1938: Powerful Personality
The woman calling herself Anton has exactly caught the interplay between the dominant man on the right and the cowering wimp on the left. Forcing is the last thing that the bridge partner is in the habit of doing.
1938: An Old Joke Revisited
Just look at the size of that trunk. I wonder how that is going to be transported to their holiday destination.
Yes, porters would have loaded the thing onto and off the train. How about getting to the station? Were black cabs equipped to carry that monster? I’m not saying that they weren’t. I’m simply asking.
1938: In the Photographer’s Studio
She is being put at her ease. The message is that if she doesn’t like the photo nobody else need ever see it. This seems an odd subject for a joke.
1938: Made to Measure
I rather think that bespoke was still the order of the day in 1938. Or, perhaps, Montagu Burton had already pioneered the ready to wear – cheaper – alternative.
1938: Self-Mockery
I am assuming that this cartoon refers to some official British pronouncement about the increasingly bellicose policies of Nazi Germany. The elderly gent is addressing a fellow member of his club and seems to think that Britain’s standing in the world is still what it had been in the days of his youth. The cartoon leaves us in no doubt that this is regarded as pure fantasy.
1938: East is West
Here is another joke in which current concepts are inaccurately (and deliberately) translated into an alien milieu.
The ‘kiddies’ seem all to be very much the same age. Some mistake here!
1938: Ask a Silly Question…
This cartoon belongs to a long-standing tradition in which professionals reprove amateurs for asking questions when they won’t understand the correct answers.
1938: A Permanent Obsession
I know that I am sticking my neck out by venturing into unfamiliar territory.
Even so, my reading of this cartoon is that she asks this question all the time even when, as in this instance, it can’t possibly be relevant. I wonder if young women of her age today would even know what a petticoat actually is.
1938: Two Different Worlds
The young man doesn’t understand anything outside his own privileged world. The shepherd can’t really grasp what the question is about. What matters to him is that he is earning his living which seems to be satisfactory. What he sees is a young man who is aimlessly mooning about. And that really is boring.
1938: A Suitable Film
The cinema goer takes her dog everywhere and can’t see the problem. Not only is it a U film but it has an interesting title: Milk White and the Nine Cats. It is even being advertised on a passing bus. We all know which film is being parodied…
1938: Preparing for the War
Shadow factories were being prepared at the urging of the Air Ministry to enable British Industry to gear up for war production. Wikipedia has a good account of this phenomenon:
This article doesn’t mention another purpose of the shadow factories. This was to ensure continued production if the main factories had been bombed. For this to work the shadow factories’ location must be kept secret otherwise they too would be bombed.
To my mind it was poor security to print this joke since it would draw attention to the policy. At least it reminds us that along with all the appeasement there was also a certain amount of prudent preparation for war.
1938: Fleet Street’s Finest
Here we see an accurate representation of the newspaper business at work at the time. However, I have just noticed that typesetting is missing in the cartoon.
In spite of all that industry the readers are jaded and not excited about anything in the news. That was due to change fairly soon.
1938: Salesmanship Under the Raj
Another rare sample from the (then) extensive Empire. The salesman / tailor is shown as inept. This argument isn’t going to impress the ‘sahib’. Par for the course in the eyes of the Brits at the time.
1938: Humour in Court
It is quite obvious that withdrawing a remark always leaves a trace behind. That is why the lawyer makes the remark knowing full well that he is going to have to ‘withdraw’ it.
1938: Irony in the 1930s
Clearly it was common practice for ‘do-gooders’ to invade the homes of the poor as part of their research. No doubt they would introduce themselves in words similar to those spoken in this cartoon.
1938: Precision at Sea
The landlubber doesn’t speak with nautical precision.
On the troopship returning from the Far East I had caught the jargon. I was asked by a lady officer in the Medical Corps where something was (I can’t now remember what) and I replied that it was B Deck Aft. She didn’t know what that meant so I said that it was down one flight of steps at the back of the ship. She was duly grateful.
1938: Keeping Out of It
This artist’s work usually comes under the heading of ‘Aspects of the British Character’. On this occasion that heading is not supplied although it would be quite appropriate.
They are all pretending to be absorbed by anything (and I mean anything) rather than notice the blazing row that is taking place between the host and the hostess.
1938: One People, One Nation, One Leader
Military dictators were very much in evidence in Europe during the 1930s. Nazi Germany was by no means the only one. Here the cartoonist is having (I think) light-hearted fun in connection with this phenomenon. Even so, the idea of a regimented population does come across.
I do wonder about the man standing behind the dictator’s entourage. He looks rather lost. Perhaps he represents a seaside visitor from an earlier age before the dictator’s hold had become paramount.
1938: Not ‘Too’ Grand
Clearly the woman about to be married isn’t anticipating a great deal of ceremony. I’m afraid I have no idea what she means by ‘full honours’. Perhaps as a titled woman she could expect to have a more elaborate ceremony than other people and has chosen not to.
Any suggestions, anyone?
1938: The Traveller Returns
Yes, it is absurd to be complaining about such a minor detour especially as being an experienced globe-trotter.
I wonder if he is on his way to Piccadilly Circus. It used to be said that whenever an explorer or an imperial administrator returned to London they only had to come to that place and they would immediately encounter someone they knew.