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skjam (skjam) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-11-07 21:18:00

Current location:	Most of the places I've lived have been demolished
Current mood:	nostalgic
Current music:	"The Saga Begins" -- Weird Al Yankovic
Entry tags:	medium: magazines, title: punch

Punch Magazine 7/13/83
Punch magazine was founded in 1841, and enjoyed over a century as a weekly humor magazine, satirical but not "low." It was immensely popular and influential in its day, featuring many famous cartoonists and humor writers.

By the time I was in England, Punch was long past its glory days, and would cease publication in 1992, but I still found it amusing enough to save an issue or two. Here's some bits from the July 13, 1983 issue.

Ah, youth. Every generation has its bizarre fashion choices, to be sure.

The moon-faced fellow is Mr. Punch, the violent puppet after whom the magazine was at least partly named.

I've always enjoyed the twisted fairy tales subgenre of humor. You may remember this tale as the basis of the opera "Der Freischutz", or as a passing reference in "Hellsing."

The lower cartoon was the main reason I hung onto this issue. During my time in England, I was stationed at RAF Upper Heyford, not far from Oxford. Like the more famous Greenham Common, we had a Peace Camp of anti-nuclear/anti-war protestors stationed outside the main gate. Every so often (usually once a month), they'd get up a major demonstration and block the gates, so the base would go on full alert for a day or two. The pub in Lower Heyford down the road was off-limits to us US Air Force types as it was the peace protestors' hangout.

And I have just found out via Wikipedia that RAF Upper Heyford has been closed, and the runway is now used to store Audis. Sic transit gloria mundi.

A recurring feature column, which I think is absolutely hilarious if read out loud in the proper accent.

Much of the early Punch output is in the public domain, one site that may be of interest is http://www.punchcartoons.com/ .

(Post a new comment)

	dr_hermes 2009-11-08 03:51 am UTC (link)
	Thanks for something different. I've never seen an actual issue of PUNCH, but I've enjoyed various collections of cartoons and bits from it. Perhaps the closest in attitude we have to it in the States is THE NEW YORKER? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	skjam 2009-11-08 04:06 am UTC (link)
	I'd say that would be a fairish comparison, though the New Yorker seems to be less about the humor than Punch was. (Reply to this) (Parent)

rab62
2009-11-08 05:34 am UTC (link)

When I was reading both magazines, Punch and the New Yorker shared many cartoonists, for example the late Bud Handelsman himself. One big difference was that New Yorker also published serious journalism and fiction and extremely long pieces, whereas Punch as an exclusively humor magazine had none of those things, but did have regular columnists and weekly features such as "Let's Parler Franglais!" I was a devoted reader of Punch in the Eighties and was extremely bummed out by its demise (not to mention one utterly horrific attempt at a revival).

Actually, there was a direct attempt to duplicate the New Yorker in England during the late Thirties with a magazine called Night and Day, featuring contributors such as Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, and Cyril Connolly. I've seen some issues and it really was a slavish imitation down to the layout and typography, but the actual writing wasn't nearly as good. Its sole claim to recognition today is the magazine's demise in a once-notorious libel suit:

http://www.variety.com/awardcentral_article/VR1117936894.html?nav=sagf&categoryid=2025

(I know this was more than you want to know...but really, when else am I going to have the chance to mention all this on scans_daily?)

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	skjam 2009-11-08 04:47 pm UTC (link)
	More information than we require is a feature of Scans Daily, not a bug. Thanks for the link! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	icon_uk 2009-11-08 10:17 am UTC (link)
	Ah Punch, we always used to have an issue or two lying around the house as bathroom reading material (That and a Readers Digest), nice to see it shown here... and I loved the Franglais columns! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	artnouveauho.livejournal.com 2009-11-08 11:06 am UTC (link)
	That was glorious. Thanks for posting! (Reply to this) (Parent)