Re: The Pages of Punch

1931: It Depends, Doesn’t It?

She is so overcome by the view she forgets that Henry isn’t in a position to enjoy it.

I have personal memories of motoring in the 1930s. My father seemed to have to spend quite a bit of time like Henry either underneath the car or tinkering with the bonnet lifted. I remember that when I started to drive in the 1960s I vaguely expected to have to do the same sort of thing and was pleasantly surprised that this was not so.

There were only two manual interventions that I was then expected to do. One was to check the oil pressure with a dipstick. The other thing was using the starting handle in damp or very cold conditions and very useful it then was. All that is well in the past now.

Re: The Pages of Punch

Very art Deco!

Re: The Pages of Punch

1932: American Tourists

The cartoonist has closely observed his subjects, their clothes and their conversations.

On the basis of what he has been told Junior asks a reasonable question. What indeed was the big idea? What Pop presumably didn’t know was that the term Horse Guard is a shortened description of those mounted soldiers who historically were responsible for protecting the life of the sovereign. It wasn’t the horse that was being guarded but (in a purely notional sense) the then current king, George the Fifth.

They still stand on sentry duty outside the building known as Horse Guards. They perform various ceremonial duties such as escorting the Queen on the occasion of the State Opening of Parliament. The soldiers aren’t actors; they perform these duties when not serving in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. The horses, fortunately for them, stay at home.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1932: Trousers Again

We now take it for granted that women may choose to wear trousers or skirts at will. The pages of Punch chronicle the beginning of this trend. We have already witnessed the lady cyclist asking the way to Wareham. That was in 1899. It was at this time that the benefits of cycling made it possible for some women to question the inexorable rule that men wear trousers while women wear skirts.

At the top of the page where for specific reasons there are some already acceptable departures from the norm in 1932. But this cartoon goes on to speculate that the norm itself would in time disappear. This has turned out to be the case but not precisely in the way that the artist has predicted.

The scene at the bottom left hand side of the picture suggests that women would be wearing trousers not for any special occasion but for everyday wear. It doesn’t exactly give a foretaste of the trouser suit but it provides an interesting insight into how some people eighty years ago were trying to come to terms with modernity.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1932: An introduction to the use of the vernacular

I don’t have a problem with the use of slang. Its purpose is usually to bind together the people who use it to the deliberate exclusion of those who don’t. Although I am unfamiliar with this use of the word ‘hag’ I am quite prepared to believe that in the early 1930s it was in use among the ‘bright young things’ of the time (when speaking among themselves) to mean one’s fiancée.

I had previously made the mistake of thinking that he was describing him mother to his fiancée – instead of the other way round. The young lady looks perfectly happy at his use of this word so it must be all right. This must be an early example of using a word to mean its opposite, such as the more recent use of the word ’wicked’.

This leaves the parents and the vicar looking like old fuddy duddies who are not familiar with the slang.

Re: The Pages of Punch

Ah the bright young things, and what they could get away with, but still every generation has it's equivalent in some way or other.

Re: The Pages of Punch

I too thought Hag was only to describe someone old ,strange how slang can mean something totally differant from one generation to another ,
Id hate to be introduced as the Hag ,it sounds horrible.

Re: The Pages of Punch

No danger of getting it wrong here. The message clearly is that just sometimes you will be in fashion when you aren’t even trying. Like the clock that isn’t working being ‘right’ twice every twenty-four hours. The two women’s appearance is being complemented by each of their male escorts. The older woman’s escort looks rather raffish and the younger’s is ‘just the thing’.

The occasion seems to be the annual Eton and Harrow cricket match.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1932: How Different From Us

Jokes told at the expense of the nouveaux riches are quite common in the pages of Punch. They may be rich but they don’t understand what it is to be one of us. So he misunderstands his visitor’s complimentary remark about the house. Everything about him shows that he lacks ‘breeding’. Note the contrast between the visitor’s posture and clothing and those of the house’s owner. The fellow’s even got his hand in his pocket!

This reminds me of a remark said to have been made about Michael Heseltine when he was aspiring to lead the Conservative Party. A grandee is supposed to have said ‘He’s the sort of man who buys his own furniture.’

Re: The Pages of Punch

1932: Punch Recognises the Great Depression

This cartoon is by no means meant to be taken as a joke. The readers of Punch would have been aware of what had been happening to the British (and indeed the world) economy by 1932. This cartoon served to reassure them that other readers were experiencing similar loss of disposable income.

Their deprivation would not be remotely like those who were suffering from years of dire hardship due to unemployment especially in the industrial cities. There was nothing like the same safety net as there is today. The misery then experienced was far more intense.

The two ladies in the cartoon and the readers of Punch they represented would not have been likely to suffer directly from unemployment. (Those that did would in time cease to be readers.) Probably the biggest cause of income reduction would have been the effect of reduced dividends as the economy shrank.

It was not until the late 1930s that some sort of recovery began to take place. It was only with the outbreak of war in 1939 that unemployment was finally eliminated. In the meantime Punch had to soldier on with what I would guess was a reduced readership. The need to tighten one’s belt would make the odd appearance along with the usual fare to act as a welcome distraction.