02-05-2016, 09:46 AM
622
Re: The Pages of Punch
Here is another one.
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I really doubt that, unlike today, the Yiddish word ‘chutzpa’ was widely understood in 1938 but here is a clear example of it in action.
The most glaring example of chutzpa that I ever encountered occurred in Hong Kong. I was on leave there with some army friends and we met up in a bar with some sailors in the New Zealand Navy. My colleague, Jim, was slight in build and about five foot two in height. He was sitting next to a Maori Chief Petty Officer who was massive in build and about six foot two tall. There was some question of whether someone had spilt some of Jim’s beer. The CPO assured Jim that he hadn’t done it. Jim replied ‘That’s lucky for you!’
We all smiled, especially the bearded NZ matelot.
03-05-2016, 09:36 AM
623
Re: The Pages of Punch
1938: Modernism Itself has a History
The artist is here drawing our attention to how some ‘advanced’ people were behaving in the 1930s. Assuming that this is not a deliberate exaggeration, the freedom allowed to the daughter of the house would have been quite rare for the time.
The clothes (and body language) of the two are carefully observed. It is strange that most of the furnishing here are not ‘modern’ at all. Apart from the lampshade what we see is decidedly old-fashioned for the time. It took me some time to realise that what we see in the window is the bearded gardener pruning a tree outside the house.
What the visitor is saying is a correct description of late Victorian Britain: 18 year old ‘gels’ really were not allowed to smoke. ‘Collapse of Elderly Visitor’ indeed.
05-05-2016, 09:34 AM
625
Re: The Pages of Punch
1938: Shopping in ‘Less Enlightened’ Times
Customers didn’t expect to have to lug their shopping home. Young lads at the onset of their careers would deliver it to your door. There would have been a lot of deliveries to be made since supermarkets didn’t exist.
Online ordering from the said supermarkets is the modern equivalent but that leaves out the customer seeing what she or he is purchasing.
It’s called ‘progress’ or something.
06-05-2016, 09:34 AM
626
Re: The Pages of Punch
1938: A Voice from the Past
The drawing shows a Seventeenth Century battle about to take place. The General is not interested in the Captain’s tactical suggestion preferring to slug it out until one side has no-one left alive. At that time it wouldn’t have been called attrition. In 1938 it would, and there were keen memories of the Western Front in 1914 -1918 and I feel certain that this exactly what this drawing is about. I put it down as an anti-war cartoon.
08-05-2016, 10:03 AM
628
Re: The Pages of Punch
1938: Look Out, Ramblers
I need to work out the complete meaning of this cartoon. I already know that during the 1920s and 30s there was a growing interest in hiking in the countryside. My father-in-law was an enthusiastic rambler at the time.
Now I need to draw some inferences. It looks to me that visiting hikers were not very welcome in the villages that they visited – they disturbed the peace. If, in great numbers, they would knock on the doors of people’s homes and ask for refreshments that would certainly cause resentment. What puzzles me though is why some enterprising inhabitant would not set up to meet this demand.
Strange, really.
09-05-2016, 09:48 AM
629
Re: The Pages of Punch
1938: Competition on the High Street
Two different retail offerings are in conflict. The lady in the hat is selling traditional manufactured ware. The lady in the sandals on the right is selling hand crafted ware. This is also traditional but the traditions are different.
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