jamesenge | Dumkupf vs. Laocoön

A cartoon from an old (1927-vintage) issue of The New Yorker. It made me smile, even though it’s probably supposed to appeal to class and ethnic biases.

Cartoon of a shop window for "J.M. Dumkupf—Plumber".The window displays a version of the Hellenistic statue group of Laocoön and his sons being consumed by snakes, except in this version the snakes are serpentime pipes.The caption: "on beautifying the city." — cartoon by O. Soglow (?) in *The New Yorker* issue for Sept 17, 1927

“Look, my dear friend Amaryllis Partington-Smith-Symythe-Vanderbilt-Smythington-Smyth–a banausic of foreign abstraction, decorating his shop-window with classical statuary! Très amusant!”

“Wasn’t your dad a fruit-peddler named Rabinowicz?”

“SHUT UP, YOU WHORE!”

Mirrored from Ambrose & Elsewhere.