Spotlight on Lee Falk - The University Years

Lee Falk was still known as Leon H. Epstein when he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (almost located at mid-way between St. Louis, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois) until 1932, the year of his graduation with a B.A. (Bachelor of Arts) with honors.

On campus, Lee had an active student life; especially within the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity, a traditional student brotherhood.

The objective of the Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity (still currently in action with 90 chapters and colonies in the United States) is to develop, among its members, awareness and social responsibility as well as individual integrity. Founded in 1898, it was originally destined to the Jewish community before to be opened to a larger student brotherhood in 1954. At the time of the Lee Falk’s membership, the fraternity Chapter house was located at 907 South Fourth Street, Chicago.

From 1929 to 1932, linked with his Zeta Beta Tau membership, he also took part as a writer for the “Daily Illini” (student newspaper of the University of Illinois). He was also editor of the “Hillel Post”. The Hillel Post was a bi-weekly newspaper, created in 1922 and published by the Hillel Foundation to inform Jewish students of its current activities. It was sent by mail.

At the same period, it seems that Lee was also member of the Pi Delta Phi, other fraternity founded at the University of Chicago in 1906 and initially devoted to improve scholarship and to promote an interest in the field of French language and literature.

Mentions and traces of these activities and / or writings can be found in these newspapers, for instance:

• February 1929: attendance at an annual meeting
• April 1929: written article following a medical conference
• October 1929: speaking at a convention of the Jewish Sisterhood chapters
• November 1929: Article about an Orchestra Concert
• February 1930: supporting cast (starring “Bezano”) in the play “Adam” by Ludwig Lewisohn (at least two others representations in April 1930)
• March and April 1930: supporting actor in the play “He Who Gets Slapped” by Leonid Andreyev

(at least two others representations in April 1930)

• March 1930: article written about a conference by Maurice Samuel
• March 1930: article written about a theatre play
• April 1930: play in “He Who Gets Slapped”
• October 1930: chairman for a student tea dance

Of particular interest is the fact that Lee is also mentioned as having play in some kind of promotional short movies for the Hillel Foundation : - a May 1929 movie called “Hillel in Sham Pam” and featured for the Mother’s Day

In some interviews, Lee said that he “started "Mandrake the Magician" in 1934 when I was still in University of Illinois”. As his university stay looks to have ended in fact in 1932, he was may be referring to another of his own indication telling he had himself drawn some Mandrake strips for the King Features Syndicate. Perhaps his drawings were one of his projects shelved for two or three years before or done just after 1932, but this is just an allegation remaining uncertain.

Sources

• Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections / The Daily Illini [1]
• Leon H. Epstein (aka Lee Falk)