They Lived it Down
Editors of University's naughty “Tar
Baby” and its successors didn't land
in the pen after all.
The aged and respectable Daily Tar
Heel at Chapel Hill recently celebrated
its 60th birthday. The dissolute and no¬
torious Tar Baby will be 34 years old
next fall.
A daily newspaper for students at
U.N.C., the Tar Heel has had the
same name since 1893. But The Tar
Baby, has found it discreet to operate
under assumed names. Among the
aliases of the University's campus hu-
"Isn't he a devil?” is the way they once
talked about editors of the “Tar Baby"
at Chapel Hill. John Mebane, now a
highly responsible journalist in At¬
lanta. still shows some signs of his
youthful literary waywardness.
By PETE IVEY
mor magazines are Buccaneer. Boll
Weevil. Tin jan. Tar an' Feathers, and
Tarnation.
What Happened?
"Didn't you used to be editor of the
Buccaneer?" a friend asked me the
other day. I flinched, as one docs when
caught red-handed. He had been read¬
ing about the success that had conic
to former editors of the Tar Heel. "I
wonder what has happened to former
Buccaneer and Tar Baby editors." he
said.
We agreed that it would be interest¬
ing to trace the downward and mean¬
dering paths that must be the fate of
most collegiate comic magazine editors
and jokesmiths. Wc wrote to Spike
Saunders, alumni secretary at Chapel
Hill, for the names of former students
who used to write the risque jokes and
draw the racy cartoons. Wc also asked
the whereabouts of these alumni at
this time — with cell numbers, if avail¬
able.
Not in Jail
But to our astonishment the facts
arc that editors and staff members of
the Buccaneer, and the others, haven't
done so badly.
Far from being inmates at Alcatraz
or Leavenworth or Atlanta, as wc had
feared and suspected, former humor
magazine editors have mended their
ways and have become solid citizens.
Most of them have achieved some kind
of success. In fact. I am the only for¬
mer Buccaneer editor who has never
amounted to anything.
Overtaken by Dignity
Seven of them arc college or uni¬
versity professors or members of the
staff of institutions of higher learning.
At Chapel Hill wc can point the finger
at William D. Carmichael. Jr.. Vice-
President and Controller of the Uni¬
versity. former editor of the Tar Baby.
Other present U.N.C. faculty members
who will acknowledge their past as
former writers for the Tar Baby or one
of its aliases are: Dr. W. D. Perry, and
Dr. Frnest Craige. The Buccaneer also
claims such educators as Dr. Guy A.
Cardwell, professor of English at Wash¬
ington University in St. Louis. Thomas
J. Wilson, director of the Harvard Uni¬
versity Press, C. A. P. Moore, English
professor at St. Mary's in Raleigh.
Among the reformed comic publi¬
cation staff members who arc now
newspapermen, including columnists,
editors and publishers, arc: Ernest H.
Abcrncthy of Atlanta who owns his
own publishing house (he was chief
organizer of the first Tar Baby). Jona¬
than Daniels. William E. Horner of
the Sanford Herald, Jake Wade.
U.N.C. sports publicist (Jake was edi¬
tor of the Boll Weevil which lasted a
year). John Mebane of the Atlanta
Journal, W. W. Anderson of the As¬
sociated Press in Jacksonville. Fla..
Holt McPherson, editor of the High
Point Enterprise. Robert Mason, edi¬
tor of the Sanford Herald, Bob Ruark,
the syndicated columnist (who was a
cartoonist at Chapel Hill). Smith Bar¬
rier of the Greensboro Daily Hews.
and Nelson Lansdalc of Newsweek.
Jim Daniel. Scripps-Howard columnist,
and the following public relations pro¬
moters: Carl Pugh of New York. Hugh
Morton of Wilmington. Bill Staubcr
of Durham, and Julian Bobbitt of
Rocky Mount.
Varied Crew
Manufacturers and assorted busi¬
ness and professional men who once
aided on the business or "literary" side
of Buccaneering at Chapel Hill arc
R. Arthur Spaugh. Winston-Salem tex¬
tile executive. Marshall Y. Cooper,
Henderson manufacturer and banker,
Charles W. Gold. Greensboro business¬
man. Peter S. Gilchrist and Foy Pat¬
rick Gaskins, both the latter being
chemists. Pete Gilchrist also is an in¬
ventor. and he probably got his first
inventive inspiration by trying to think
6
THE STATE. SCPTCMOCR 12. 1953
