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04-11-2014, 10:51 AM
11

Re: The Pages of Punch



1899: The Ten Guinea Hat

I guess that this cartoon speaks for itself. I have two questions to ask.

Were the readers of Punch expected to sympathise with the lady or with the gentleman?

Wouldn’t she have achieved her object more effectively if she had worn her hat taking tea at the Ritz or at Gunter’s?
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05-11-2014, 11:08 AM
12

Re: The Pages of Punch



1912: Buying a Motor Car

I was surprised by the message contained in this cartoon. It asserts that in 1912 there were many more people wanting to buy motor cars than there were people selling them. I am assuming that it wouldn’t have appeared in Punch unless this was really true.

The precious young salesman is leaning against a princely vehicle of the time – nothing like a Ford T. The humble purchaser would have to have been well heeled indeed. Apart from the cost of the car he would also need to employ a chauffeur. This man would not just drive it but would also need to be a trained mechanic ready to deal with the many breakdowns to which the early models were prone.

We are used today to seeing ironic cartoons in which the truth is the opposite of what it seems. From the wording of the text (You’re wrong...) I wonder if this is the earliest example of this genre.
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06-11-2014, 10:55 AM
13

Re: The Pages of Punch



1899: A sign of the times

On one level this joke is about a simple pun. The lady cyclist wants to know if she is on the right way to Wareham whereas the local man assures her that she is wearing ‘em’ correctly.

The real point is his reaction to what she is wearing. However ridiculous this seems to us, his problem is that what he is seeing is in total contrast to what has been the norm throughout his life: men wear trousers, women wear skirts. He is perhaps being a bit condescending but in reality the reaction might have been a lot less polite.

With the availability of bicycles greater mobility was possibility for a lot of people. The social impact was tremendous. But women found that they could not travel far while wearing the long skirts that were then the universal style. In fact it would have been dangerous to try.

At first a few brave souls decided that the cycle was more important than the style. The lady in the cartoon is shown wearing the garment which allows her to enjoy the same freedom of movement as men while retaining some of the attributes of the traditional skirt. It was called the divided skirt. To the man in the cartoon it looks like trousers. Hence the joke.

I think that the cartoonist has been entirely fair to the lady cyclist. He has not shown her as an unfeminine extremist but as an entirely respectable well-dressed member of the middle classes. It isn’t clear whether he is reflecting public acceptance of this innovation or is simply advancing its cause.
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07-11-2014, 10:54 AM
14

Re: The Pages of Punch



1906: I don’t wish to know that. Kindly leave the stage

Today we don’t admire those who poke fun at people less advantaged than they are. We would regard that as politically incorrect. We see that this was not the case in 1906. There is some mitigation in the fact that those who were being laughed at would not be likely to read the pages of Punch. Even so we are not amused.
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08-11-2014, 09:38 AM
15

Re: The Pages of Punch



1916: Unkind

Unkind and almost certainly untrue.
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09-11-2014, 11:43 AM
16

Re: The Pages of Punch

1907: One Conversation: Two Meanings



The maid takes the question to mean getting a position elsewhere but more senior in the hierarchy of domestic service. She assures her mistress that by marrying she will be leaving ‘service’ altogether.

The cartoonist doubts whether her material circumstances will be improved by the forthcoming change of status.

Readers of Punch in 1907 would have seen nothing unusual in the body language displayed here. Ellis is standing at respectful attention when addressing her mistress. The lady of the house sees no reason to modify her comfortable recumbent posture while speaking to a maid.

I wonder whose book she is reading? Presumably it wouldn’t have been the latest by H G Wells which that year was the prophetic War in the Air. Perhaps Ouida was more to her liking.
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10-11-2014, 11:37 AM
17

Re: The Pages of Punch



1877: Selling Is All

The words have changed but the imperative hasn’t. As always there is the stick and there is the carrot.

Today the carrot is preferred. Examples include league tables, sales person of the month or some imaginary job title. In 1877 the stick would have been the sack.

I’m sorry to say that I don’t know what the ‘swop’ is. Google is no help at all. Any suggestions?
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11-11-2014, 01:20 PM
18

Re: The Pages of Punch



1910: The Suffragette Menace

As 1914 approached the issue of votes for women became increasingly divisive. At first the established politicians wanted to laugh it away. As the protests became more strident accompanied by a determination to break the law the response was to deride the suffragettes as unreasonable and unfeminine.

Under those circumstances this cartoon seems almost neutral. Yes, there is physical violence involved but the perpetrator is not shown as some harridan but a fit and able young women. The policemen who outnumber her by a substantial number are both powerless and afraid of her. Perhaps the cartoonist is showing a grudging admiration for Mrs Pankhurst and her followers.

In truth where there was physical violence it was perpetrated both by the police and by random mobsters. Such activities had no place in a Punch cartoon.
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12-11-2014, 10:57 AM
19

Re: The Pages of Punch



1865: NO Mod Cons

This cartoon reminds us of some of the discomforts involved in living in ‘the good old days.’ This meant no central heating, no running hot water and other inconveniences unfit for mention in the pages of Punch. On rising it was normal to be presented with a basin and a jug of cold water for washing in one’s bedroom.

Julia said that the girls had found that the water was all frozen in the jugs. This could either mean a thin layer of ice at the top of the water or it could mean that the water had become a solid block of ice. In the case of a thin layer it would have been possible to break through the ice. But if the jugs contained solid ice then it would have been sensible to draw some fresh water from the kitchen tap and bring it up to the bedroom. I can’t imagine that mother and daughters would have come down to breakfast without a certain amount of washing.

The son of the house clearly had done exactly that. Cecil was surely slow on the uptake. He had been presented with sufficient information for him to make a similar claim. In time he would surely learn to be more creative.
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13-11-2014, 10:00 AM
20

Re: The Pages of Punch



1865: Looking at Flora’s Ankle

There are many croquet cartoons in Punch from this time. It was very popular as an outdoor game that could be played on terms of equality between women and men. There was no running (consider the handicap of those voluminous skirts) involved nor was physical strength of any advantage. In addition, of course, here was another welcome way in which eligible single people could meet each other with complete propriety.

Mid Victorian prudery was then at its height. Even so Flora could legitimately reveal her ankle by complying with the rules of the game. It looks as though she was holding down one croquet ball with her foot while another one of a different colour is being placed alongside. The men are avidly watching her do so. Ostensibly they are making sure that the rules are being observed. But everyone (the cartoonist, the editor and readers of Punch, the men in the cartoon and especially Miss Spriggs) knows that the intensity of their gaze is due to this rare opportunity of seeing a part of Flora that is usually hidden from view.

I don’t think that the explanatory text in the drawing has it quite right. I don’t suppose that Miss Spriggs’ feet are any less pretty than Flora’s but the interest in the foot is governed by the person to whom the foot is attached.

It is somewhat reassuring to think that the cartoon appeared at this time of maximum puritanism. Even then it was not thought to be really scandalous that the men should find the rare view of a lady’s ankle to be of such absorbing interest.
 
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