Grandfather's Editorial Cartoon Collection

[Haversack]

As I have mentioned once or twice previously, I inherited a collection of political cartoons that my grandfather cut out of Southern California newspapers chronicling events from about 1938 to 1946. Being a British subject, (professionally necessary as he was a valet and butler), much of them deal with goings-on in Britain, Europe and in particular, the Second World War.

Growing up with this collection gave me a view of the war and the events surrounding it that was both immediate and intimate. This was history not from a book or even from people who lived through it recalling it 25 years later. Much like Lizzie’s day-by-day postings from the Brooklyn Eagle and the Daily News, these cartoons comment on events with the eyes of those there and then. The creators of these cartoons and their publishers and readers did not have the luxury of knowing the future.

Much of this collection is in chronological order with some topics grouped together. However this is not hard and fast. For example, there are a series of cartoons concerning FDR’s decision to run for a third term and his choice for a running mate pasted in after cartoons commenting on the Battle of Stalingrad and the Fall of Singapore. My intention is to post three or four of these cartoons at a time either here in The Golden Era or in the WWII forum as seems appropriate. I make no guarantees that I’ll have a schedule nor be as diligent as Lizzie has been with her Day-By-Day thread. It is also my intention to not omit cartoons which use caricatures that would likely give offense to those of the here and now. If I were to do so, I would have to omit everything concerning the CIO and the war in the Far/Middle/Near East, the Pacific, Africa and India.

I hope that people will find this collection interesting and informative about not just the era but about how people of the time portrayed and saw the world. And appreciate some nuances of history they may not have known.

 

[Haversack]

These are the first cartoons my grandfather pasted into the collection. They comment on the State Visit to the US made by the King and Queen of the United Kingdom between June 7th and 12th, 1939 amidst their Royal Tour of Canada, (May 7th - June 15th, 1939).

 

[LizzieMaine]

These are just great. A bit of background on the artists shown here -- "Thomas" is Burt Thomas, who'd been drawing for the Detroit News since the turn of the century -- you can see that 1910s style is still very much present in his linework. He was a very popular cartoonist in his time, and his work was widely syndicated to other papers. Given the alignment of all the Detroit papers during the 1930s against organized labor, I imagine he's going to be drawing some pretty rough stuff about the union battles of the time, but I have always admired his art style -- that kind of penwork was going out of style by the 1930s, and he was one of the Old Masters.

The other fellow shown here is Bruce Russell, who was chief editorial artist for the Los Angeles Times for nearly thirty years. Althoug the Times was at the time a pretty hard-right paper -- all the LA papers were except for the "People's World" and a few weeklies -- Russell was notable for his independence. His drawings would go against the paper's official view on occasional issues, and he earned a Pulitizer Prize for an anti-Cold War cartoon in 1946.

I look forward to following this thread -- keep 'em coming.

 

[Haversack]

Here are the next four. They concern the lead-up to Munich. I'll keep posting these hear until overt hostilities start and then shift the WWII forum. When domestic issue are depicted they'll be back here. Thanks for the background Lizzie. There's a Herblock coming up pretty soon.

 

[Haversack]

Here are the next four. We're well into Munich and can see what thought of it by some US papers.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That first one is a pretty savage take on Mr. Chamberlain, but it was not an unpopular one in some circles post-Munich.

 

[Haversack]

Well, now we're post-Munich and there is much speculation on where the Soviet Union stands in the World line-up.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Fantastic cartoons. Thank you for posting. I especially liked the umbrella in the British Museum. These are a pleasure to read.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Herblock is one of those cartoonists whose style stayed consistent for his whole career. He was always very fond of that lithographic-crayon technique, which made his stuff stand out at a time when most cartoonists still relied on cross-hatching for shading. He had a very modern line for the time.

Had the Soviets and the British managed an alliance, or at least a rapprochement, in 1938 -- as Stalin and his advisors seem to have sincerely wanted -- the history of the next several years would have been very different. Had Churchill been PM in 1938 -- as some in the London press had been demanding for years -- it could have happened.

 

[Haversack]

Here is the first of a double load. These were pasted in not in any particular order and so jump around between 1939 (pre-war) to 1941 (pre-US entry into war). This will be the last lot posted in the Golden Era for awhile as most of the next pages deal directly with war events.

One of the things I have noticed with the cartoons posted so far is that there have been any that have dealt with Spain, Finland, or some of the other harbingers of the War. Although there may not have been any published in the newspapers my grandfather read, I think it is more likely that those that were printed did not interest my grandfather and so were not included.

 

[Haversack]

And the second part:

 

[LizzieMaine]

Just goes to show, you can never trust anyone who doesn't like cats.

That "Private Lives" feature just began running in the Sunday Brooklyn Eagle, so if space permits we'll be seeing more of Mr. Cox's work as Day By Day moves on.

 

[Haversack]

I've started the wartime cartoons over in the WWII forum. Here are some pre-war cartoons that were pasted in after the wartime cartoons began.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"The Neighbors," Berlin edition -- it's not tasteful to laugh at Hitler jokes, but I have to admit that one got me.

 

[Feraud]

These are real gems. Thanks for taking the time to post. I look forward to seeing more.

 

[Haversack]

Here are a few from the period between Hitler's invasion of Russia and the US entry into the war. (i.e. June '41-Dec. '41). The first refers to the change in attitude of some of US Labor after Russia was invaded. Tomorrow's batch over in the WWII forum all use baseball imagery.

 

[scotrace]

These Are fantastic!

 

[Haversack]

Here are a few from before the war. Tony Galento was a heavyweight boxer of whom Max Baer said: "He smelled of rotten tuna and a tub of old liquor being sweated out".

 

[LizzieMaine]

Galento was also famous for his quote before taking on Joe Louis -- "I'll moider da bum!" It didn't happen.

 

[Haversack]

Here are a series that comment on Lend-Lease, loss of neutral US ships in the Battle of the Atlantic, and some of the US response.