Steel Tiger
Senior Master
Recently I acquired a collection of very old cartoons ranging from the late '20s to the early '60s.
One of these cartoons, from England, opened with a vacuum salesman going door to door. Eventually someone lets him in and he demonstrates the machine which turns out to be a musical instrument. The lady of the house is enchanted and spends all her time from then on practicing to play the thing. In time she goes off and performs with a very strange orchestra. Throughout this we are shown scenes of her husband and son slowly deteriorating, the husband becoming a drunk and the son running away from home. All pretty depressing so far.
Then another salesman appears with a tuba. This one actually vacuums the floor. The woman is enchanted and gives up her performing career and is last seen vacuuming the floor with a happy and contented family in the background.
The very last image of the cartoon is a poster that reads, "Moral, A woman's place is in the home."
We have all heard this saying before and it generally has a negative connotation. The impression I got from this cartoon was different. The makers seems to be trying to say if a woman is not in the home it will fall apart. Now this is a late '50s attitude but it is different to the normal interpretations of this saying.
One of these cartoons, from England, opened with a vacuum salesman going door to door. Eventually someone lets him in and he demonstrates the machine which turns out to be a musical instrument. The lady of the house is enchanted and spends all her time from then on practicing to play the thing. In time she goes off and performs with a very strange orchestra. Throughout this we are shown scenes of her husband and son slowly deteriorating, the husband becoming a drunk and the son running away from home. All pretty depressing so far.
Then another salesman appears with a tuba. This one actually vacuums the floor. The woman is enchanted and gives up her performing career and is last seen vacuuming the floor with a happy and contented family in the background.
The very last image of the cartoon is a poster that reads, "Moral, A woman's place is in the home."
We have all heard this saying before and it generally has a negative connotation. The impression I got from this cartoon was different. The makers seems to be trying to say if a woman is not in the home it will fall apart. Now this is a late '50s attitude but it is different to the normal interpretations of this saying.