A Breezy Bequest

For this week's Graphical History Tour, let's settle into the gallery at the Scopes "Monkey" Trial in Dayton, Tennessee — starring Clarence Darrow as Spencer Tracy, Fredric March as William Jennings Bryan, and John T. Scopes as OG Darren Stephens.

"Closed Book in Tennessee" by Edmund Duffy in Baltimore Sun, June 19, 1925

The story thus far: Tennessee State Representative John W. Butler, head of the World Christian Fundamentals Association, pushed eponymous legislation through to Governor Austin Peay signing it into law, banning the teaching of evolutionary science in Tennessee public schools. A Dayton coal  and iron company executive, George Rappleyea, thought it would be good publicity for his town to challenge the Butler Act in court. 

Rappleyea found support from Dayton Superintendent of Schools Walter White (as Bryan Cranston) and attorney Sue K. Hicks (as Johnny Cash), and the three men recruited 24-year-old schoolteacher John Scopes to be the face of the case.

Making a Monkey of Itself" by Billy Ireland in Columbus Dispatch, ca. June 14, 1925

Billy Ireland crammed a lot of text into the bulletins posted in this cartoon; since it may be difficult to read on your device, here is some of it:

During the trial of Professor Scopes of Dayton, accused of teaching the science of evolution in the public schools of Tennessee, electrical loud speakers will be placed in the courthouse windows for the benefit of the vast crowds.

It is proposed that the trial be transferred from the courthouse to a large ampitheater within the race track at the fair grounds.

Dayton resents the efforts of Chattanooga to move the trial to that city — Datyon wants all the ADVERTISING for itself. ...

Bids for hot dog privileges now open. Merry-go-round rights for a reasonable figure. Bids for street fair rights now in order.

"Would They Destroy Each Other" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, June 6, 1925

The original prosecuting and defense attorneys, District Attorney Tom Stewart and law school professor John Neal respectively, were overshadowed by the celebrities brought in by both sides to argue the case: three-time Democratic presidential nominee and former Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan for the State, and criminal defense lawyer Clarence Darrow for Scopes. 

"The Descent of Man" by Nelson Harding in Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 5, 1915

Bryan had been outspoken against evolutionary theory as far back as 1909, lecturing, publishing Christian-themed books, and preaching on his nationally syndicated radio program. Intellectuals espousing evolutionary theory, he charged, sought to invalidate "every moral standard that the Bible gives us." Tennessee was one of five states, all in the South, that responded to his call to ban teaching of evolution in public schools.

"Odd Shadows" by Pedro Llanuza in Chicago Herald & Examiner (?) ca. June 26, 1925

Bryan took a lot of ribbing from cartoonists of all stripes.

"All He Can See In It" by Winsor McCay, ca. June 19, 1925

Every Winsor McCay cartoon is a tour de force; here he has drawn in a single cartoon enough monkeys that, given typewriters, they might very well have been able to produce the collected works of Shakespeare.

"I See By the Jungle Press" by Thomas E. Powers for International News Service, before June 19, 1925

The signature is missing from this cartoon, but my money is on it being the work of T.E. Powers. The editors of the newspaper in which I found the cartoon may have omitted a bottom panel of tangentially related material; Powers often provided multiple gags per cartoon.

I've tried looking for the context of "He's not with me," but the phrase is proving too commonplace. It may have been something William Jennings Bryan had said in arguing that he didn't think teachers should be jailed, fined, or fired for teaching evolution; it's not entirely clear what he thought the penalty should be. Or perhaps he was simply forswearing the company of our prehistoric ancestors.

"A Leadership Too Unattractive to Be Dangerous" by J.P. Alley in Memphis Commercial Appeal, June 28, 1925

In fairness to Mr. Bryan, I have to include the one June, 1925 cartoon I've come across critical of Clarence Darrow. Tennessean J.P. Alley here depicted a scowling, "agnostic" Darrow disappointed by "youth" not following him and his black banner of "despair" down into the dark abyss of whatever that was the dark abyss of.

Scopes publicly identified himself as agnostic, but I am not aware that Clarence Darrow had publicly done so before the trial.

"Somabodee Geeva Da Monk a Hot Cent" by Homer Stinson in Dayton Daily News, June 28, 1925

Homer Stinson's cartoon must refer to a cruel trick people apparently played on organ grinders' monkeys. While the organ grinder (stereotypically an Italian immigrant, as depicted in the cartoon's caption) played the music, his pet monkey would accept coins from the audience. How giving the monkey a red-hot penny was accomplished I do not know, and I hope for the sake of any organ grinder monkeys employed these days that the process has been lost to history. 

"Getting Reverse English" by Jesse Cargill for King Features Syndicate, ca. June 30, 1925

The grand jury heard arguments in June; the trial date was set for July 10. In the meantime, Americans were free to debate the merits of faith and science among themselves.

"Disbelievers in the Evolution Theory" by Leslie Rogers in Chicago Defender, June 20, 1925

Some cartoonists used the Scopes Trial to comment on other serious issues of the time. Leslie Rogers, cartooning for Chicago's Black newspaper, turned on its head the Biblical literalists' revulsion at the idea of being descended from apes: his monkeys are horrified by the prospect of having American lynch mobs among their relatives.

"No Wonder the Monkeys Are Worried" by Dorman H. Smith for Newspaper Enterprise Assn., ca. June 27, 1925

White cartoonist Dorman H. Smith overlooked lynch mobs to draw his monkeys worried by a myriad of other human crimes, from animal cruelty to child labor to domestic violence to reckless driving — even, strangely, the length of women's skirts and the volume of balloon pants.

"Has Evolution Succeeded" by Douglas Rodger in San Francisco Bulletin, June 19, 1925

Leaving fashion crimes aside, Douglas Rodger's monkeys were more amused than alarmed by their human descendants. The French tricoleur and cannon must be a reference to France's military coming to Spain's aid in fighting a rebellion in Morocco. (We'll return to that topic on a later date.)

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Sidebar: It has little to do with the Scopes Monkey Trial, but since I brought it up, the connection between lawyer Sue Kerr Hicks and Johnny Cash is no coincidence. 

Hicks was named for his mother, who died in childbirth. Years after the events of today's post, Hicks, by then a Tennessee state circuit court judge, explained how he came by his unusual name at a conference that happened to be attended by song writer Shel Silverstein.

Silverstein took considerable liberties with Sue K. Hicks's life story in writing the song made famous by Johnny Cash. Hicks's father didn't name him as a joke, leave his family, or cut off a chunk of his son's ear in a barroom fight.

Ya gotta admit, though: it was only right and salutary that a boy named Sue should eventually pursue a career in law.