Corky the Killer: A Story of Syphilis

New York: American Social Hygiene Association. Very Good+. (c.1945). First Edition. Hardcover. (no dust jacket) [a good sound copy with only light bumping at the corners, minor wear to cloth at spine ends; one-time owner's embossed library stamp on half-title page (see Notes)]. (cartoon drawings) Dr. Willmer (B.S., M.S., M.B., M.D., and Ph.D.) follows up his previous hit volume in this genre, "Huber the Tuber: A Story of Tuberculosis," with another illustrated narrative blending "fantasy and fact," about Corky leading his army of Spirochetes on an aggressive invasion of a human body. They "land" by coming through the bloodstream by submarine, and proceed to colonize the place: "The site he had chosen was superb. The blood stream formed the main arterial [get it?] highway, and the Spirochetes were soon hard at work building apartment houses, cafes, nightclubs, and even schools where sabotage classes could be held. A tidy little town mushroomed up." (Called Chancretown, if you must know; other bodily regions, such as the Liver Catacombs and Fetus Land, are detailed in the endpaper maps.) Eventually the Spirochetes are driven out by the Bloodhounds (who have fish-fins insted of tails), and Corky himself is summarily executed -- by being scrubbed vigorously with soap and water. It's a little too easy to make fun of this kind of kitschy fear-mongering, but syphilis was a serious problem and Dr. Wilmer was a serious guy: he went on to a distinguished career as a psychiatrist, serving in the U.S. Navy and in academic posts at Stanford, UC-San Francisco and the University of Texas. Among many other accomplishments, he pioneered the use of group psychotherapy in the treatment of post-traumatic stress in Vietnam War veterans, worked with early AIDS patients, and founded the Institute for the Humanities at Salado, in Texas. NOTE: This copy is identified by the embossed stamp on the half-title page as having once been the property of famous MGM art director Cedric Gibbons. .