http://www.over50sforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3380&d=1500108380
Ah! An encore!
Sorry about that!
Here is the next one:
1923: Hotel Bill
The joke here reflects the two different uses of the word moderate.
1924: Fog as it was then and isn’t now
I am old enough to remember the last serious London fog in the winter of 1962/3. The intensity of it was so extreme that the bus driver would drive at a snail’s pace while the conductor walked in front in order to avoid any accidents. It was the Clean Air act which rendered such events obsolete.
1924: Class again
Does the policeman have difficulty in spelling this list of upper class names? Or is he intimidated by the thought this toff will be hiring clever lawyers to avoid the penalty for speeding? Either way the class system is at work and the miscreant gets away with it.
Was it ever thus…
1925: Oxford trousers
Every now and then an attempt is made to introduce a new fashion for men’s clothes. They rarely last long and will never compete with the frequent and frenetic story of women’s fashion crazes.
The drawing accurately depicts this absurd idea and clearly shows how impractical it was. Like all other fashion ideas its real purpose was to sell more clothes.
1921: The concept of property
The child isn’t being perverse. He just hasn’t understood the concept of property.
That one made me laugh!
1925: What makes them interesting?
It is only very rarely that we see cartoons which relate to the widespread British Empire which was very much a going concern at the time.
Here the hostess is trying (unsuccessfully) to show that she can make a significant contribution to the discussion. No need to guess which of the two men is the returned traveller.
1938: Celebrity
This seems to be a highly unlikely scenario. The mass fascination with film starts is not at all unlikely. Perhaps the point of this little picture is to poke fun at this phenomenon.
1925: Deliberate misunderstanding
The shop assistant is trying to find a diplomatic way of saying ‘you can’t have it until you settle your outstanding debts’. The ’shopper’ take his words to mean that they can’t add up. The assistant is going have to flag this up so that a more senior person can nail this posh cheapskate.
1925: A Caledonian issue
I can easily imagine such a conversation actually taking place.
However, I am pedantically amazed at the use of the word ‘scotch’. It is now many years since it was dinned into me that the inhabitants of Scotland were Scot in the singular and Scots in the plural. On the other hand when referring to that country’s whisky the word ‘scotch’ is not just permitted. It becomes mandatory.
1924: Reckless driver
The lure of driving a fast car is not new.
1925: Contempt for other people
Why is he buying this car? To show how much richer he is than the hoi polloi that litter the roads. He really wants to rub this to all the people that he despises.
1925: The must see show
Every-one is talking about it. They are so desperate to see it.
The man is wearing the Oxford trousers that we saw a few days ago.
1925: Earthquake
No doubt this monument has been put up as a memorial to those local men who had been killed during World War One. These memorials are still largely intact as a permanent reminder of the huge numbers who lost their lives during that great misfortune.
1925: Being precious
Such people are always around although these days the internet offers an outlet since in the wide world there will always be people who are just as precious as this speaker.
1925: Overegging the pudding
I don’t suppose that she would understand the implied rebuke.
1925: Dancing with Army Officers
I wish I could understand this cartoon. It feels to me like a coded message where I don’t have access to the key. I think that I can understand some of it. Even that might be wrong but I have no theory at all about the rest of it.
I suppose the general meaning could be that this young woman is thinking about a potential husband while dancing with successively more senior (and older) officers.
I feel fairly confident about the fourth image when she is dancing with the colonel. Although he is quite spry he is obviously too old for him to marry her. On the contrary he seems like a favourite uncle and she feels secure in his company.
The first image is not so clear to me but at least I have a theory to account for it. They look very shy as they dance together. Without a doubt at his age he is the only appropriate man for her to marry. But a lieutenant’s pay is too low for matrimony. Indeed in many regiments they were not allowed to marry.
As for the captain and the major I feel far from certain. They neither of them look suitable for this young lady. The dancing looks quite vigorous. Is this a metaphor for what would ensue in the marriage bed? How do we distinguish between the two from the way that they dance?
Any suggestions?