Re: The Pages of Punch

1931: The Articulate Footpad

They didn’t have muggers in the 1930s for the simple reason that they were called footpads. This is a term that goes back to the seventeenth century and was apparently used to distinguish them from their mounted fellow criminals, the highwaymen.

For the cartoon to appear I imagine that this crime was common enough at the time. The cartoonist has injected some humour into this scene. The footpad obviously doesn’t know the name of the victim who is making it clear that he is not going to resist.

Patronisingly the thief is giving ‘Horace’ the sort of advice that his Saville Row tailor might be giving him. Naturally real footpads didn’t talk like that any more than today’s muggers would. Hence the joke.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1931: Male Response to Female Fashion

Evidently the fashion gurus had decreed that women should wear their hats at the back of their heads. And, of course, they all wore hats. It looks quite charming. The men are shown as copying and jolly silly they look, too. And, of course, they also all wore hats.

Obviously the men wouldn’t follow suit and the women would go on as they were until the next ‘latest thing’ was announced.

Re: The Pages of Punch

Never heard the word Footpad before Mr. Magoo, sounds a lot more respectable than Mugger.

Had to smile at the Guardsman with the Busby at the back of his head.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1931: Modernism Eighty+ Years Ago

The cartoonist knows his stuff. The furniture, decorations, clothes and body language of the niece are all accurately observed. The aunt is trying to be polite. The uncle would be likely to express himself more directly.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1931: Danger at Sea

There are two different ways of reading this cartoon.

The first is that the unselfish concern of the lady passenger is being snubbed by the sailor.

The second goes like this. The matelot’s task is seriously dangerous. He needs all his concentration to maintain his toehold on the ship’s side – and that is not a figure of speech. He does not need the distraction of dealing with the paying passenger’s silly question and he is in no position to give her the reassurance that she seeks. In truth she is not unselfishly caring about the man but rather more selfishly asking for permission not to have to worry thereby making him less safe than he was before her intervention. This makes the rather gentle reproof quite understandable

I can’t be certain but I suspect that we are intended to accept the first interpretation whereas I certainly prefer the second.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1931: Fashion Again

The inherent dilemma in wanting to be in fashion: wanting to be different and yet also the same.

Everyone wants to be ‘different’ in the same way.

Re: The Pages of Punch

Re. Danger at Sea. I would agree with you Mr. Magoo and prefer the second explanation. Having someone come behind me and ask a silly question when I’m fully concentrating on what I’m doing is not only annoying but can be dangerous, especially when I have a blowtorch in one hand and a crucible of molten precious metal in the other.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1931: The need to display one’s wealth at all times

The bulk of Punch’s readers, although ‘comfortable’, would not have been anything like as rich as the woman being pilloried here. It annoys her that her money doesn’t entitle her to special treatment in the mere matter of sitting on a deck chair.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1931: Reinforcing Stereotypes

People in the 1930s were not ready for inclusivity and multi culturalism. This cartoon is typical of British attitudes at the time to foreigners.

I must confess that I don’t remember having met the word ‘dragoman’ before. Apparently it means ‘an interpreter chiefly of Arabic, Turkish, or Persian employed especially in the Near East.’ The background (such as it is) to the drawing suggests a Middle Eastern country. Egypt was a popular tourist destination at the time and is therefore a likely candidate.

I don’t suppose that the cartoonist meant us to believe that an actual dragoman would have said this. The point of the cartoon is to emphasise the irritating persistence of poor people trying to make some sort of a living out of rich foreigners.

There is no meeting of minds here.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1931: You Haven’t Done That Well Yourself!

This ne’er-do-well is accustomed to finding himself facing the forces of law and order. On this occasion he fancies that he has the opportunity to hit out by taunting the magistrate for having failed in his intention of becoming a judge. He could not be expected to know that magistrates almost always serve in a part- time capacity by virtue of being ‘distinguished’ members of the local community.

This is all true but the joke as far as readers of Punch concerned was the ignorance of the lower orders.