Christmas '23 Skidoo

This week's Graphical History Tour turns the clock back 100 years to find out what America's editorial cartoonists drew for their papers on Christmas Eve and Day, 1923:

"The Message of the Bells" by Oscar Chopin in San Francisco Examiner, Dec. 25, 1923

"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" remains one of my favorite Christmas songs long after the others have been played ad nauseam since Hallowe'en. It is a setting of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Civil War poem "Christmas Bells," written as his son Charley lay in hospital, having been shot during a skirmish in the Mine Run Campaign on December 3, 1863.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
....
And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

"When the World Sees Us at Our Best" by John T. McCutcheon in Chicago Tribune, Dec. 25, 1923

I can't say whether Oscar Chopin had the Longfellow poem in mind when he drew his Christmas Day cartoon, but I'm sure that many of his readers were instantly reminded of it. It was much more widely familiar then than now.

The Great War was receding in Americans' memories by 1923, and John McCutcheon kept his front page Christmas Day cartoon cheerful and optimistic.

"Enlightening the World" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Dec. 24, 1923

As did just about all of his fellow editorial cartoonists. The American economy was booming, and nearly every cartoonist had drawn at least one cartoon in December (if not one per week) advising readers to get their shopping and mailing done early.

"Everybody Ready?" by Alfred W. Brewerton in Atlanta Journal, Dec. 24, 1923

Not everybody was consumed by crass commercialism.

"St. Louis Has Filled It" by Daniel Fitzpatrick in St. Louis Post Dispatch, Dec. 25, 1923

Daniel Fitzpatrick was one of several cartoonists whose space on Christmas Day celebrated their newspaper's Christmas charity gift drives (the San Francisco Chronicle's Gustavo Bronstrup being another example). 

Written on the stocking is "Post-Dispatch Christmas Festival," an annual charity event since 1900. The newspaper's 1923 festival distributed "well-filled dinner baskets" to 3,000 "worthy families," as well as "pipes and tobacco for homeless men ... at municipal and benevolent lodging houses." There was entertainment for children, featuring mechanical waltzing dolls, ponies, and of course, Santa. Donors' names and contributions were all listed in the Sunday edition, although receipts by December 26 had fallen nearly $1,000 short of the budget.

"With Gifts Galore" by Douglas Rodger in San Francisco Bulletin, Dec. 24, 1923

Scottish-born Douglas Rodger was a recent immigrant to the U.S. Before coming to California in 1922, he had served in the British Army during World War I and the post-war occupation of Germany. His experience of the Great War, therefore, was considerably more immediate than that of the other cartoonists included in today's post. (Even that of McCutcheon, who did some wartime reporting from Europe.) Described as mischievous and good-natured, Rodger was haunted by wartime nightmares for decades afterward. He took his own life in 1962.

I don't want to end this holiday post on such a downer, so let's have some cute little kids or something like that.

"'Twas the Night Before Christmas" by William Ceperley in Davenport Democrat, Dec. 24, 1923

That's more like it, isn't it?

"Merry Christmas Every-Body" by J.N. "Ding" Darling in Des Moines Register,  Dec. 25, 1923

Whew! All this merry-making is hard work.

"Please Let Me Sleep" by Clifford Berryman in Washington Evening Star, Dec. 25, 1923

Oh, but now I'm just slapping old cartoons up on the internet without providing insight or adding value to them in any way! Well...

"Gone for Day" by Tom Foley in Minneapolis Star, Dec. 25, 1923

See you next week.