1933: The (very) rich are different
I suspect that is this an attack on the very wealthy. Punch cartoons often look down on the poor but never look up to the super rich. Wilson’s employer is pampered to excess.
1936: Modern Architecture again
It is difficult to imagine how Miss Wilson came to consider this architect as the designer of her old fashioned dream home. The furnishing in his studio should have warned her off the idea.
1933: Minimalism opposed
The cartoonist is not keen on the concept that less is more.
1924: Choosing a Valentine card
He has come to the wrong person. She is not going to help him in his intended deception.
1932: Quick thinking waiter
George Belcher is being consistently down market.
1934: Upsetting the, ahem, apple–cart.
I wonder if this artist is consciously influenced by HH Bateman – he of the ‘the man who…’ series?
1925: A dose of realism
This is an unusual effort for a Punch cartoonist. He is contrasting the pantomime fantasy with the actual reality of poverty.
1926: Who is really educated?
Undoubtedly the man who is speaking lacks the education of the ‘superior’ couple as we can see. The cartoonist is surely on the side of the scoffers.
1920: Livestock kept as pets
Margaret is too young to understand the adult readiness to kill animals previously kept as pets. She has unmasked the pretence that had been invoked.
1924: Showing off
Not that many people owned cars at that time let alone taking them abroad on the cross channel ferry. The car itself has clearly seen better days.
1934: Christmas is special
Here is another burglary joke though this time it contains a sugary Christmas message. The man on the left is clearly the burglar with the tools of his trade and a torch on the floor behind him. The householder is sharing a Christmas toast with the burglar and the policeman who has just made the arrest. The lady of the house is also drinking the toast and the maid is holding a plate of mince pies.
1934: The craze for autographs
Without modern technology the celebrity culture had to make do with autographs. The two small boys are seen as scruffy totally unlike the image they were expected to project. Today’s equivalent is of course taking selfies in which you secure of a picture of yourself with the celebrity in question.
Bradman (Sir Don Bradman 1908 – 2001) was a famous Australian cricket player. Wikipedia states that he is the most outstanding test batsman of all time quoting his test batting average of 99.94 as the greatest achievement by any sportsman in any major sport.
1937: Theatre tickets
This drawing is quite accurate. People really did this at the time. Mrs Magoo used to do it in her student days. Nowadays we book online.
1932: Bad behaviour by the super-rich
Once again Punch a cartoonist is censuring the super-rich. The servants, and there are plenty of them, are expected to ‘enjoy’ watching their wealthy employers playing bridge. In 1932 the Great Depression meant that secure regular work extremely was scarce. They would have to put up with this selfish decision.
1935: Vicarious ownership of a super car
The nephew hopes that his aunt will comply with his suggestion. He isn’t really going to take her driving very often. She wouldn’t enjoy being driven at great speed nor would she be happy with his intended list of female passengers.
1934: A case of irony
The joke here is that the scene we are witnessing in no way justifies the homeowner’s reason for rushing home after work.
1934: Pompeii takes second place
The scene is on a cruise. The speaker is totally involved in the ship’s activities and reckons Pompeii cannot compete with the finals of the deck billiards. The cartoonist chose to be called Fougasse which is the name of a French speciality bread. This artist was to be particularly active during World War Two producing public information posters.
1934: They should speak English
There really was a tendency to shout louder in English when foreigners didn’t understand what was said to them. The artist has played a little joke by displaying a bit of school textbook French in the display above the newsagents on the top left of the drawing.
It has to be said that today the incentive to learn foreign languages is not helped by the fact that more and more people the whole world over seem to speak at least a bit of English.
1935: Let’s not get carried away
Once again here is the casual way in which people took it for granted that they shouldn’t be expected to understand foreign languages.
1935: The ceremony of making tea
The cartoonist assumes that these picnickers have never heard of thermos flasks. On the other hand perhaps a thermos wasn’t considered good enough.