Hey Guys!
It’s
Andrew the Bee again and this time
I’ve got some ancient anthro from
the early 1900s! This stuff comes from the pages of Life --not the Life that your grandparents
knew, but the one that maybe your great-grandparents
knew! It’s kind of hard to explain what Life
was all about – I guess you could say that it was like a news magazine, but funny.
It was full of jokes, comics, and
cartoons about things that were going on when Teddy Roosevelt was President!
Anyhow,
there were a lot of artists who drew
for Life. Some of these guys were famous, like Charles Dana
Gibson and James Montgomery Flagg. Others were not so famous, but they signed their stuff, so we still know who they are. And then there’s “L.” L. was a furry and it’s obvious that he (or she) was ashamed
of it, just like a lot of furries today!
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| 120 years ago, "Towser" was a popular dog name... Kind of like "Fido" used to be |
You
see, L. only signed their work with that
one initial. They did some cool art and their jokes were funny! But they didn’t want
anybody to recognize them. Probably they wanted to be a real artist and they believed that
doing anthro cartoons for a cheap magazine was a career-ender! It’s too bad, because L. did some great stuff way back in the beginning.
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| "Blancmange" was once a popular dessert. Here's what Spectator chef Olivia Potts says about it: "Poor, maligned blancmange. The slimy, over-set staple of children’s birthday parties and school
dinners, destined to be pushed around a plate and loathed for life." Sounds way nasty! |
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| Remember the old stereotype of people hucking stuff at cats when they yowled outside the window?? |
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| "Cur" -- That's a Shakespeare word for "dog." |
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| L. has a thing for elephant trunks. Unfortunately, most of their jokes fall flat when this subject comes up. |
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| Another trunk joke. In those days, the smell of automobile exhaust was a novelty! |
L.
is a furry pioneer! They deserve credit for that. I just wish I knew their name. If any of you intrepid researchers out there can figure out who they are, please let me know in a comment! So long for now!
I really enjoy these posts about these rare old books-keep them coming!
ReplyDeleteThat's great to hear -- Thank you very much! I've got more in the queue, so please stand by!
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