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1949: Thoughtless Guest
It looks as though there was then a rule then according to which the hosts were bound to accompany their guests out to their car. I myself have never seen this custom being observed – either as guest or as host. Saying goodbye at the front door seems to be sufficient.
I used to enjoy the horse cartoons by Norman Thelwel in the Punch Magazine. He was a great artist too.
My grandfather always left guests to the gate at the end of the front garden Mr Magoo, same thing with my father in law, didn’t matter how bad the weather was, whether they had a car or were just heading for the nearest bus stop.
I used to enjoy the horse cartoons by Norman Thelwel in the Punch Magazine. He was a great artist too.
Yes Sableline, Thelwel with the horses, ponies and their young riders. Some excellent examples are coming this way. Watch this space.
My grandfather always left guests to the gate at the end of the front garden Mr Magoo, same thing with my father in law, didn’t matter how bad the weather was, whether they had a car or were just heading for the nearest bus stop.
Jem, that is very interesting. This is a practice that is quite new to me. Your examples suggest that this used to occur in the past but now is no longer the case.
They always mind me of this offering by John Betjeman
It’s awf’lly bad luck on Diana,
Her ponies have swallowed their bits;
She fished down their throats with a spanner
And frightened them all into fits.
So now she’s attempting to borrow.
Do lend her some bits Mummy, do;
I’ll lend her my own for to-morrow,
But to-day I‘ll be wanting them too.
Just look at Prunella on Guzzle,
The wizardest pony on earth;
Why doesn’t she slacken his muzzle
And tighten the breach in his girth?
I say, Mummy, there’s Mrs. Geyser
And doesn’t she look pretty sick?
I bet it’s because Mona Lisa
Was hit on the hock with a brick.
Miss Blewitt says Monica threw it,
But Monica says it was Joan,
And Joan’s very thick with Miss Blewitt,
So Monica’s sulking alone.
And Margaret failed in her paces,
Her withers got tied in a noose,
So her coronets caught in the traces
And now all her fetlocks are loose.
Oh, it’s me now. I’m terribly nervous.
I wonder if Smudges will shy.
She’s practically certain to swerve as
Her Pelham is over one eye.
1949: Getting Your Objection in Early
Queuing was a way of life in 1949, nowhere more so than at the pictures. It was the norm to turn up when ready and then expect to wait until you got to the front of the queue. This often meant getting into the main film well after the beginning. Then there were the various extras such as the News, the B film and some educational items. Eventually you got back to the main film and then you saw how it had started, already knowing how it ended. Eventually you got to the point when you could say 'this is where we came in’ and then you left.
The cartoon reflects this time accurately. It shows a mixed bag of people and they all seem quite used to having to wait.
A few years back I went for a meal in a pub in Porthcawl west wales. I was in my element the walls were ordained with pictures of Thelwels work in Punch all nicely framed up.
1949: Uncle to the Rescue?
By 1949 very detailed drawings like this had become very much the exception. In this case, however, it is the detail that makes the joke.
Uncle appears to be a very ancient academic, more probably at a school rather than university. His room is clearly a complete mess and the nephew is clutching at a straw.
1949: LCC Evening Classes
The London County Council’s provision of evening classes had by the 1930s already become a valuable adult education resource in the capital. Often the classes were held in schools. The annual prospectus of courses was called Floodlight and I am pleased to note that there is now a website with that title performing the same role though it does not restrict itself to London.
This is a very gentle little joke and by no means hostile.
1949: Seeing Germans in a New Light
A political cartoon again this time signalling a changing perception of Germany (or at least of Western Germany.) In the police station of the Western Powers the convicted German has served his time and makes the (then) audacious suggestion that perhaps even he can be of use to the forces of law and order.
The posters on the wall sustain this narrative. The crossed out wanted picture of Hitler (not Germany) accepts that the issue is now longer that of the World War Two. The Russian Bear (not Stalin) represents the current danger.
The picture also accepts the reduction in Britain’s status since the war. It is Uncle Sam who is very much in command and John Bull and France who are the subordinates while they seriously consider the suggestion that has just been made. Prior to 1939 acceptance of this subordinate role would have been unthinkable.
How surprised the readers of Punch would have been in 1949 at the pivotal role played by a united Germany in today’s Europe. And as for Angela Merkel…
1086: Reviewing the Doomsday Book
This artist’s stock in trade is to take some modern scenario and transport it back into time or into mythology thereby rendering the situation totally absurd. It’s a very personal thing but this cartoon is my all-time favourite out of all these offerings.
