"The callous editor, into whose presence the aspiring humorist had forced his way, handed back the latest batch of laugh-inspiring offerings.
"'You editors,' remarked the joke artist, 'take life too darn seriously.'
"'On the contrary," chortled the editor. 'I could take yours with positive glee.'"
— The American Legion Weekly, June 9, 1922
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"It seemed that his New Year poem was about to be rejected.
"'You say that December wore on,' sneered the editor. 'What, may I ask, did it wear?'
"'The close of the year?' the poet faltered, smiling tentatively."
— a joke that ran in a number of U.S. newspapers in early January 1907
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"Why wouldn't they ever let an editor take up collection in church?"
"Because he'd reject too many contributions."
— a knee-slapper that made the rounds in 1926, apparently originating in Judge magazine
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“Despairing Mother: He hasn’t the slightest ear for poetry or good literature, and he has no idea at all of what real life is like.
“Friend: He’ll make a bully magazine editor.”
— The Burlington (Kansas) Daily Republican, Oct. 10, 1910
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Why else would newspaper editors have run so many magazine editor jokes?
Here's another one, published on this day in 1930:
"Proud Mother: I do hope our little Junior is bright in school.
"Daddy (none too optimistic): Well, we can always make him a magazine editor."
— The Emeryville Golden Gate Herald, Oakland, Calif., Oct. 17, 1930
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"Magazine editor: Why do you persist in coming here? I tell you I don't buy fiction.
"The Lady Author: Oh! I don't wish to sell you any of my stories. I am writing a novel, entitled 'The Ugliest Man on Earth,' and I came in merely to obtain local color."
— The Buffalo News, Jan. 7, 1907. This well-traveled joke appeared in numerous U.S., Canadian, and British newspapers. "Lady authors" were often characterized as the bane of magazine editors, second only to aspiring poets.
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"Magazine editors are young. Otherwise nobody could sell them the jokes that had their day 40 years ago." — The Journal and Republican, Lowville, N.Y., May 15, 1930.
Along the same lines, from the Battle Creek (Mich.) Enquirer, Aug. 27, 1934:
"TODAY'S WORST JOKE
"Magazine Editor (to author): I'll give you 50 cents for this joke about President Roosevelt.
"Author: What's the matter? You gave me a dollar for the same joke about President Coolidge."
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The callous editor, into whose presence the aspiring humorist had forced his way, handed back the latest batch of laugh-inspiring offerings.
"You editors," remarked the joke artist, "take life too darn seriously."
"On the contrary," chortled the editor, "I could take yours with positive glee."
— From The American Legion Weekly, June 9, 1922
Incidentally, the weekly's own editor at that time was Harold Ross, who'd gain later fame as the founding editor of The New Yorker, launched in 1925.
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"The demise of the magazine 'How to Make Money' is followed by raucous laughter in many quarters. After the event it occurs to everybody that if the publishers had known anything about the subject they would have kept out of the magazine business." — The Nebraska State Journal, Jan. 31, 1905.
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"And then there's the case of the magazine editor's wife who, when he got back home at 2 a.m., rejected his story." — The Ventura County (California) Star, May 10, 1929.
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Advertiser: I should like to have this placed next to pure reading matter.
Modern Magazine Editor: Oh, but we don't print that kind of stories anymore.
— a joke, apparently from Judge magazine, reprinted in the July 1918 issue of the Inland Printer.
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"The magazine editor was cross.
"Among the many jokes submitted to him not one was acceptable.
"Naturally, this put him out of humor."
— The Philadelphia Press, 1907.
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