New YorkerestThe essential reads from every New Yorker issue
Best of The New Yorker

Best New Yorker Articles of 1937

Explore 52 featured picks from The New Yorker's 1937 issues.

52 picks · 52 issues · Top author: Jack Alexander (10)

Most featured section: Profiles

Featured Picks

Why We Laugh—or Do We?
Robert Benchley · Other · January 2

Robert Benchley on how comedy really works.

IRON HORSE MEN
Eugene Kinkead · A Reporter at Large · January 9

REPORTER AT LARGE about a train trip to the shops of the Lehigh Valley Railroad at Sayre, Pennsylvania, chartered by the N. Y. Chapter of the Railway & …

DEATH WITHOUT STING.
Jack Alexander · A Reporter at Large · January 16

REPORTER AT LARGE about the Associated Cemeteries Corporation, 469 Tenth Avenue, which sells cemetery lots. The Corporation was formed last February, and …

Bait
Frank Sullivan · Fiction · January 23

How to carve a reputation in Society as bait. According to Miss Alice Leone Moats of Town and Country the men about town considered as the most interesting…

Miss Fixit--I
Margaret Case Harriman · Profiles · January 30
Miss Fixit--II
Margaret Case Harriman · Profiles · February 6
Give And Take
John O’Hara · Fiction · February 13

The door opened and in came a woman in her late forties. She went through the foyer and in to the living room. "Hello Tommy, what are you doing up so …

CONTENTED CRUSADER
Alva Johnston · Profiles · February 20

PROFILE of John S. Sumner, Secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. He deals with the writing of smut.

LEARNED LYRICIST.
A. J. Liebling · Profiles · February 27

PROFILE of Otto Harbach. His musical comedies and a few straight farces have had more New York performances than those of any living playwright. Forty-nine…

That Summer
Nancy Hale · Fiction · March 6

The year after the writer graduated from school she came out. Nothing happened to her in that summer in between. But somehow she remembers it so vividly, …

Let Your Mind Alone!: Sex Ex Machina
James Thurber · Fiction · March 13

Dr. Louis E. Bisch, M. D., Ph.D., the "Be-Glad- You're-Neurotic" man, has a remarkable chapter which deals, in part, with man, sex, and the machine. …

The Man In the Corner
A. J. Liebling · Profiles · March 20

PROFILE of Morris Bimstein (Whitey) the best-known prize-fight second and trainer. Tells about his miracles of facial surgery between rounds, turning …

Stationary Salesman
Gerold Frank · Fiction · March 27

"He came in with a flourish, swinging his generous brown leather case, doffing his hat, and smiling a nice, boyish smile. 'Ladies', he announced. …

Dominion over Palm and Pine
Henrietta Fort Holland · Fiction · April 3

Sir John Simon, the Home Secretaty, has invented a audible golf ball something after the principle of the Mills bomb. When it lands, it emits a squeak at …

CAFE ROYAL
Leo Rosten · A Reporter at Large · April 10

TEPORTER AT LARGE about Cafe Royal, located on the south-east corner of 12th Street and 2nd Avenue. It is the forum of Jewish intelligentsia, the place to …

Reporter at Large.
Robert McLaughlin · A Reporter at Large · April 17

Reporter at Large about a psyciatric conference at Bellevue Hospital. Describes the reception hall, with murals by WPA, also the conference room. There was…

Arbitration
Jack Alexander · A Reporter at Large · April 24

Reporter at Large about the American Arbitration Association with offices at 521-5th Avenue. The association was formed in 1926 as a movement to eliminate,…

Avocado, Or The Future of Eating
S. J. Perelman · Fiction · May 1

(Note Found In An Empty Stomach Off Santa Barbara) At the Best Drug Stores in Los Angeles the writer dined off an avocado sandwich on whole wheat and a …

