1938: Guest at the Wedding
This scenario has appeared in a number of Punch cartoons over the years. In each the usher simply wishes to guide the new arrival into the bride’s or the groom’s side of the church. Each time we are presented with a variant of this reply. The one I remember best is the surly old man who, when asked whether he is a friend of the bride or the groom, replies “I sincerely detest them both!”
It makes me wonder why this stream of visitors wishes to attend the wedding of two people with whom they are quite unconnected. I imagine that they did so in order to be seen by the ‘right’ people.
1938: The Triumph of Jargon
Business is uppermost in the mind of the diner. He and his guest have papers in their hands. The host is clutching his own sheaf very firmly. He has a further set of documents waiting in the brief case on the floor at his side. It is really not that unlikely that he will erroneously describe a menu as an agenda.
I would guess they are cooking up a big deal.
1938: Polo
In 1938 polo was already well placed in the public’s consciousness a game played exclusively by toffs. Considering the cost of maintaining a horse in peak condition this is not surprising.
The point of the joke is that these polo players have been reduced to the same position as that of urchins who have been just kicking a ball about in some open space.
I have now exhausted my stock of 1938 cartoons and we now move on to 1960 – still far off but closer to the present day than anything else I have shown.
The Swinging Sixties had not properly started and we see only mild foretastes of things to come. Most of the cartoons display a quite naïve innocence and the following joke is a good example of this tendency.
1960: What Does She Mean?
The ‘expert tuition’ available to the other two leaners is much more to the taste of this learner. Her earnest tutor is too concerned with the way in which she is holding her club. He should be holding her instead.
Politically correct it isn’t. I can’t see this joke going down well in 2016.
1960: Town v. Countryside
Many people in the countryside would have had a pretty poor opinion about town dwellers. (And they still do.) This cartoon probably exaggerates the extent of townee ignorance.
1960: Office Efficiency
Time and Motion studies were all the rage at that time. The idea was to establish a standard time for the performance of each unit of work. Once this had been achieved the idea then was to reward those workers who performed it in less time and to penalise those who took longer. I think this whole idea was quietly shelved during the subsequent industrial disputes in the 1970s.
The director naturally has no interest in having his own work being measured in the same way. This is particularly the case in what he is now doing. However, this piece of demure canoodling would have looked quite antiquated only a few years later – even in the pages of Punch.
1960: Salesmanship
The ‘little woman’ whose mental horizons are totally grounded in the home has had her head turned by a good looking door-to-door salesman. She readily admits that this is case. We are here looking at a way of life that has almost entirely disappeared.
1960: Wrong Statuary
The top hats look decidedly old-fashioned for 1960. I know that they were then worn for really pretentious weddings and I recall seeing very grand men dolled up with them in the City at the time but for an unveiling I really doubt that this would any more have been the correct attire. The lady who has just unveiled the statue presumably is Lady Rumble the ‘great’ man’s widow.
1960: Humility of a Public Servant
The man who collects the parking fees isn’t supposed to short-change the law-abiding motorists who have paid to look at the sea. Such deference would have looked out of place only a few years later.
1960: Finding Directions
Since he is lost he hopes to be able to read her shirt. It’s just an amusing idea, that’s all. I expect there was a fashion for this type of design.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h8/S22904945/Myalbum/Paddy_zps2ac07261.jpg
1960: Chess is Such a Peaceful Game
It seems that Paddy O’Reilly had been a well-known boxer. That’s something else that I’ve learned.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h8/S22904945/Myalbum/independence_zps971f0b06.jpg
1960: What is the Joke?
This cartoon is clearly inspired by MacMillan’s Wind of Change as the Empire was being dismantled. The moustache wearing Brits, both civil and military, are handing over sovereignty to a delighted delegation of new rulers. The Brits don’t look too happy about it. Why shouldn’t the new government get cracking on a design for a flag etc.?
Does the cartoon imply that they haven’t planned any of this in advance? I rather think it does. In most cases the governments of new states consisted of ex freedom fighters who will have spent a fair bit of time in British prisons. Plenty of time to do this sort of planning, I would have thought.
It seems to me that this an example of the resistance to change with which MacMillan was grappling. Even the body language of the man showing the new President how to sign the document of independence exudes condescension.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h8/S22904945/Myalbum/ExcessProfits_zpsfe93c10d.jpg
1960: Tax Avoidance is Alive and Well
His original intention was to use the losses from his farm to offset some of the excess profits from his City activities. Instead of being pleased that his farm is indeed profitable his warped mind feels that he now has to clock up some City losses to justify buying the farm. This, of course, is nonsense but is typical of a kind of mind-set that is still with us today.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h8/S22904945/Myalbum/botany_zps77f9a771.jpg
1960: Botany
I assume that the bossy lady golfer’s day job is teaching botany.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h8/S22904945/Myalbum/genie_zps888e07b1.jpg
1960: Henpecked Genie Owner
This joke belongs to the tradition of putting modern concepts into historical or fictional contexts.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h8/S22904945/Myalbum/key_zpsff98d777.jpg
1960: Medical Impotence
The doctor is thinking of the side effects, not the main problem.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h8/S22904945/Myalbum/CutPrice_zps8b5aee6f.jpg
1960: Cheap Petrol
The clear expectation here is that the garage on the right will ‘clean up’ when the cheap petrol does serious damage to its purchaser’s car. Although I was driving a car at the time I have no memory of a price war.
By the way the ‘good’ petrol costs four shillings and eight and a half pence. This probably needs to be explained.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h8/S22904945/Myalbum/Progress_zps0b77a262.jpg
1960: Rubbish on TV
The jaded 1960 viewer clearly has no inkling of the horrors that await him in the future.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h8/S22904945/Myalbum/StageOne_zps6103945f.jpg
1960: Work in Progress
Whenever a harem appears in cartoons it is already fully staffed. This cartoonist suggests that it would be assembled in stages. It hardly counts as a proper harem at the moment.
