Barefoot Boy with Cheek

by Max Shulman

This is a satirical look at college life in the early 1940s, written in 1943 by Max Shulman, a popular humorist from that era. The story's narrator and protagonist is Asa Hearthrug, an appealingly naïve country bumpkin who is off to his freshman year at the University of Minnesota, which Shulman - in one of the book's funniest passages - identifies as a "wholly imaginary" institution in the book's foreword. From there the book progresses as a kind of comedy of errors, all of which serve to introduce characters with improbable names that were undoubtedly funny and/or subversive at the time , and situations that almost certainly reflected the cultural mileposts of the era.

Genres: Humor, Fiction, Classics, Audiobook, 20th Century

207 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1943

Reviews

[Justin Tate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This 1943 comedy novel is one of the funniest things I've ever read. It showcases a satircal view of college life in the '40s, which should be hard to relate to having gone to University nearly 70 years later. But no. So much has changed, and yet so much hasn't. This cast of characters are gloriously unaware of the social commentary they provide through hilarious situations that range from slapstick to puns to advanced science.

A lot of the comedy is extremely intellectual. I'm sure I missed jokes either due to lacking social context or simply because they were too smart for me. Many I did catch, however. There's a great moment where readers must realize that a character is confusing Dred Scott with Sir Walter Scott. If you blick, you might miss it, but that's what makes it exceptional. Much of the comedy is layered within itself so that one joke leads to two, to five, to ten. The result? A knee-slapping good time.

Thanks R.L. Stine for recommending this book. I can see why he grew up wanting to be a writer like Max Shulman. The guy is a comedy genius!

[Davy Carren]

I bought a 1st edition of this book for one dollar at a dingy basement of a used bookstore in Nebraska. Maybe it's worth a little more than that now. Maybe not. Max Shulman is one of those rare writers who actually makes you laugh out loud.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read and fell in love with this zany little book as a teenager. I re-read it every so often and it still has the uncommon power to make me laugh out loud.

It's a satirical novel of college life in the 1940s, told from the viewpoint of a country bumpkin whose blissful naivete knows no bounds. He is cheerfully exploited by most everyone he encounters during his freshman year. Recounting all of this enables Shulman to satirize everything from university bureaucracy and student politics to fraternity/sorority life and dating etiquette. For my sociologist friends, there is an added treat: Chapter 6 recounts the first day in an Intro. to Sociology course!

Beyond the satire, every detail is exploited for comic effect: the author's preface and acknowledgements, faux quotations at the beginning of each chapter, and the exaggerated purple prose of the narrator (a would-be writer with literary pretensions). As if that weren't enough, Shulman throws in several shaggy dog stories for good measure.

The cockeyed, out-of-left-field energy that drives all of this is not easy to pull off, let alone sustain. Although Shulman later wrote a number of entertaining novels and short stories, nothing reached the level of lunacy achieved in Barefoot Boy With Cheek. Shulman once noted that Voltaire's Candide was a source of inspiration, and you can see that in central character's hapless naïveté and the narrative's insouciant tone. Woody Allen, in an interview, commented that there are very few writers who can deliver prose that is genuinely laugh-out-loud funny, and his short list included S.J. Perelman and Max Shulman.

[Geldar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm mildly astonished that Shulman is relatively obscure in 2017, as he seemed to be kind of a big deal 60 years ago and his talent is clear and unique. Will definitely read more.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In reality, this book was so far out of my realm, I had to really think to get it. This kind of humor has always escaped me, and maybe I'm a little sourer for it . . .
I read it because Max Shulman is related to my attorney!

[Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of about 10 books my late uncle left to me. It was one of his favorites, he said. A short, light read, it's an over the top tale filled with slapstick, puns, and funny stories, all totally unrealistic hyperbole set on the campus of the University of Minnesota. Some of the funny stories and jokes hold up, some don't. The butt of the jokes are various campus groups: faculty, fraternities, sororities, counselors, freshman orientation, socialist groups, the football team, football fans, student government, and the student paper.

The book is enlightening in one sense. There is a narrative that we all learn; for 100 years college was uptight, filled with squares and conformists. Then, we are told, in the 1960's a handful of "brave" academics challenged authority, leading the kids in a counter-culture movement fueled by drugs, anti-war protests, and rock & roll. Barefoot Boy With Cheek, published in 1943 could have easily been written about the University of Michigan circa 1982. The book takes shots at school socialist groups, which sound a lot like the Spartacus Youth League nuts of my day (man those guys were annoying). It makes fun of academics who preach the liberal arts are superior to courses of study which lead to "doing" something. Change out Benny Goodman for the Rolling Stones, and you're there. So did the 60's change anything on campus or only televise it?

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I probably shouldn't really rate this because the only time that I read it was over fifty years ago. I recall reading several Max Shulman books around the same time. I do remember that I thought it was very funny; I am assuming that I still would (but I might be wrong, of course). I know that I would still enjoy Eldon Dedini's illustrations.