REPORTER AT LARGE
Jack Alexander · A Reporter at Large · May 8

Visit to the Assembly and Senate Chambers in Albany. Describes the sessions. The proceedings were more sedate in the Seante than in the Assembly, for the …

WINGS OVER THE ELEVATED.
George Weller · A Reporter at Large · May 15

REPORTER AT LARGE about pigeons & pigeon-fanciers in the city. John Bacci, a stationary-storekeeper, on the lower East Side, raises pigeons because he …

"Reporter at Large."
Carlton Brown · A Reporter at Large · May 22

A visit to the Fuller Brush Company's office. Martin Gilbert, the salesman, coaches some new salesmen in "customer approach." Tells also about a visit …

“Mr. Feeeman”
A. J. Liebling · Profiles · May 29

PROFILE of Sidney Freeman, a kind of American trade name for a syndicate of British bookmakers who are in the business of buying up sweepstake tickets. A …

PAL TO MILLIONS
Jack Alexander · A Reporter at Large · June 5

REPORTER AT LARGE about Robert Spero, "Uncle Robert," tells how the idea of Parents' Day originated. Uncle Robert set up Parents Day in direct …

CHIEF OPERATOR--II
Jack Alexander · Profiles · June 12

PROFILE of Walter S. Gifford, president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Co.

CHIEF OPERATOR--III
Jack Alexander · Profiles · June 19

PROFILE of Walter S. Gifford, chief executive of the Bell Telephone Company. History of the largest business in the world, Metropolitan Life Insurance …

Father Gives Mother An Allowance
Clarence Day · Fiction · June 26
MR. GROVER A. WHALEN AND THE MIDWAY
Joseph Mitchell · A Reporter at Large · July 3

REPORTER AT LARGE. Mr. Whalen, president of the World's Fair has banned the American word "Midway," he appears to prefer "Amusement Area." He has also …

A BUGLER'S PROGRESS
Alva Johnston · Profiles · July 10

PROFILE of Jesse L. Lasky. The first feature picture made in Hollywood was "The Squaw Man." It was produced by the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Co., which …

GLORIOUS EVENT.
Jack Alexander · A Reporter at Large · July 17

REPORTER AT LARGE about a Fourth of July Rally at Tammany Hall. It was a very tame celebration compared with patriotic orgies of former years. Mentions …

THE LINE
A. J. Liebling · Profiles · July 24

PROFILE of Austustine J. Grenet, pricemaker, who furnishes information to bookmakers and big operators & also a racing news agency which distributes his …

NOT QUITE GONE ARE THE DAYS
A. J. Liebling · A Reporter at Large · July 31

REPORTER AT LARGE about speakeasies during the probition era. Aldo's West of Eight Avenue, in the Forties, was a small place and run by a woman named …

Auction Sale This Day.
Carlton Brown · Profiles · August 7

Composit profile of Peter Duff, auctioneer of the Midtown Bankrupt Stocks Auction Company, in the Times Square district. These "grind joints" seldom …

Baby Tiger
Louise Field Cooper · Fiction · August 14

A young man who had travelled in Indo-China, tells his fellow travellers about his worries; the customs- a few cases of champagne, and crates of stuff he …

SPIRITUAL REFUGE--I
Geoffrey T. Hellman · Profiles · August 21

PROFILE of Cooper Union, founded by Peter Cooper, and opened in 1859. Tells about its art school, mentions former students, Morgan F. Larson, ex-Governor …

Left Bank--I
Edmund Wilson · A Reporter at Large · August 28

Reporter at Large about historical spots along the Hudson River, Tappan, where Major Andre spent his last three days on earth, Piermont Village, Minehole, …

Left Bank-II
Edmund Wilson · A Reporter at Large · September 4

Reporter at Large about historical spots along the Hudson River, Tappan, where Major Andre spent his last three days on earth, Piermont Village, Minehole, …

