Stripper's Guide

…Then there was Harpo. Not having a gag man clearly didn’t bother him, so Groucho took it upon himself to break his reading habits and take a look at the funnies, where he turned up a cartoonist named J. Carver Pusey, a mild-mannered newspaper man who did a strip called “Little Benny,” about a boy who couldn’t talk. Pusey got himself signed up with Paramount too….

Two cartoonists and one mad wag are responsible for the hilarious story and “gags” of the third picture starring the Four Marx Brothers—“Monkey Business” which opens at Loew’s Valencia theatre Friday. 

The mad wag is S. J. Perelman, gag-maker emeritus of Judge and other magazines. The cartoonists are Will B. Johnstone and J. Carver Pusey. Johnstone is the comic cartoonist of the World-Telegram, New York evening paper, and Pusey is the creator of “Benny,” a comic strip which appears in numerous papers throughout the country.

J. Carver Pusey—Benny’s creator, Born Avondale, Pennsylvania, 1901. 

Schooling—Kindergarten to Pennsylvania School of Industrial Art, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Jobs—Water boy, office boy, silk hosiery salesman, hot dog vendor, newspaper advertising, Hollywood gag man, etc. 

Hobbies—Animals, trees, horse races, roast turkey and fire engines. 

Location— Farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. 

Ambitions—To pay off mortgage. 

Miscellaneous—Married, one daughter. Like “Old Black Joe” and “The Wreck of the Old 97.” Enjoy all sports, excel in none. Dislike suburbs and string beans. 

Benny—Born from pencil wanderings rather than the brain. Benny’s philosophy of life is to follow the line of least resistance. His background is a little hazy, his age vague and his parentage questionable. 

However, a big hearted little waif, he lives in a renovated railroad tool box on the other side of the tracks, does his own cleaning, cooking sewing, eats spinach, clean his teeth regularly and takes a bath religiously every Saturday night.

...Born 34 years ago in Avondale, Pa. Pusey decided to be a cartoonist because it seemed an easy way to make a living. Discovering his error, he ran a hot dog stand one summer, drove a truck, sold silk underwear and hosiery, sold Frigidaires, became interested in a patented ice cream dipper and astonished himself by selling one. Hoping to work his way to Europe he hitch-hiked to New York, slept on a Battery Park bench for a week, returned to Philadelphia, broke his nose in a Y.M.C.A. swimming pool, matriculated at the Pennsylvania School of Art because school appeared more enjoyable than what he had been doing. He studied one year, met the girl whom he later married, began drawing in earnest.

Pusey spent several months in Hollywood as gagman for Harpo Marx, liked it, but prefers his farm in Buck County, Pa., his horses and chickens. He has seven dogs which he says were an accident. Short, rugged, Cartoonist Pusey likes old-fashion cocktails, varicolored pousse-cafes. He works late at night because he never manages to get started until then.