Ringing in the 'Twenties

Every New Year is an occasion for editorial cartoonists to crank out a crapload of Old Father Time and New Year Baby cartoons, and 1920 was no exception. Sameoldsameoldback Saturday presents a sampling of a few outliers today, as well as the trite and true.

"The Baby Vamp" by Tom R. Wood in Los Angeles Daily Herald, January 1, 1920

Tom Wood takes the unusual approach of portraying Baby New Year as a female. He could have been making allusion to the fact that women would enjoy suffrage in federal elections for the first time that year, but I doubt it. I suspect that Wood was commenting instead on female fashions, and not entirely favorably. He would surely be shocked by the bobbed hair and flapper skirts in the decade to come.

"Happy Dry Year" by Sidney Joseph Greene in New York Evening Telegram,  January 1, 1920

The new year was not without opportunities for editorial cartoonists to make timely and original comment on the changeover of calendars. The year's first ruling from the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Volstead Act, codifying the Eighteenth Amendment — Prohibition — into federal law.

"This Year, Alas" by Ervine Metzl for Cartoons Magazine, January, 1920

Ervine Metzl drew the cartoon above to illustrate an article in Cartoons Magazine. Some of his poster work for the Chicago Transit Authority in the 1920's is apparently still in use today, and was featured as part of a Field Museum exhibit in 2004. His later work included designs for U.S. postage stamps.

"Passing the Buck" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 2, 1920

The Supreme Court may have settled the Prohibition question, but that left a host of other issues unresolved. You'd think that after two millennia, we'd have learned how to solve all our problems by December 31. Our great-grandparents hadn't figured it out a century ago, and neither have we.

"Get Busy and Crack These Nuts" by William C. Morris for George Matthew Adams Service, January, 1920

William Morris offers Baby 1920 fewer unsolved problems than Nelson Harding: the higher cost of living, returning management of the railroads to private ownership, industrial unrest, and the continuing problem of Mexican rebels kidnapping Mexican and American citizens for ransom.

"What! You're Still Here" by Clifford Berryman in Washington (D.C.) Evening Star, January 1, 1920

Clifford Berryman finds further unfinished business in the war, thirteen months after armistice was declared, with no likelihood of the U.S. Senate ratifying the peace agreement in a presidential election year.

"Giddap" by Bob Satterfield for Newspaper Enterprise Association, January, 1920

Bob Satterfield appears to have more confidence in Baby 1920's ability to handle the problems left to him than many of his fellow cartoonists had.

"Zoo Logic" by Ben Ryan in New York Evening Telegram, January 1, 1920

On to lighter fare: New Year's Day would seem to be an auspicious day for a cartoonist to launch a new strip on the comics page. Ben Ryan would, however, have difficulty keeping his new year's resolution to "make you laugh every day this year." By the end of 1920, the New York Evening Telegram had dropped its comics page, keeping only a couple comic strips to break up other pages. "Zoo Logic" was not one of them.

"See Who's Here" by C.F. Naughton in Duluth Evening Herald, January 1, 1920

C.F. Naughton opts for a simple graphic in lieu of his daily editorial cartoon. Nobody likes to stay late at their desk over New Year's.

"Here's Hoping" by Fred O. Seibel in Knickerbocker Press, Albany, NY, ca. January, 1920

Fred Seibel offers a preachy version of the tired observation that many New Year's resolutions expire before the eleven pipers piping show up.

"Henry Dubb No Longer" by Ryan Walker in New York Evening Call, January 1, 1920

Finally, on the topic of New Year's resolutions, Ryan Walker at the socialist Call imagines what resolutions the U.S. Postal Service (which would refuse to deliver the Call), the High Cost of Living, a Kept Editor, and "Grabitall" were making, and how the proletariat needed to respond. Walker neglected to consider resolutions by the New York Assembly, which would suspend five duly elected socialist representatives at the commencement of the legislative session in January, and would expel them in April on grounds of "disloyalty."