Cartoon themes: parties

Club, September 1987

Ace, March 1964

Playboy, March 1972

Bo Brown
Adam, May 1973

Collier's June 25, 1939

Bob Zahn
Good Humor, October 1964

Beau, August 1966

Reamer Keller
Bluebook for Men, August 1963

Hello Buddies, October 1951

Debonair, November 1968

Louis Priscilla
Fun House, February 1980

Brad Anderson
Fun House, February 1979

Buck Brown
Playboy, January 1967

cartoons that don't age well, part 2

more from my batch of cartoons that wouldn't be printed today by anyone.

For some reason, spanking was a common motif in one-panel cartoons, I don't know if it was a fetish or supposed to be a wish fulfillment fantasy or what. This one's doubly wrong because of the Arab stereotype.

Bill Wenzel
Fun House, February 1979

John Groth
Esquire, June 1934

Definitely of its time. You can tell how old a person is by how they view this. The joke as meant is that two people have hooked up and once they “get down to business” realize they are not man and woman. It's fairly self-explanatory. It is homophobic and transphobic viewed today. But forty years ago, the idea of any sexual coupling other than hetero-normative did not occur to most. In context, particularly for the demographic of the magazine, and knowing the other work of the cartoonist, no commentary on their sexuality is intended, it is merely a ridiculous situation.

B. Kliban
Playboy, August 1978

For Laughing Out Loud, February 1960

Al Ross
For Laughing Out Loud, February 1960

Again with the spanking.

Fun House, February 1980

Gent, June 1963

Walt Lardner
Good Humor, October 1964

Good Humor, October 1964

Charles Rodrigues
Playboy, December 1967

Louis Priscilla
Hello Buddies, Winter 1950

High, November 1958

High, November 1958

cartoons I don't get 13

“Don't get” doesn't always mean I don't always understand the joke. Sometimes I say “don't get” as in “What's the point?”

Esquire, July 1934
Syd Hoff

These next two were submitted by Devlin Thompson and come from the January 1978 issue of Popular Cartoons
I was confused by this one at first because I thought the guy's eyes were open. This would be funnier if “up in the air” had a double meaning and there was a hat or something in the background to show this guy was a pilot.

Reamer Keller

Louis Priscilla
Sir!, February 1954

The idea seems to be he's sawing the mallets so she'll have to bend down further, but her dress is too long to look up no matter how far down she bends, or maybe he intends to look down the front of her blouse?
Good Humor, circa 1964

Hello Buddies, Winter 1950

Charles Rodrigues
Hi-Life, August 1964
Is it that he has tools attached to his artificial arm?

Stag, Fall 1941
I guess the woman's talking but the older man is the one with his mouth open.

Man, April 1966
So she's talking to two guys at once. So what?

Ed Arno
Penthouse, October 1978

Richard Taylor
Playboy, December 1964

These two are from Punch October 27, 1915

cartoons I don't get 8

Punch October 27, 1915
One guy's scared of the vehicle of warfare, the other guy is impressed like one would be by fireworks. We weren't a part of World War I yet, and a lot of Americans probably didn't even know the war existed, so this wouldn't translate here.

Adam, May 1973
Employment depending on lechery. Doesn't age well.

Good Humor, c. 1964
I guess, because they can walk during a low tide, they're not stranded, and therefore don't have to have sex? They both seem to want to, so what's stopping them from doing it wherever they want? Maybe they both have a fetish where it can only be on a stranded desert island.
Or was she there by herself and then he came along and she's crying because she can't be alone?

Punch October 6, 1915
It's ironic because he's proud of the UK winning, but he doesn't like to do other things required to keep his country great like pay taxes (sound familiar?). But did he faint, or did he disappear or shrink or run away naked?

Punch November 9, 1927

Adam, October 1966
Bob Schochet

Hello Buddies, c. 1965

Esquire, June 1934
Gregory D'Alessio

Punch December 8, 1915
So he got the two substances mixed up. So what?

Fun House, February 1980
Bill Wenzel

Hello Buddies, Winter 1950
A woman doing what men do. Another cartoon that doesn't age well.

Man to Man, November 1965
I think it's that she's supposed to be abnormal without make-up. But this is how I normally draw people, and try not to have ugly-shaming be the punchline anyway. If that's the joke, it's another dated one.

Playboy, March 1972
Is it that the guy in the lower left is going the wrong way?
George Booth