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Sixteen Going on Seventeen

Some of the slicks asked their artists to contribute to thematic articles in which the artists, not the writers, were the stars (the poor author of the text below doesn't even receive a by-line). Most of the illustrators were already well-known when they did these vignettes, while others tended to work just on the fashion pages for the titular magazine (hence, I don't know the first names of two artists here).

The First lipstick, the first love letter, the first really grown-up party dress, the first date and the first beau, the first corsage and the first prom, the first terrified waiting for the phone to ring (will he call. . . or won’t he call?), it’s a dazzling succession of firsts for these young ladies, because they’re sixteen going on seventeen, and that’s a terrific age to be: they are older and younger, gayer and graver, prettier and sweeter than they will ever be again, and the world is a fantastic, charming old thing, spinning around like a top, just for their amusement.

Jay Hyde Barnum (1937) Sixteen Going on Seventeen - 001

He says she’s the prettiest girl he knows. Father’s told her that lots of times, but this is different. Maybe she is beautiful, but my! she hates those freckles. And she looks so YOUNG, like a baby lamb.

Mortimer (1937) Sixteen Going on Seventeen - 002

Hold the line a minute. I’ll ask Mother. Mother, may I go to the movies with Jack? Pleeeease! I’ll be seventeen next month, Mother. All the other girls do. Helen is going, too. I may? Oh, good! Hello, jack . . .

Earl Cordrey (1937) Sixteen Going on Seventeen - 003

Gardenias for a lovely lady.? That’s what the card says, and they’re from Tom. Isn’t her dress lovely? It has a suspicion of a train, my dear! Aren’t dances exciting! Isn’t life grand? And isn’t Tom sweet?

Billmeyer (1937) Sixteen Going on Seventeen - 004

Love me if I live! Love me if I die! What to me is life or death, so that thou be nigh? Ah Shelley! Ah love! Who will ever sing to her like this? She doesn’t like boys. She wants a poet. Where can she find a poet?

Carolyn Edmundson (1937) Sixteen Going on Seventeen - 005

He really did write. When she left the Cape he promised to, but she hadn’t believed he would. He says he will never forget the fun they had together, and asks if he can see her during the Easter vacation.

Irving Nurick (1937) Sixteen Going on Seventeen - 006

It’s the most important thing that has EVER happened! She is going to a dinner and there will be older men present. College men! Imagine! Are the bangs becoming? is the lipstick right? What WILL she talk about?

Jon Whitcomb (1937) Sixteen Going on Seventeen - 007

James Carey. My goodness, he did give her a rush. Let’s see—two, three, four times his name appears. And he has asked her to the spring prom. That’s news for her diary. "He is six feet tall, has brown hair and . . . "