Arno was born Curtis Arnoux Peters, Jr. on January 8, 1904, in New York City. His father was Curtis Arnoux Peters, a New York State Supreme Court judge. He was educated at the Hotchkiss School and Yale University, where he contributed illustrations, covers and cartoons to "The Yale Record", the campus humor magazine, as "Peters". He also formed a jazz band called the Yale Collegians, in which he played piano, banjo, and accordion. Arno's infatuation with show business later had him designing, writing, and/or producing for four Broadway shows, and appearing with fellow cartoonists