1938: You should see the Other One
George Belcher returns to one of his favourite scenes – the interplay between domestics and their employers often in lower middle class milieu. Mrs Green looks very down trodden and her employer isn’t exactly top drawer either.
Am enjoying these Mr. M. Keep 'em coming. 
Thank you, Judd. Plenty more to come.
1938: Anticipating the Worst
Unlike the cartoon shown a few weeks ago this one is not optimistic. However it is one thing to see the dangers it is quite another to show resolution and take on the obvious might of Hitler’s Germany.
1938: Villainy Afoot
Nobody would be so stupid to do this but that is the essence of the joke. ‘Anton’ has a penchant for showing a villain’s character by her trademark indicators: the squashed up hat, the pencil moustache and the co-respondent shoes.
Five pound notes were very rare at the time. People would speak respectfully in somewhat hushed tones when referring to ‘a fiver’.
1938: Spontaneous Combustion
Presumably the petrol containers were not very well made at the time. In World War Two the superior German design was therefore called the jerry can.
1938: Speaking Out of Turn
Posh people weren’t expected to talk ‘common’ which throws the staff. He probably learnt to talk like that while serving in the Army during the previous Great War.
1938: In What Way Is He Being Impudent?
As we try to understand this joke we need to think back to an earlier age. That doesn’t just mean 1938 when the butler’s employers have reached a fairly advanced old age. It means going back to something like the 1880s when they will have formed their views on how ‘the servants’ should behave.
1938: Why Don’t You Do Something About It?
This is a modern woman (or should I say Modern Woman). She does not belong to George Belcher’s usual cast list: she is neither lower middle class nor a servant. She is definitely upper middle class and very modern in her outlook. We observe her clothes and her body language. She is very used to getting her own way and on this occasion she complains when she doesn’t.
1938: Chairman’s Prerogative
Of course this cartoon is pure fantasy imagined by David Langdon though it contains just a grain of truth. Many self-made men ran their companies autocratically at the time. Some still do.
So he expects his directors to traipse off to the seaside resort where he is taking his holiday. Such is his disdain for the board members that he doesn’t even bother to dress appropriately for the meeting although they all feel compelled to do so. I have the impression that at that time these ‘uniforms’ worn by the directors was very much the expected thing.
He seems to be holding a gavel in his left hand although it isn’t going to be any use banging it on the sand. I also notice that there isn’t anybody on hand to write the minutes. So there is no ‘Miss Simkins’ in a demure one piece bathing costume and beach umbrella.
1938: Some People Just Ought Not To Be So Wealthy
This cigar smoking plutocrat belongs to a category that is a frequent object of satire in the pages of Punch. He represents New Money. That is, he has made his own fortune without the benefit of a suitable upbringing that ‘ought’ to go with the possession of such riches. This blatant display of his prosperity is simply ‘not done’.
Old Money is, of course, considered to be a good thing provided that it isn’t too large. In that case it, too, tends to be satirised.
Mr Magoo, I have just stumbled across this thread which I had no idea existed.
I’ve enjoyed looking at all the cartoons up to the end of Page 4.
I now intend to go all the way to Page 62 - eventually!
Such a unique thread! I can see this will provide hours of fascinating reading as Ive only just stumbled upon it.
Indeed. I estimate at least a couple of weeks for me.
Thanks, Mr Magoo, BTW.
Thank you JBR and bellajjoy. It is always nice to receive praise.
And here is today’s instalment.
1938: Ultimately Inappropriate Choice of Names
It makes for an amusing sequence of scenes. Their husbands don’t look up to much either.
Not many parents today would choose to name their daughter ‘Gay.’ On the other hand, I had a colleague in the army whose forenames names were Victor David…
1938: Tricks For Remembering
The man in this old-fashioned scene is fighting a losing battle against memory loss. Many of us today are in a similar situation. Meanwhile we are privileged to observe a cosy room in which radio, let alone television, is entirely absent.
1938: All Hands to the Pump
The joke here is that something is happening that is counter intuitive. The bowler hatted city gent is never going to carry a load of bricks. He isn’t even shown to be passing them on to the ‘brickies’ on the left of the cartoon. Surely he isn’t going to steal them?
The effect of this incongruous scene is heightened by filling in the gent’s image while all the workmen and the vehicles are shown only in outline.
1938: Caught in the Middle
The man in the glasses knows that he has no part to play in this argument. His neighbours are so engrossed in their dispute that they are forgetting good manners. What could they be arguing about?
The scene behind them is also interesting. The waiting staff also seem to be disagreeing about something. The roast potatoes are the immediate casualty.
1938: My Glass is Half Full, not Half Empty
By the time that Anne has grown up World War Two will be over and she may well decide to enter the legal profession. She seems to have the aptitude.
1938: Where is the Object of the Satire?
Well, it certainly isn’t the Parrot House.
