A copy boy is a typically young and junior worker on a newspaper. The job involves taking typed stories from one section of a newspaper to another. According to Bruce Guthrie, the former editor-in-chief of the Herald Sun who began work there as a copy boy in 1972:
Reporters typed their stories on slips of butcher's paper...then a copy boy ran the story into the neighbouring subs' [sub-editor's] room, hence the cry of 'copy'. Each slip of the story had about six carbon copies...stapled together and it was the job of the copy boy - or girl - to separate the original and run it to the subs, and then separate the carbons for distribution.
With the advent of new publishing and printing technology the position is now almost extinct, but in the first two decades after World War II, most editors of medium and large newspapers in the US still considered their copy boys indispensable to "getting the paper out". The position was also considered to be an important entry point for aspiring journalists, many of whom got their start as copy boys.Grimes, Millard B. (1985). The Last Linotype: The Story of Georgia and Its Newspapers Since World War II, p. 221. Mercer University Press.
Former copy boys
Carl BernsteinBosman, Julie (14 October 2013). "Carl Bernstein Plans Memoir on His Cub Reporter Days". The New York Times Charles Blackman Jimmy Breslin James L. BrooksHarmetz, Aljean (8 April 1984) "Coming to Terms with Success".The New York Times Lucien Carr Robert ChristgauChristgau, Robert (7 July 2008). "Game Changer", robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 3 October 2021. John CurtinRenton, Don (4 May 1951). "Have you a PM in your pantry?. The Argus Week-End Magazine Larry Emdur Milton EsterowLindner, Emmett (14 May 2023) "A Lifetime of Stories, and Still More to Tell".The New York Times Tom Fitzgerald Allen Ginsberg Bruce GuthrieGuthrie, Bruce (2010). Man Bites Murdoch, pp. 40; 64–71. Melbourne University Press W. A. Hewitt; Michael IgnatieffIgnatieff, Michael (22 November 2012). "The Kind of Journalism Worth Defending". Huffington Post Mark KnopflerRobson, Ian (22 February 2015). "Rock star Mark Knopfler was a copy boy on the Chronicle in Newcastle". Evening Chronicle Ed KoterbaMorgret, Ed Koterba (2016) "Introduction". The Essential Ed Koterba, pp. xlix–lii. MCP Books. Vince Leah Claudia Levy Ken McKenzie Leo Monahan James J. Montague Andy RooneySevero, Richard and Keepnews, Peter (5 November 2011). "Andy Rooney, a Cranky Voice of CBS, Dies at 92". The New York Times Francis Rosa Robert Ruark Al Sheehan; Maurice Smith Gary Snyder Robert Stone Gay Talese Hunter S. Thompson John UpdikePosten, Bruce R. (29 January 2009). "Before the fame, literary giant John Updike was just a newspaper copy boy" . Reading Eagle Jose Antonio Vargas Michael Wolff
Fictional copy boys Hap Hazard is "the demon copy boy of the Daily Star!" (Ace Comics, 1940–1947)Hap Hazard Comics #1 (Summer 1944).Grand Comics Database Jerry Jones is a young copy boy at a New Jersey daily newspaper who works his way up to reporter in Josef Berger's 1938 juvenile novel Copy BoyDunbar, Attucks (4 March 1939). "Books". Indianapolis Recorder, p. 10 Virgil Ambrose Jeremiah Christopher 'Scoop' Jones, played by Joe E. Brown in the 1937 film Fit for a King, is a copy boy who is given his "big chance" to become a reporter. Monty Milde, played by Monty Banks in the 1926 film Atta Boy, is a copy boy on a large New York daily newspaper who is the butt of everyone's pranks but eventually beats the paper's star reporter at solving a kidnapping.Langman, Larry (2009). The Media in the Movies: A Catalog of American Journalism Films, 1900–1996, pp. 28; 91. McFarland. Jimmy Olsen in the 1938–1940 radio serial of Superman starts out as a copy boy at the Daily Planet before becoming a cub reporter.Harmin, Jim (2003). Radio Mystery and Adventure and Its Appearances in Film, Television and Other Media, p. 197. McFarland. Rudy Rawls is a crime-fighting copy boy on the Daily Herald who "finds out that fists talk louder than words!" (Headline Comics)Headline Comics (May-June 1946). Grand Comics Database
References
Further reading
Canberra Times (17 July 2008). "Copy Boy became a captain of his industry"