Spring is here now, more or less. (One forecaster spoke of snow this weekend, but it IS only April.) It is the time of year when folks start getting out on their boats again. And seasonal though they might be, boats were regarded with just as much joy by postcard cartoonists as cars.
The joy of getting out on a boat, be it a vessel of your own or something larger where you were only a passenger, is celebrated on many cards. The images of sailboats against a serene sky are legion, and the photographs or even reproduced paintings of great ships under steam or sail are to be found everywhere.
But we spoke of cartoonists, who were paid to show off the misadventures of the poor dub who could not ride a bicycle without running over hapless pedestrians. So what could be expected of them when they went a-sailing?
Well, one thing above all else, really. This was an age, if you’ll recall from previous bloggery here, that did not shy away from the suspense of having just consumed Cascarets or castor oil or some other high powered intestinal cleansing agent.
So the enjoyment of wave-induced motion sickness was a constant.
It was so common a phenomenon, at least on postcards, that it brought new meaning to old phrases.
Take, for example, “fellow traveler”.
We regard our ancestors as being rather squeamish, afraid to mention or even suggest certain body functions. I am sure those of us who have been through the exploration of, say, chamber bot postcards have learned better. Well, they were the same way about the side effects of seasickness.
They might be restricted by postal authorities in what they could SHOW, but what the could suggest about the plight of people on a boat was less limited.
These postcards were not just printed and put out for sale (the pun just slipped out, if you’ll pardon the expression) but were actually sold and mailed. So among our ancestors there were those who really enjoyed these jokes. (Now I think I must conclude and go lie down for a while. WHICH generation is squeamish?)
Blogsy Babbles 