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28-11-2014, 12:36 PM
41

Re: The Pages of Punch



1931: You can fool some of the people some of the time

The snooty sales assistant is demonstrating one of the basic tenets of salesmanship. If you have a weak case just assert the opposite of the truth with utter conviction. It often works particularly if you are dealing with a customer lacking in confidence like the one pictured here.

The fountain pen argument is irrelevant. The owner of a fountain pen does not need an inkwell. The pen will be refilled when necessary straight out of the inkbottle. For the old-fashioned person who needs an inkwell the general popularity of fountain pens is totally irrelevant whereas the amount of ink that it can hold is the only issue.

There is no feeling of nostalgia in my mind when thinking about inkwells. Instead it brings back memories of the classroom with an inkwell fitted into each desk. It was the duty of the ink monitor to keep each inkwell replenished every day. We had those pens with wooden handles and steel nibs. The trick was to get exactly the right amount of ink onto the nib. Then I needed to place the nib onto the paper at exactly the right angle. After that it was important to press the pen down with the right amount of force. Too little and what you wrote wasn’t legible. Too hard and you got a blot and you could even ruin the nib when it became ‘crossed’. For a clumsy schoolboy like me these were all obstacles in the way of producing the neat handwriting that was desired.

All this changed for the better when I was given a fountain pen as a birthday present. This was the 1940s technological equivalent of the mobile phone for today’s youngsters. Refilling it was easy and involved no mess. Now at last I could concentrate on the words instead of the messy business of using the old technique.
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29-11-2014, 09:56 AM
42

Re: The Pages of Punch



1932: The Man Who...

H.M. Bateman’s cartoons are legendary. His trademark is that ‘the man’ outrages everyone in sight as in this example. The same basic idea is repeated time and time again in different settings. Often Bateman manages to find new twists to the theme and he obviously achieved great popularity.

Here he shows other lawyers reacting with utter astonishment at the barrister’s lapse. He himself can’t understand what made him do it. The judge’s face has turned so red that his wig has leapt into the air. Even the witness knows that a serious blunder has been committed. She tries to hide the smirk on her face since she knows she shouldn’t be doing it.
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29-11-2014, 08:09 PM
43

Re: The Pages of Punch

Thanks for showing them Mr Magoo, I'm enjoying them all and the explanations.
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29-11-2014, 08:19 PM
44

Re: The Pages of Punch

Me too
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30-11-2014, 11:03 AM
45

Re: The Pages of Punch

Thank you all for your kind remarks. I wonder if someone might like to comment on future postings. I must admit that is why I originally placed this thread in the Discussions section. Still, it is quite in order to make observations here. You might want to discuss issues raised by the current joke. This has been the case in another place. You might want to disagree with something that I have said. Honestly, I won’t mind.

--------



1931: Snobbery Among the ‘Lower Orders’

The between maid (or tweeny) was a very lowly member of the household staff. She was ‘between’ in the sense that she could be called upon by both the butler and the cook.

In this cartoon Leighton indicates that being called ‘comrade’ by such a lowly servant is an insult to his self-important status, of which his body language speaks volumes. This is certainly plausible but it is also true that the upper classes found some comfort in the intense snobbery shown by their servants.
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01-12-2014, 10:43 AM
46

Re: The Pages of Punch



1933: Barbarians at the Gate

Both the old couple had formed their ideas during Queen Victoria’s lifetime. They are shocked at the sight of the tennis player’s arms. For our part we consider him quite elegantly turned out. However, the cigarette that he is lighting will have seemed quite normal to everyone in the picture but it startles us.
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01-12-2014, 04:11 PM
47

Re: The Pages of Punch

Smoking or not, I can't help noticing how slim fit and happy everyone seems to be, the only ones with a bit of extra flesh seem to be the older and probably wealthier figures, jealous of the youth then as many still are today.
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02-12-2014, 10:56 AM
48

Re: The Pages of Punch



1931: Children Playing

Children overhear many things and in play reveal how much or how little they have understood, as in this case. On other occasions they innocently give away things that their parents would prefer to remain within the family.
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02-12-2014, 07:44 PM
49

Re: The Pages of Punch

Yes how true, your children can innocently put your foot in it as I know only too well.
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03-12-2014, 10:50 AM
50

Re: The Pages of Punch



1931: The Lion is Satirised

The term ‘literary lion’ has long since disappeared from English language usage. By 1931 it had already been in use for a considerable period of time. In the Pickwick Papers Dickens referred to it when naming the absurd Mrs Leo Hunter, thus pleasing those of his readers who knew that the Latin word for ‘lion’ was ‘leo’.

The cartoon is, of course, an exaggeration but not very far from reality. The slightest utterance from the ‘lion of the moment’ would be treated as both profound and original. This phenomenon is still with us today though the object of such admiration is not likely to be a mere writer of books.
 
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