Comments on: Cocktayle Napkinf

Cocktayle Napkinf

Rumple — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:10:18 -0800

A retro set of cocktail napkins showing Eisenhower-era damsels and drunkards, with captions by The Bard. via

By: idiopath

idiopath — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:39:37 -0800

The juxtaposition of comic illustrations from the '50s with somewhat out of place captions reminds me of the work of Mark Newgarden, including, of course "We all die alone" (see his collection of the same name). I wonder if this, or some collection like this, was an influence for him.

By: vac2003

vac2003 — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 01:11:27 -0800

Say what you will, but these betray a pleasing mixture of intelligence and wit.

By: dchase

dchase — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 01:16:38 -0800

What else can you expect from Metafilter's own MrBaliHai?

By: Uppity Pigeon #2

Uppity Pigeon #2 — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 04:52:03 -0800

Saucy!

By: stupidsexyFlanders

stupidsexyFlanders — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:33:56 -0800

these betray a pleasing mixture of intelligence and wit I was more fascinated by the mixture of titty jokes and Shakespeare. It's sad that our culture is so fragmented now that these could never co-exist in a popular format like bar napkins. One side sneers at the objectification of women, the other side sneers at the book-larnin', and we all sit at the bar using blank napkins.

By: MrBaliHai

MrBaliHai — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:47:53 -0800

Thanks for the shoutout and the server stress-test, Rumple and dchase. For more saucy wordplay in a similar vein, check out Mayor Mike's collection of Fractured French cocktail napkins, along with the rest of his collection in the Jim Backus Memorial Cocktail Napkin Museum.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:54:12 -0800

One side sneers at the objectification of women, the other side sneers at the book-larnin' I would contend that there is a sizeable majority somewhere in the middle between the Freedom Hating Liberal Elitists and the Palin Family. Some of us can still (and just did) get a chuckle out of a good Shakespear juxtaposed with boobs joke.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 06:12:29 -0800

Cocktayle Napkinf Funny. Those napkins are unexpectedly, awfully entertaining and not least because the expectation that the enjoyers of the time would -or could- savor the contrast of kitsch and Shakespeare.

By: Horace Rumpole

Horace Rumpole — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 06:46:28 -0800

check out Mayor Mike's collection of Fractured French cocktail napkins Giggity-Giggity-Goo!

By: flipyourwig

flipyourwig — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:11:19 -0800

They need to reprint these suckers! Love 'em.

By: Creosote

Creosote — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 09:07:59 -0800

Lordy, lordy, Fractured French paraphernalia. Remember these things well from parties at the neighbor's house I used to get dragged to as a small kid. It would be some years before I would understand the point of an irritated burglar holding a spoon with the caption S'il vous plaît (not sterling). Roughly around the same time the lightbulb went off and I realized why it was that the adults became giggly and silly as the level of their drinks went down...

By: butterstick

butterstick — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 09:53:14 -0800

ReMake! Can anyone suggest a good bitmap to vector conversion program?

By: rageagainsttherobots

rageagainsttherobots — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:01:53 -0800

Hilarious. I'm a big fan of Coloring Book Land too.

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:05:53 -0800

These are great!

By: Rumple

Rumple — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:27:18 -0800

Thanks for the link to the Jim Backus Memorial Cocktail Napkin Museum, MrBaliHai. I enjoyed poking about your site.

By: MrBaliHai

MrBaliHai — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:05:35 -0800

Glad to hear it. My site enjoys being poked.

By: Ron Thanagar

Ron Thanagar — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:27:32 -0800

Bard petards?

By: Slithy_Tove

Slithy_Tove — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:39:27 -0800

"...Rough-hew them how we will." My parents had these. They were in the liquor cabinet with the dusty bottle of Crème de menthe and the 1951 Château d'Yquem that was being saved for some very special occasion that never actually came. I remember looking at these napkins with eight-year-old curiosity, trying to read their secret messages of how comport myself an adult in 1950s America. My, my. Thanks for the memories!

By: idiopath

idiopath — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 23:53:48 -0800

butterstick: inkscape is an open source vector graphics program that does a decent job of importing bitmaps and converting to SVG vector.