Some wardrobe malfunction jokes are relatively young. This sort of gag, for example, is largely from the era when elastic replaced buttons for holding up the underdrawers. I cannot claim to be much of an expert on fashion, but the lady on this relatively late issue of Cap’n Billy’s Whiz-Bang seems to have chosen style over function, for that waistband does NOT look dependable.
Although this young lady’s predicament comes from a postcard of an earlier decade. This seems to be drawstring problem. Perhaps a fashion specialist IS needed for this discussion, though that might get us into a side issue on whether we had to wait until the underdrawer-optional era came to its end. And I know you’re more interested in postcards than such stuff.
Here we see, with Walter Wellman’s passing observer, that the 1930s certainly understood the dropped drawers joke. This, unlike the other wardrobe malfunctions discussed hereintofore during this rather elastic series, relies less on the embarrassment of the main character but on her state of ignorance about what has just happened. Whether a glimpse of her unmentionables or anticipation of what she will do and say when she finds out are the core of the gag.
This MUST involve the latter: he has surely seen his wife’s undies before. Maybe WE are supposed to chuckle at his predicament instead of hers: he doesn’t realize yet that he is destined to be taken on a shopping trip to buy new lingerie.
This is simply a fine old joke, attempted by several cartoonists at several companies over the ages. If there WAS a fashion historian on my payroll, we could consider all the different styles of underpants over the years.
I am merely a joke historian, an examiner of social trends. I am more interested in whether this variant was supposed to be more or less naughty than the sort shown in the previous example.
Although the nether garment involved in the gag was considered naughtier indeed than a swimsuit or short dress, the circumstances make the scene itself less potentially harmful to those of a delicate sensibility. THIS joke, now, shows even less than the previous ones, but may or may not suggest more. (For those who lack dry cleaning establishments of this sort, cleaners used to have emergency services for people who were dressed up for some event and ran afoul of a mud puddle, a passing impudent bird, or other possible damage. The customer, usually a man, would wait in this little modesty booth while the damaged pants were cleaned. THIS gentleman is entertained by seeing his fellow customer’s unspecified plight.
Men were not as vulnerable to this sort of gag, so we must fall back on losing one’s overpants for them. And even here we’re supposed to be paying attention to the pneumatic lady discussing inflation. Parity is not always possible.
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