We'll need to declaw that cat.
November 23, 2010 2:43 PM   Subscribe

Airport-security cartoons from The New Yorker’s archives (1938 - present).
posted by gman (28 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
We'll need to declaw that cat.

Oh no you didn't...
posted by The Bellman at 2:51 PM on November 23, 2010 [2 favorites]


"Christ, what a terrorist."

Seriously, though, I don't get the first one. Am I missing something?
posted by Rock Steady at 2:52 PM on November 23, 2010 [1 favorite]


She's a little old white lady and it's 1938. Don't let the Fez throw you off.
posted by The Bellman at 2:54 PM on November 23, 2010


I'm guessing it's because the agent is asking an elderly lady if she's bringing firearms or explosives on a flight.
posted by ODiV at 2:54 PM on November 23, 2010 [1 favorite]




These pornoscanners offer men like the subway flasher discussed a few threads down a whole new way to do their thing.

With SCIENCE!
posted by Joe Beese at 2:57 PM on November 23, 2010


Remember PEOPLEExpress ? You could pay , in cash, on the flight.

A guy about 20 years older than me swears he smoked weed out of a three foot bong in the smoking section. He also claims the mile high club was not confined to the bathroom, but took over the last 4 or 5 rows.
posted by Ad hominem at 3:01 PM on November 23, 2010


The satire in this one is that it has an olive branch.

I thought those were the birch twigs they beat you with at a Russian bath.
posted by griphus at 3:08 PM on November 23, 2010 [1 favorite]


Am I missing something?

During the early years of the Clinton administration, when the term "Friend of Bill" began to acquire currency, Eustace published a cartoon showing his-and-hers bathroom towels embroidered with F.O.B. and F.O.H.

No one in the future is going to have any idea why that was supposed to be funny.
posted by Joe Beese at 3:15 PM on November 23, 2010


Remember PEOPLEExpress ? You could pay , in cash, on the flight.

It was $20 from Newark to Boston! Cheaper than the bus. And yea, no identification at all. Walk on to the plane with your twenty dollar bill and the flight attendant sells you a ticket from the same cart that she's selling chips and soda.
posted by octothorpe at 3:15 PM on November 23, 2010 [1 favorite]


I'm guessing it's because the agent is asking an elderly lady if she's bringing firearms or explosives on a flight.

Anyone know if air terrorism was a problem in 1983? Probably the joke is not that a little old lady might be a terrorist. But that firearms or explosives could accidentaly go off and depressureize the cabin, so they just asked everyone. Like people would just carry around firearms and explosives like the ordinary items he was also asking about.
posted by Ad hominem at 3:20 PM on November 23, 2010


It was $20 from Newark to Boston! Cheaper than the bus. And yea, no identification at all. Walk on to the plane with your twenty dollar bill and the flight attendant sells you a ticket from the same cart that she's selling chips and soda.


They also had kickass baby-bel cheese and crackers for a few bucks.
posted by Ad hominem at 3:22 PM on November 23, 2010


It was $20 from Newark to Boston! Cheaper than the bus. And yea, no identification at all. Walk on to the plane with your twenty dollar bill and the flight attendant sells you a ticket from the same cart that she's selling chips and soda.

A great scene in Parallax View with Warren Beatty features a scene where he does just that. It's unintentionally hilarious. A couple scenes later, the plane explodes. Wonder how that happened?
posted by incessant at 4:01 PM on November 23, 2010 [1 favorite]


I'm sorry but the air travel "experience" is way past the point of humor or satire
posted by Fupped Duck at 4:07 PM on November 23, 2010


Am I missing something?

I took it to be that of course no one would ever answer "yes" to any of those things. Just like the immigration forms that ask if you've been involved with terrorist groups or plots to overthrow the government and whatnot.
posted by Hal Mumkin at 4:22 PM on November 23, 2010


PEOPLEExpress sounds magically awesome.
posted by spec80 at 4:25 PM on November 23, 2010


I took it to be that of course no one would ever answer "yes" to any of those things.

Er, I'm pretty sure people have been packing tobacco and liquor since Kitty Hawk.
posted by griphus at 4:29 PM on November 23, 2010


The cartoonist who drew that 1938 cartoon died in a plane crash.
posted by gubo at 4:34 PM on November 23, 2010 [2 favorites]


The cartoonist who drew that 1938 cartoon died in a plane crash.

Why would you know that????????
posted by GuyZero at 4:47 PM on November 23, 2010


The first cartoon (the 1938 one) was drawn by Helen Hokinson, whose work is awesome, and, as gubo pointed out, sadly died in a plane crash in 1949. My hometown public library had a collection of her work that had come out sometime in the 1950s, full of cartoons about portly society ladies at their garden-club meetings, debating the issues of the day. She's one of the mid-twentieth century cartoonists who deserves more recognition than she usually gets.
posted by heurtebise at 5:23 PM on November 23, 2010 [2 favorites]


"She specialized in wealthy, plump, and ditsy society women and their foibles..."

WHATSTHEMATTER?CATGOTYOURTOUNGE?
posted by clavdivs at 5:59 PM on November 23, 2010


It was $20 from Newark to Boston.
Pre-People Express, it was $18 on the Eastern shuttle at some point in the late 60s. No reservations, no check-in, no boarding pass.
posted by beagle at 6:13 PM on November 23, 2010


WHATSTHEMATTER?CATG"OTYOURTOUNGE? is considered unsafe by Norton Safe Web.
posted by eye of newt at 7:45 PM on November 23, 2010


then dump that puppy
posted by clavdivs at 8:23 PM on November 23, 2010


People Express was, beyond a doubt, the worst/cheapest airline I have ever flown with...although I've never tried Ryan Air.

And yes, you really did pay in cash on the plane: they wheeled a little cash drawer down the aisle.
posted by jrochest at 9:23 PM on November 23, 2010


Anyone know if air terrorism was a problem in 1983?

Seriously? Do you think it was invented in 2001 or something?
posted by entropicamericana at 8:41 AM on November 24, 2010 [1 favorite]


I reacted that way too but I'm pretty sure Ad hominem meant to type 1938.
posted by furiousthought at 2:30 PM on November 24, 2010


1972 was like psychic.
posted by dgaicun at 3:22 PM on November 24, 2010


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