The modern equivalent of this scene is that the man with the beard is living quite modestly but is a recognised authority in his own field of specialisation. He might well be an author in his own right. A weekly magazine, such as the New Statesman and Nation (known colloquially as the Staggers and Naggers), has commissioned him to write a review and has given him a very short time in which to read the book and then write his review. If he fails to return his copy on time he will have missed the deadline for inclusion in the next edition. All his family commitments will have to be postponed so that he can comply with the editor’s demand.
This cartoon is my favourite simply because it is absurd on so many different levels.
Firstly it is absurd to think of anyone reviewing the Doomsday Book. It is not a work of literature nor does it advance some kind of argument. It is simply a detailed list of feudal rights and obligations which King William has commissioned so that he can accurately gauge the tax yield of his recently conquered kingdom. What is there to review? You can’t even compare it to other such compilations because none existed. You might as well ‘review’ the telephone directory.
It is equally absurd to suggest that a copy has been left at the edge of the smallholding. Before the invention of printing copies were only made by monks sitting down and writing the new copy letter by letter, word for word. You would not embark on such a task for the purpose of writing a review. No one would have sent the original version.
The urgency implied in the text is also absurd. So is the idea that there was some regular publication to which our man must submit his copy. Who would read such a putative publication? The king, the earls and the barons were all illiterate. The only people who could read and write were clergy, especially monks.
The smallholder would have not only been illiterate but also ignorant of the Latin language in which the book was written.
What would the man in the cartoon not be able to do because of his very tight deadline? He could not have taken his lady wife to dine at some hostelry. Nor would they have been able to invite friends for dinner. He would definitely have been a Saxon, not a Norman. Therefore they would not have had to cry off from an invitation from the baron whose castle could be seen at the left of the cartoon.
Sorry to have gone on at such length but I feel sure that the cartoonist has knowingly excelled himself at the deliberate total ‘wrongness’ of this scene.
1949: The Cult of Children’s Art
This cartoon is simply a little dig at the cult of ‘free expression’. In this respect there does not seem to be much difference between 1949 and 2015.
1949: The Spiv Who Talks the Talk
I wonder if the young Margaret Roberts would have approved of the commercial enterprise of the street traders as against the state.
1949: Not that Kind of Non Resident
Burglar jokes seem to have been a staple of Punch jokes between 1914 and 1949. The mask continues to be the cartoonist’s idea of what the properly dressed burglar wore when working. At least his sack isn’t masked as ‘SWAG’.
1453: Returning Ex-Serviceman
This is another joke in which a modern situation is transposed into the past. In 1949 there were many ex-servicemen at university. Most had never been to college before but some of them were resuming their studies on return to civilian life. The cartoon’s conceit is that it would be possible for a man to resume his studies after one hundred years of continuous military service.
I started my university career in 1949 straight from school. The students in my year were roughly one-third ex-service, one-third former schoolboys and one-third former schoolgirls. Unsurprisingly the ex-schoolgirls found the ex-servicemen much more impressive than the ex-schoolboys.
1949: American Tourists
Since they were keen to visit half-timbered buildings it would be appropriate for them to be transported in a half-timbered vehicle.
1949: Sophisticated Dog
What if the St Bernard dogs didn’t just save the lives of lost alpine travellers with a tot of brandy? A full cocktail service would be more in keeping with the times.
Apparently there is no historical basis for the kegs of brandy but it is a nice idea nonetheless.
1949: Emett Again
The joke is that the criminals are hoovering the valuables out of the shop so they can claim that they are not smash and grab merchants. Again we see that all the characters in the cartoon are distinctly elderly.
1949: Early Mention of the Sick Man of Europe Syndrome
Once again we are seeing a contemporary issue imagined into an historical context. I personally hadn’t noticed that as early as 1949 people were making the sort of complaint being uttered by the overseer during the building of the pyramids.
I am under the impression that the pyramids were not built by slaves at all but by respected craftsmen.
1949: Two Common Punch Themes in the Same Cartoon
Burglars are again featured wearing the trademark masks while making off with the minor public school’s silver trophies. They appear to be as interested in the respective standing of various public schools as the readers of Punch. In fact, this is as unlikely as the masks.
