Mockbeth

     I was thinking of writing a column in this space about the use or misuse of Shakespearean lines on postcards, back in the day when Shakespeare mattered a whole lot more to the individual citizen of these United States.  I may still do that, but in doing my research, I ran into a separate question.

     Can a joke be overused?

     Now, I am, myself, a supporter of Jim Henson’s rule, that a joke not funny enough to be told once MIGHT be funny enough to be told seventeen times.  But then what’s your limit?  Nineteen?  Twenty-one?

     These are the opening lines of one of the “essential” Shakespearean plays.  The dialogue from this whole weird prologue is used and reused wherever Shakespeare generally is parodied, but that first line was applied to a particular situation early on.  I haven’t been able to find the first cartoonist to use it, but it did exist on postcards probably as far back as picture postcards.  (I have had to resort to eBay for the rest of these illustrations, and will give credit to the seller whose image I’ve swiped.  This one is from vintage-ephemera-postca.)

     I have run across a few listings where the seller didn’t quite get the joke.  They get as far as Shakespeare, but don’t know where the donkeys play a role in Macbeth.  This one, which includes a rudimentary mirror, should help. (searcher1955)

     Although sometimes I’m not sure if the maker of the postcard understood the jape, either.  This one suggests to me an entirely different back story, as Mamma and Junior wonder if Daddy is going to be back in town any time soon. (great old postcards)

     Apart from these considerations, the joke seems to have been fatally easy to illustrate.  Anybody who could draw a donkey, even with the implements needed to put an image on leather, could manage the job. (11951)

     Embellishments were up to the artist.  (This is NOT the only version in which the jackasses are wearing neckties, by the way.)  (pcl0910)

     You could go full oil painting and not spoil the joke.  Or any photographer who had access to the necessary cast members could snap a picture and be done.  (lowy-24)

     This joke, though thoroughly pandemic around 1910, did not fully fade away for years.  It was still available in the 1940s. (calbeach)

     And the 1950s.  (This one, alas, has the caption on the message side; you’ll just have to take my word for what it says.)  (collbear*collectibles)

     AND the joke was not limited to the English-speaking world, as Shakespeare was international, and especially beloved I  Germany.  (I assume your German is good enough to read that first line.  I think I’ve given you enough hints.)  (ichartasd)

     The joke is simple, rewarding enough since it takes a second to get the punchline, and completely out of copyright (another benefit to knowing your Shakespeare.)  I promise you, this column has shown less than a third of the different iterations of this postcard theme I found on the Interwebs.  And now we must move along.  This column is for showing off MY postcards, not looking at other people’s asses. (gls-othc)