The title, by the way, comes from a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier titled "The Barefoot Boy." It begins:

Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan!
With thy turned-up pantaloons,
And thy merry whistled tunes;
With thy red lip, redder still
Kissed by strawberries on the hill;
With the sunshine on thy face,
Through thy torn brim’s jaunty grace;
From my heart I give thee joy,—
I was once a barefoot boy!

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to add anything that hasn't already been noted, but I first read this book a few times in high school in the 1960s. I loved the setup where the protagonist, Asa Hearthrug, is wandering campus and falls through a "cunningly hinged" sidewalk stone into a pit below, a trap set to catch freshman by the Alpha Cholera brothers, looking to find pledges. When he lands, you hear one brother yell, "We got one!"

Cut to 1969, and I'm a freshman at MIT, about to pledge the Phi Delt house there. Before I tell a brother I'm ready to accept the bid, another freshman made his decision to pledge, apparently, because a yell rose throughout the house -- you guessed it, "WE GOT ONE!". I could barely stop laughing to be able to say that I, too, wanted to join. Then I tried to explain why it was so funny, but it's pretty hard to explain "Barefoot Boy" to anyone.

[Jim Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This relatively short novel is characterized by its extensive use of puns and metaphoric naming of characters in what seems to me to be a relatively primitive, but also somewhat sophisticated form. It is Max Shulman's first novel, which appeared in 1938, and describes the life of freshmen at the University of Minnesota. The whole book is a spoof on higher education, both at that time, historically, and even currently. It is a delightful book known more for its form of humor than for any other compelling characteristic.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wacky little satire aimed at Midwest university life in the late 50s. It leans a little heavily into racist stereotypes at the beginning, but quickly course-corrects to aim at the foibles of white college students.

[Ellen]

As seen in Field-Tested Books '08.

[Mahesh]

i want to read this book...

[Jim Sturm · Rating 3 out of 5]

A glorious high school read that had me laughing all the way to college. A total goof of a book.

[Eric Chevlen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is literally the funniest book I have ever read. I read it a few decades ago, and again just now. I still laughed out loud as I read it.

[Meredith Ahearn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books remains in my memory as a hilarious book with lots of laughs. I read it in high school (circa 1982/3) and laughed and laughed. I do enjoy Max Schulman's humour.

[Sherry Beth Preston]

My high school speech coach, (now retired) recommended that my son use a cutting of this book for his humorous interpretive speech this fall. I found it, as both play and as a book through interlibrary loan.

I agree with Mrs. Winn wholeheartedly. As does someone who read the book before me and scrawled notes and crossed out parts they were not using in a speech or for some other nature of excerpt. Dear University of Nebraska, those pencil marks were there when I got the book. Thanks for the loan.

Asa Hearthrug from Whistlestop, MN headed off to the big city to college. Asa was naïve but earnest, and he described his experiences with campus life in a charming manner. During his first year in college he happily joined in the fun. He attended a football game, juggled two sweethearts, ran for student government and joined a fraternity- Alpha Cholera.

"We went to the restaurant, and [halfback] Carl Carnage soon joined us. For all his fame and publicity, he was a regular fellow. He let me buy him dinner, and later, when we went to the Golden Grouse, he let me pay for his drinks all night."

I giggled all the way through this. It was written in the 1940s, and it shows. Some of the language and attitudes are outdated. I don't read French, so I didn't understand the quotes at the beginning of each chapter, and I doubtless missed many of the cultural references.

With some artful cutting, we can find a great 8-10 minute speech in this.

[Jay French · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can’t add much to the other reviews here. This is certainly over-the-top satire. Shulman’s take on college life has aged quite well, given the multiple generations that have passed since it was written. I recognized many of the types Shulman skewers from my time at college a few decades back, and I see them in the descriptions my daughters have from college in the past few years. The main frat covered is Alpha Cholera, the main sorority Beta Thigh. I’m not sure why that strikes me as funny, but it certainly does. As for the story, ehhh, it’s just there to introduce the satirical bits. And you can see Shulman’s master creation, Dobie Gillis, in the constant falling-in-love of the main character. Also beneficial is the relative shortness of the novel. I found the schtick getting a bit wearing by the end of the book.

[Penni Echeverria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book, published in 1944, at a small antiques shop only because of what was printed at the beginning: “This book is manufactured under wartime conditions in conformity with all government regulations controlling the use of paper and other materials.” It had its funny moments, but over all, not the book for me.

[dejah_thoris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as an audiobook before bed. Not as good as Potatoes Are Cheaper, but still provides a few chuckles, especially if you work in academia. Campus life also hasn't changed all that much when it comes to fraternities, radicals, and institutional bureaucracy.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny. Silly.
But funny.

[Ann Bortnyik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorable and quirky. It’s really tragic that we never remember our humorists. Shulman is great.

[Kevin Hackett · Rating 5 out of 5]

He’s Mad Max

Max Shulman never disappoints. This is another of his works that will relentlessly cause you to chuckle and on occasion downright guffaw!

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

A product of its time and a hilariously ridiculous satire. May be a little too silly for some. If you liked "The Dover Boys" cartoon short you get the general idea. Looney Tunes meets a coming of age novel.