{"id":27228,"date":"2023-07-27T11:00:18","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T15:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/?p=27228"},"modified":"2023-07-27T09:10:50","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T13:10:50","slug":"huber-the-tuber-1943","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/2023\/07\/27\/huber-the-tuber-1943\/","title":{"rendered":"Huber the Tuber, 1943"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Steven Heller ~<\/em><\/p>\n

Originally published in <\/em>Hidden Treasure: The National Library of Medicine<\/a>, 2011.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Huber the tuber and his associates ride cough droplets to the next human victim, in Huber the Tuber<\/em><\/a>, 1944
National Library of Medicine #101598672<\/em><\/a>
Courtesy American Lung Association<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tuberculosis attracted considerable attention from artists and writers. Along with syphilis and polio it was so rampant that cautionary visual messages appeared in myriad public places, from offices to restrooms. A wall in my third-grade classroom routinely displayed public health flyers, pamphlets, and posters\u2014some benign, others nightmarishly frightening. They were specters of horror that left mental scars on an impressionable little me.<\/p>\n

In the \u201cCrusade Against TB,\u201d tuberculosis was often symbolized by hooded demons or skeletons. They were not pleasant to look at but did the job of raising awareness. Yet not every anti-TB product was scary. The logo for TB, the cross with the double horizontal crossbars, was a friendly brand. Even friendlier was Huber the Tuber, a Story of Tuberculosis<\/em><\/a>, which was conceived, drawn, and written for the National Tuberculosis Association in 1943 by Dr. Harry Wilmer (1917\u20132005), who was then recovering from his own bout with tuberculosis. This entertaining little illustrated book stars Huber, an anthropomorphic tubercle (a lung nodule caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis<\/em>), who goes on a series of adventures in \u201cThe Promised Land \u2018o\u2019 Lung.\u201d In the course of his escapades he gets caught up in a war that looks suspiciously like the one then raging in Europe and Asia and meets up with Nasty von Sputum, Rusty the Bloodyvitch, and Huey the Long Tuber (a reference to Senator Huey Long). And the reader gets otherwise serious lessons about the causes, diagnosis, pathology, and treatment of tuberculosis.<\/p>\n

A few years later Wilmer created a companion volume, Corky the Killer, a Story of Syphilis<\/em><\/a>, for the American Social Hygiene Association, an anti\u2013venereal disease advocacy group. Time <\/em>magazine described Corky <\/em>as \u201ca slightly bawdy blend of fact and fancy that seeks by cartoons and comic-strip dialogue to tell about the syphilis spirochete and how it works.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a>
Corky the Killer and friends contemplate locating a snug place in their victim\u2019s body where they will be secure from attack by the body\u2019s dog-faced defenders in Corky the Killer<\/em><\/a>, 1945
National Library of Medicine #101598673<\/em><\/a>
Courtesy the National Social Hygiene Association<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The villain is Corky, a nasty 1\/3,000th of an inch tall, with a corkscrew body (characteristic of the spirochete), a nose like a golf tee, and spindly legs. He is the leader of a band of syphilitic saboteurs and the Mayor of Chancretown, whose anthem is \u201cDown by the Old Blood Stream.\u201d Dodging anti-syphilitic \u201cmagic bullets\u201d (the drug Salvarsan, developed by Paul Ehrlich), Corky makes a mad dash through \u201cMan World\u201d and latches on to the first blood cell that floats by. Soon he rejoins his fellow saboteurs, who love to cause nasty skin eruptions (chancres). Eventually caught, he is brought to trial and, after losing his case, sentenced to the Soap and Water Chamber of Torture, where he is scrubbed to death. The moral of the story: syphilis can be prevented or cured, if caught early and treated appropriately.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a>
Huber the Tuber and his associates find lodging in a victim\u2019s lungs in Huber the Tuber<\/em><\/a>, 1944
National Library of Medicine #101598674<\/em><\/a>
Courtesy American Lung Association<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wilmer, a passable pen-and-ink draftsman in Huber<\/em>, greatly improved his craft in Corky<\/em>. But somehow the drawings in Huber<\/em>, which look like doodles, are more effective. Both books have a bit of magic in them: the health message is subordinated to the sheer joy of visual storytelling. Like the best illustrated children\u2019s books\u2014and graphic novels and animated cartoons\u2014each creates an imaginative universe that refers back to the real world with wit, humor, and insight.<\/p>\n

Steven Heller<\/a>, author and editor of more than 130 books on graphic design, satiric art, and popular culture, is co-founder and co-chair of the MFA Designer as Author program at the School of Visual Arts, New York. He is also co-founder of the MFA in Design Criticism, MFA in Interaction Design, MFA Social Documentary Film, and MPS Branding programs. He writes the \u201cVisuals\u201d column for the Book Review and \u201cGraphic Content\u201d for the T-Style\/ The Moment blog.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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