Re: The Pages of Punch

1917: A Deliberate Parody

There are two things going on in this cartoon. The first is that it correctly depicts the devastation caused by the fighting and the bedraggled state of the two Tommies, although the absence of trenches or barbed wire does rather reduce its authenticity.

On the other hand what the Scot is setting out to do is ridiculous and totally unbelievable. He would know that it is suicidal to walk across No Man’s Land in broad daylight. Furthermore Jock would not possibly be concerned with the leisure activities of his prisoners.

My theory is that the cartoonist knows all this perfectly well and that he is deliberately satirising the gung-ho stuff being churned out by the popular press. Those readers of Punch who didn’t get the joke might just believe that this sort of thing really happens.

Re: The Pages of Punch

Dropping in to thank you for your Punch topics..and to wish you and yours Season greetings.

A Punch card

Re: The Pages of Punch

Thank you, Solo. I send my best wishes for the season to you and the other readers of the Pages of Punch.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1917: Severe Rationing

Food rationing was a constant theme by this stage of the war. It can be no coincidence that over and over again this subject comes up in cartoons in Punch. Fido’s own rations look more than adequate.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1917: The Shock of the New

Cubism was then all the rage amongst the avant garde. This was considerably earlier than people now suppose. Indeed 1910 - 1913 had seen a great upsurge of Modernism in music as well as art.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1917: An Incorrect Forecast

In this amusing sketch the artist is speculating that the easy comradeship of the war will continue after ‘the boys come home.’ Ignoring other pedestrians the smartly-dressed young men about town chat about issues of the day with their sticks and gloves stacked up like rifles just behind the lines. I feel pretty sure that the cartoonist knew full well that there was fat chance of this ever happening.

And so it transpired…

Re: The Pages of Punch

1917: An Equally Incorrect Forecast for the Civilians

As with yesterday’s forecast we see in two tongue-in-cheek cartoons the speculation about aristocratic ladies continuing on from their ‘war work.’ It is quite true that they threw open their stately homes to become hospitals (as in the first example) and staffed their own canteens for the soldiers (as in the second).

The artist could see that there would be problems if this ever happened. The look on the faces of the liveried servants in the second drawing tells us that they didn’t want their work taken away from them. They needn’t have worried – there was a rapid rush to return to the status quo. Downton Abbey got this aspect absolutely right.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1917: Sense of Priority

She doesn’t know what she wants to do but is quite sure how she wants to look while doing it.

Re: The Pages of Punch

I have now concluded my cartoons for 1917 and I am moving forward by 21 years to 1938. By that time the worst effects of the Great Depression had lessened although there was still a great deal of misery left. The majority of Punch cartoons at this time concentrated on the interests of the comfortably off since they would be able to buy the magazine.

We all know that World War Two was just around the corner but at the time most people tried to believe that it could be avoided.

-----------------------------------



1938: ‘The Idle Rich’

This is a slightly cynical debunking of alpine sports in favour of idleness in the sunshine. The cost does not seem to be important.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1938: No Landlubbers

The passengers are all sick in their cabins allowing the crew to ‘enjoy’ their own hierarchical way of life without any irritating interruptions.