The Glee Club Guy is an informal name for a graphic representation of a Virginia Glee Club member that is drawn from an 1853 Harper's Magazine article about the University of Virginia and Monticello by Porte Crayon (aka David Hunter Strother).
The original article, later reprinted in the book Virginia Illustrated, described a visit to the University in the early 1850s, and included the following description of the fictional student Ned Twiggs:
Having at length arrived at the College, they felt at a loss for a chaperon. Dora intimated that her cousin Ned Twiggs was then at the University—that he was an amiable, well mannered youth—but she felt a delicacy in interrupting his studies, as she had understood from his letters home that he was in the habit of studying nineteen hours a day. Fanny thought it was a great shame only to allow himself five hours for sleep and recreation, and that his health must give way under it. Crayon heard these remarks with a contemptuous shrug, and went directly to the proctor's office to ascertain the number of Ned's room.
Now that young gentleman did look as if he hadn't slept his wholesome allowance for some time, but Crayon took pains to insinuate afterward that young men at colleges sometimes lost their rest from other causes than mere devotion to their legitimate studies.
Ned was vastly delighted to see his fair relatives and undertook the office of chaperon with an alacrity and good humor that fully justified Dora's good opinion of his manners. Indeed, says Crayon, it gives me great pleasure to say that, although the vivacity of these blooded colts at our Virginia colleges frequently leads them into all sorts of deviltries and excesses, they have almost invariably the manners of gentlemen.
Appearances in Glee Club materials[]
The Glee Club Guy has appeared in print in various posters and program covers through the years. According to Douglass List, he was in use prior to his arrival in the early 1970s. He can be seen on the poster for the 1993 Concert on the Lawn, the fall 1993 recruitment flier, the flier for the 1998 Christmas Concert, and the 2013 Concert on the Lawn, among others.