumacher|first=Michael|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eip0DwAAQBAJ&dq=sundial+humor+magazine+the+lantern&pg=PT59|title=There But for Fortune: The Life of Phil Ochs|date=2018-04-03|publisher=U of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-1-4529-5716-6|language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2015-04-28 |title=Phil and Me |url=https://celebratingphilochs.com/phil-and-me/ |access-date=2023-06-27 |website=Celebrating Phil Ochs |language=en}}
• Mitra Jouhari, Iranian-American comedian, actress, and writer{{Cite web |title=Mitra Jouhari – The Sundial Humor Magazine |url=https://org.osu.edu/sundial/alumni/staff/mitra-jouhari-alumni/ |access-date=2022-02-27 |website=org.osu.edu}}
• Harlan Ellison, American writer{{Cite web |title=The Lantern 30 September 1988 — Ohio State University Newspaper Archives |url=https://osupublicationarchives.osu.edu/?a=d&d=LTN19880930-01.2.54&srpos=1&e=--1980-----en-20--1--txt-txIN-sundial------ |access-date=2022-04-28 |website=osupublicationarchives.osu.edu}}
• Paul Palnik, American artist, writer, and editor{{Cite web |title=Paul Palnik |url=https://www.palnikstudios.com/about |access-date=2022-04-28 |website=Palnik Studios |language=en-US}}
• Bill Crawford, American editorial cartoonist{{Cite web |title=The Lantern 22 January 1982 — Ohio State University Newspaper Archives |url=https://osupublicationarchives.osu.edu/?a=d&d=LTN19820122-01.2.23&srpos=22&e=--1980-----en-20--21--txt-txIN-sundial------ |access-date=2022-04-28 |website=osupublicationarchives.osu.edu}}
• Joseph W. Papin, American illustrator and political cartoonist
• Lee Adams, writer of Bye Bye Birdie{{Cite book |last=Ohio State University |url=http://archive.org/details/makio1949ohio |title=The Makio |date=1880 |publisher=Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University |others=Allen County Public Library}}

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Category:Humor magazines

Category:Independent magazines

Category:College humor magazines