Re: The Pages of Punch

1949: Thoughtless Guest

It looks as though there was then a rule then according to which the hosts were bound to accompany their guests out to their car. I myself have never seen this custom being observed – either as guest or as host. Saying goodbye at the front door seems to be sufficient.

Re: The Pages of Punch

I used to enjoy the horse cartoons by Norman Thelwel in the Punch Magazine. He was a great artist too.

Re: The Pages of Punch

My grandfather always left guests to the gate at the end of the front garden Mr Magoo, same thing with my father in law, didn’t matter how bad the weather was, whether they had a car or were just heading for the nearest bus stop.

Re: The Pages of Punch

I used to enjoy the horse cartoons by Norman Thelwel in the Punch Magazine. He was a great artist too.

Yes Sableline, Thelwel with the horses, ponies and their young riders. Some excellent examples are coming this way. Watch this space.

My grandfather always left guests to the gate at the end of the front garden Mr Magoo, same thing with my father in law, didn’t matter how bad the weather was, whether they had a car or were just heading for the nearest bus stop.

Jem, that is very interesting. This is a practice that is quite new to me. Your examples suggest that this used to occur in the past but now is no longer the case.

Re: The Pages of Punch

They always mind me of this offering by John Betjeman

It’s awf’lly bad luck on Diana,
Her ponies have swallowed their bits;
She fished down their throats with a spanner
And frightened them all into fits.
So now she’s attempting to borrow.
Do lend her some bits Mummy, do;
I’ll lend her my own for to-morrow,
But to-day I‘ll be wanting them too.

Just look at Prunella on Guzzle,
The wizardest pony on earth;
Why doesn’t she slacken his muzzle
And tighten the breach in his girth?

I say, Mummy, there’s Mrs. Geyser
And doesn’t she look pretty sick?
I bet it’s because Mona Lisa
Was hit on the hock with a brick.

Miss Blewitt says Monica threw it,
But Monica says it was Joan,
And Joan’s very thick with Miss Blewitt,
So Monica’s sulking alone.

And Margaret failed in her paces,
Her withers got tied in a noose,
So her coronets caught in the traces
And now all her fetlocks are loose.

Oh, it’s me now. I’m terribly nervous.
I wonder if Smudges will shy.
She’s practically certain to swerve as
Her Pelham is over one eye.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1949: Getting Your Objection in Early

Queuing was a way of life in 1949, nowhere more so than at the pictures. It was the norm to turn up when ready and then expect to wait until you got to the front of the queue. This often meant getting into the main film well after the beginning. Then there were the various extras such as the News, the B film and some educational items. Eventually you got back to the main film and then you saw how it had started, already knowing how it ended. Eventually you got to the point when you could say 'this is where we came in’ and then you left.

The cartoon reflects this time accurately. It shows a mixed bag of people and they all seem quite used to having to wait.

Re: The Pages of Punch

A few years back I went for a meal in a pub in Porthcawl west wales. I was in my element the walls were ordained with pictures of Thelwels work in Punch all nicely framed up.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1949: Uncle to the Rescue?

By 1949 very detailed drawings like this had become very much the exception. In this case, however, it is the detail that makes the joke.

Uncle appears to be a very ancient academic, more probably at a school rather than university. His room is clearly a complete mess and the nephew is clutching at a straw.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1949: LCC Evening Classes

The London County Council’s provision of evening classes had by the 1930s already become a valuable adult education resource in the capital. Often the classes were held in schools. The annual prospectus of courses was called Floodlight and I am pleased to note that there is now a website with that title performing the same role though it does not restrict itself to London.

This is a very gentle little joke and by no means hostile.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1949: Seeing Germans in a New Light

A political cartoon again this time signalling a changing perception of Germany (or at least of Western Germany.) In the police station of the Western Powers the convicted German has served his time and makes the (then) audacious suggestion that perhaps even he can be of use to the forces of law and order.

The posters on the wall sustain this narrative. The crossed out wanted picture of Hitler (not Germany) accepts that the issue is now longer that of the World War Two. The Russian Bear (not Stalin) represents the current danger.

The picture also accepts the reduction in Britain’s status since the war. It is Uncle Sam who is very much in command and John Bull and France who are the subordinates while they seriously consider the suggestion that has just been made. Prior to 1939 acceptance of this subordinate role would have been unthinkable.

How surprised the readers of Punch would have been in 1949 at the pivotal role played by a united Germany in today’s Europe. And as for Angela Merkel...