A MAN THIS COUNTRY NEEDED
Sanderson Vanderbilt · Profiles · September 11

PROFILE of Arthur Walsh who opened a branch office of Benson & Hedges in this country in 1897. Biographical sketches of the founders, William Hedges and …

Turf and Gridiron
A. J. Liebling · Profiles · September 18

PROFILE of Tim Mara, bookmaker & founder of the Turf and Gridiron Club. In 1925, Mara established the N. Y. Football Giants, the profiessional eleven which…

THE DIRECTOR--I
Jack Alexander · Profiles · September 25

PROFILEof John Edgar Hoover. Tells about the F.B.I.s identification division, which had the fingerprinsts of more than 7 million persons with records of …

THE DIRECTOR--II
Jack Alexander · Profiles · October 2

PROFILEof John Edgar Hoover. Tells about the F.B.I.s identification division, which had the fingerprinsts of more than 7 million persons with records of …

THE DIRECTOR--III
Jack Alexander · Profiles · October 9

PROFILEof John Edgar Hoover. Tells about the F.B.I.s identification division, which had the fingerprinsts of more than 7 million persons with records of …

DOLLY AND POLLY, BILLY AND CHOLLY--I
Margaret Case Harriman · Profiles · October 16

Profile of Maury H.B. Paul, society writer for the Journal American, wnder the pen name of Cholly Knickerbocker, He has also written under the names of …

DOLLY AND POLLY, BILLY AND CHOLLY--II
Margaret Harriman Case · Profiles · October 23

PROFILE of Maury H. B. Paul (Cholly Knickerbocker). Last summer he received a letter from Mr. Hubbard, a Wilton squire, asking him to send one dollar for a…

Mr. Whitten, The Shoe Men, and the Weakened Metatarsal
John McCarten · Fiction · October 30

Mr. Whitten tries to buy a pair of shoes but the shoe clerk refuses to sell him the pair he liked saying that they didn't fit.

The Greatest Paper Hanger In The World
Henry Anton Steig · Profiles · November 6

PROFILE of Ben Stein known as '"the greatest paper-hanger in the world." His biggest Job was the hanging of the Ezra Winter mural in Radio City. Tells …

Romance Lingers, Adventure Lives
John Collier · Fiction · November 13

Mr. Robinson and Mr. Watkins both hate Fairfox Avenue, the street they live in, with all the houses alike. Walking home one Saturday night, each …

NAZI MEETING
Richard O. Boyer · A Reporter at Large · November 20

REPORTER AT LARGE about a visit to the Amerikadeutscher Volksbund meeting on Lexington Avenue and 85th Street. There are about 17,000 members in N. Y. C., …

The Diamond Gardenia--II
Wolcott Gibbs · Profiles · November 27

Profile Lucius Beebe.

Man's Place In The Animal Kingdom
Robert M. Coates · Fiction · December 4

Idioms used in comparing man with the animals. Sly as a fox, mean as a coyote, fat as a pig, crazy as a loon, blind as a bat, inquisitive as a magpie, …

Et Tu, Shadow?
A. J. Liebling · The Talk of the Town · December 11

In this Talk story from 1937, A. J. Leibling interviews a twenty-two-year-old who had created history with his productions of “Macbeth” and “Doctor Faustus” even before “Julius Caesar.”

Frau Weinmann and the Third Reich.
A. J. Liebling · A Reporter at Large · December 18

REPORTER AT LARGE. In 1933, Fritz Weinmann was of the opinion that the Hitler regime might be a good thing for Germany. While the government appeared to …

Farfetched Waters
W. E. Farbstein · Fiction · December 25

Instances recently reported in the Daily Press which hint at the development of a world-wide tendency to remove water from its normal habitat.

Get the weekly pick in your inbox

Best Of·Leaderboard·Authors·Sections·Years·About
Back to latest issue

© 2026 New Yorkerest

Not affiliated with Condé Nast or The New Yorker Magazine. Made with respect and admiration for their exceptional editorial work.