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David Low and the Sociology of Caricature*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2009

Lawrence H. Streicher
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Extract

The recent and unfortunate death of Sir David Low (1891–1963), the eminent British political caricaturist, provides social researchers with another opportunity to inquire into the sociological relevance of political caricature. Political caricature is an effective way to create images and to inform the public of political figures and the meaning of events. Political caricature also tends to be universal and repetitive in Western society for about the last 400 years. Caricature for decades has also become for many newspapers and campaigns an important item. For the man in a rush or the reader of only the headlines or lead paragraphs the caricature is a way of catching at a glance the meaning of an event, a person in the news, or a pictorial summary of a current power constellation.

Type
Political Caricature
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , October 1965 , pp. 1 - 23
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1965

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References

1 Hines, Edna, “Cartoons As A Means of Social Control”, Sociology and Social Control, XVII (May-June 1933), 454–464.Google Scholar

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7 Low, Autobiography (London, Michael Joseph, Ltd., 1956), p. 264.

8 Ibid., p. 265.

9 The brief announcement appeared in the Evening Standard (London), April 20, 1934, p. 3; the first “Budget” the next day on p. 7.

10 The unvarying model for subsequent cuts appeared on April 28, 1934, p. 7. The last print of the “Budget” was on p. 4 of the edition noted.

11 Evening Standard (London), September 14, 1934.

12 Ibid., July 12, 1935.

13 Ibid., September 2, 1935.

14 “Baths”, Encyclopaedia Britannica (1961), Vol. Ill, 204–207.

15 Ibid., Ill, 206–207.

16 Cf. Robert Blauner, “The Social Psychology of Personal Names” (unpublished Master's Thesis, Department of Sociology, University of Chicago, 1950).

17 Gad was one of the 12 sons of Jacob. His name means “Fortune” and to swear by him invokes luck. “Then Leah's maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son. And Leah said, ‘Good fortune!’ so she called his name Gad.” Gen. 30:10–11. “The sons of Zilpah, Leah's maid: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddanaram.” Gen. 35:26.

18 Not only Low played havoc with Hitler's disturbances. Wells, H. G. in two articles entitled “1939 — What Does It Hold? A Forecast”, in the News Chronicle (London), January 2, 1939, p. 10, and January 3, 1939, p. 8Google Scholar, had described Hitler, Goering and Goebbels as “certifiable lunatics”.

19 Low's, Political Parade (London, Cresset Press, 1936)Google Scholar, “The World and Colonel Blimp”, p.v.

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37 Cf. infra, nn. 51–54.

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62 Loc. cit. The above figures include Blimp's appearances in the weekly “Topical Budgets”.

62 Loc. cit.

63 Pravda (Moscow), October 6, 1942, p. 4.

64 “Who Said Blimp Was Dead?”, January 2, 1943, p. 1.

65 New York Times, March 7, 1943, Section 6, pp. 8–9.

66 New York Times, April 11, 1943, Section 6, p. 34.

67 Daily Telegraph (London), June 11, 1943, p. 1.Google Scholar

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72 Daily Mail (London), June 25, 1943, p. 1.Google Scholar

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78 New York Times, April 2, 1944, Section 7, pp. 8, 33.

79 New Statesman and Nation, April 22, 1944, p. 270.

80 Spectator (London), June 2, 1944, p. 500.Google Scholar

81 Spectator (London), June 9, 1944, p. 524.Google Scholar Lunn replied to Low, Ibid., June 16, 1944, p. 550, stating his authority as Lord Elton and asking Low what steps the cartoonist had taken to correct Elton. In a last letter Low, Ibid., June 23, 1944, p. 572, referred Lunn to the 1942 correspondence between Elton and Low: cf. supra, nn. 56–58.

82 Great Britain, 5 Parliamentary Debates (Commons), DVII (1952), 1300–1301.

83 Loc. cit.

84 Daily Mail (London), November 15, 1952, p. 2Google Scholar and the New York Times, November 15, 1952, p. 5, reported the news item.

85 Bone, James in “David Low”, a review of Low, Low Visibility, A Cartoon History, 1945–1953 (London, Collins, 1953)Google Scholar, Manchester Guardian, October 20, 1953, p. 4.

86 Lunn, Sir Arnold, Memory to Memory (London, Hollis & Carter, 1956), pp. 83–86Google Scholar, 90. Cf. also Idem., Come What May (London, Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1940), p. 208, for an earlier comment on Blimp as a scapegoat for those “who have no stomach for war”.

87 Manchester Guardian, August 29, 1956, “Blimp in Cyprus”.

88 See for a serious discussion of British national character Renier, G. J., The English: Are They Human? (London, Williams and Norgate, Ltd., 1931)Google Scholar; and for a satirical comment Mikes, George, How To Be An Alien (London, Andre Deutsch, Ltd., 1946)Google Scholar.

89 The writer is indebted for this observation to John King.

90 Blimp was first formally defined in Russian by Segal, Louis in the New Complete English-Russian Dictionary (London, Lund Humphries & Co., Ltd., 1948), p. 89Google Scholar, who defined Blimp as “tvyordolobii”, literally, “thick-headed” or “thick-skulled”, an extension not giving the idea of stupidity. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. rev. (Oxford, At the Clarendon Press, 1959)Google Scholar, “Addenda and Corrigenda”, p. 2481, defined Blimp in the following manner: “2. (Colonel) Blimp: a character invented by David Low (1891– ), cartoonist and caricaturist; an obese, pompous looking elderly figure, pop. interpreted (often gen. a blimp) as typifying a diehard or reactionary”, which also ignored the Colonel as “ass”.