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Jim Cooper’s The Bar Is Open, published posthumously after his death in 1992, chronicles the Tucson Press Club (TPC), its annual Gridiron Show and the show’s accompanying program, The Hellbox. The Tucson Press Club was active for roughly four decades – from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s. It began before television news, the Internet and 24 hour cable news networks. Over the years it included hundreds of members. This website is one attempt to preserve information about TPC, its Gridiron Show and a dozen The Hellbox annuals, artifacts of a previous era.

In March 2008, Tyler St. Mark discovered a 1999 student project about the Tucson Press Club on Through Our Parents’ Eyes and emailed us. He wrote that his parents, Marklan and Beverly Manning, were active TPC members during the 1950's and early 1960's and appeared in some of the annual Gridiron Shows. Mr. St. Mark remembered how he grew up knowing many of the club's members. “Stories of the Press Club and the Gridiron Shows were part of our lives during the 60's and 70's.”

Mr. St. Mark shipped us a dozen The Hellbox programs characterizing them as “remarkable time capsules of the legendary Gridiron Shows.” It presented us with an excellent opportunity to bring these unique artifacts and, to some extent, the Tucson Press Club to the community.

In addition, Mr. St. Mark purchased a copy of Jim Cooper’s The Bar Is Open for us. Clearly, we are all grateful for his fond memories of Tucson and generosity.

Mr. St. Mark tells us that while Gridiron Shows and The Hellbox may have "pushed the satire envelope at times, they were never lacking in common decency." There was a high degree of intellectual substance behind the Shows' satirical material.

For some visitors, The Hellbox issues may appear "sexist." In reality the organization and the shows were greatly sustained and supported by the talented women involved. Some of the most creative contributions were made by TPC women, both members and volunteers. Marge Hilts, for example, directed the Gridiron Show for 28 years.

TPC was founded in 1944 when the Arizona Daily Star’s managing editor organized a press club. Cooper explains that back in the 1940s members of the press formed clubs because “Their skulls throbbed from their associations with non-news types. They wanted to be with their own kind during non-working hours.” (p. 3) Club members met in various locations to play poker and drink. In 1954 the first Gridiron review, Hot Copy, featured songs and skits that satirized the local press, law enforcement, the Governor, and “made hilarious the antics of Tucson’s alleged Mafia.” (p. 28) The first Gridiron Show not only made outsiders aware of the Tucson Press Club’s existence but it also raised enough money for the Club to pay off its debts. With the incentive of raising revenue in support of the TPC and a UA scholarship fund, Gridiron Shows became an annual event. In 1956 the Show’s program, not yet a Hellbox, included “24 ad-packed pages.” The 1957 Gridiron Show program introduced the first Hellbox with Art Director Dick Calkins’ drawings. It “featured pin-up girls, fiction, and limericks between the many ads.” (p. 39)

Tucson Press Club Closing Song
So there it is,
Our gridiron show.
That’s all there is, folks,
There ain’t no more.
We got your money,
At least that’s funny.
So now you’ve had it.		 We shoved it to you,
Hope you’re not mad.
But if you are, folks,
That’s too damn bad.
So thanks for slumming,
Enjoyed your coming.
We’ll see you next year
At the Gridiron Show
 
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