Sneaky and the Professor (1943), a comic strip against quack gonorrhea cures

Sneaky and the Professor is a 1943 color comic-strip poster signed Broder and printed by the Government Printing Office, with no issuing office named. A fake "Professor" and his contact man peddle a $2.00 cure to soldiers until Sarge throws the contact man out and explains gonorrhea plainly (NAID 515440).

The strip, panel by panel

Content note: the strip discusses venereal disease in plain soldiers' slang and includes a labeled diagram of the male anatomy.

The story runs in four rows. A con man called the "Prof." recruits a contact man, Sneaky, to sell a "sure cure" to the soldiers in town. Sneaky works a juke joint until Sarge recognizes the pitch and throws him out. Sarge then gives the men what the strip calls "the straight stuff," and the last panel cuts away to the road to the next camp.

THERE'S PLENTY SOLDIERS HERE THAT OUGHT TO BE SUCKERS FOR A FINE CLAP REMEDY LIKE THIS. ALL I NEED IS A CONTACT MAN. HOW ABOUT IT?

[...]

[business card:] MEN

SEE THE PROFESSOR FOR FREE ADVICE ON MEN'S DISEASES

SURE CURE $2.00 BOTTLE

[...]

THAT KINDA PUNK IS CONTACT MAN FOR A PHONEY CLAP DOCTOR. QUACKS LIKE THAT CAN GET YOU IN PLENTY TROUBLE. NOW HERE'S THE STRAIGHT STUFF ON GONORRHEA.

[...]

IF YOU WANT TO MISS ALL THIS TROUBLE - THE SUREST WAY IS TO JUST LAY OFF THESE DAMES YOU PICK UP. BUT IF YOU DO GO OUT, BE SURE AND TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. USE A RUBBER AND TAKE A PRO.

AND IF YOU EVER GET BURNED, THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN HELP YOU IS YOUR MEDICAL OFFICER.

DON'T FALL FOR THIS CLAPTRAP.

[...]

[signature:] BRODER

[imprint:] ☆ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1943—O—521908

Where it came from

No office is printed on the sheet. It carries a Government Printing Office job number from 1943 and the signature Broder, with no first name. The archive classes the issuer type as mixed and the audience as the armed forces, and it is held in the National Archives' World War II Posters series in Record Group 44. Print run and posting places are not in the record.

Fear, jokes and a straight answer

The archive tags fear appeal and name-calling. The fear is in Sarge's list: swelling, pain, sterility, blindness if pus reaches the eyes, and a future wife infected. The name-calling falls on the quacks, "scum" and "punk," and the strip ends with someone shouting "QUACK! QUACK!" after them.

For a military health sheet, the advice is concrete. It names the disease and the germ, describes the symptoms in plain words, gives a diagram, warns that symptoms can fade while the infection stays, and offers three choices in order: abstain, use protection, or see the medical officer. The villain is a man selling a fake remedy for money. The con men call soldiers "SUCKERS" and "G.I. JERKS," and Sarge's phrase "these dames you pick up" puts the blame for the disease on women in passing.

Compare a 1943 venereal-disease sheet that lists women as the carriers, and the Navy's 1946 Penicillin for Gonorrhea, which had a cure to offer.