62 - Gays in the Military: Mischa Richter

Mischa Richter in “New Yorker”, 16 February 1952

This is rather unexpected. I don’t really see how it can be construed as not being gay. But it appeared in “The New Yorker”, in the 50s, so it evidently flew right under somebody’s radar. What the editor thought the gag could otherwise have been, heaven only knows. It might be about hero worship, I suppose. Certainly everybody reading the “New Yorker” at this time would probably have had some military experience, so it might be a twist on some emotive aspect of army life.
Richter was a “New Yorker” stalwart producing over 1500 cartoons during hius tenure there. He also had distinctly left-wing politics, having been the art editor for the Communist “New Masses” newspaper in the 30s.