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Page Four
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Sundav, November 6. 1955
Sunday, November 6, 1955
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
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Fellows
of
Infinite
Jest
The Continental Makes a ComebC
Mark Ill s An Attempt to Recreate A Classic Of The Automo
Political cartoons have played a colorful role in American history . . . and
histronics. Rising to prominence under the pen of Thomas Nast in the late 1800's.
their popularity has persisted to heavily influence the elections of our own time.
By PETE ECKSTEIN
A YEAR from today the United
States will hold its forty-third
Presidential election.
Many voters will profess to make
their decisions on the basis of
party platforms, speeches, person-
alities, and editorials. But during
the course of the campaign more
people than would care to admit
it will be influenced by a quiet,
stubbornly independent fellow
whose face is quite unknown but
whose work is instantly recog-
nized-the political cartoonist.
The first American political
cartoonist was a man well known
to the list of firsts-Benjamin
Franklin. His, drawing of a snake
cut into 13 parts-each represent-
ing a colony-was widely circu-
lated before the Revolution. "Unite
or Die" was its warning.
WITH THE coming of American
Presidential elections the car-
toonist had bigger targets than
ever. George Washington was
elected unanimously in the elec-
toral college, but among the car-
toonists there was dissent. One
artists depicted Washington riding
into New York mounted on an ass,
an irreverent contrast with Christ's
entrance into Jerusalem.
American cartoons have changed
radically both in appearance and
means of circulation since Wash-
ington's day. Early drawings, like
Franklin's snake, were ploddingly
allegorical and rarely witty.
Printed with woodcuts or copper
engravings, they were often bound
and sold as separate publications.
As lithographs proved less ex-
pensive their use spread. Litho-
-graphed cartoons of the early 19th
century tended to concentrate
more on facts than on artistry,
more on detailed quotations set off
in loops than on comic or biting
characterization.
Currier and Ives, best remem-
bered for their staid New England
countryside scenes, were also ac-
tive publishers of lithographed
cartoons, often presenting both
sides of an issue or campaign.
TOWARD THE middle of the
century, popular if short-lived
weelie scropped up by the dozens.
"Vanity Fair," Jfin Donkey" ad
"Yankee Nations" were a few of
the vehicles by which cartoonists
influenced their publics.
But the most famous of all was
Harper's Weekly, and it gained its
fame chiefly through the talents
of Thomas Nast.
The Bavarian-born artist came
to prominence during the Civil
War with his drawings of Union
Army camp scenes. Lincoln termed
Nast his "best recruiting sergeant."
With the end of the war Nast's
work lost its reverent aspect and
took on a seldom-surpassed origi-
nality and sense of the satirical.
The Tweed Ring of New York's
Tammany Hall was his most fam-
ous enemy. He struck at it with
a ruthlessness that matched that
of the Ring itself as it grew fat
on the fruits of office./'
NAST DREW the Tweed Ring
sometimes as great predatory
birds, other times as haughty
Romans watching from their Coli-
seum box the savageryofethe soon-
infamous Tammany Tiger, Tweed
is reported to have offered Nast a
half-million dollar bribe and is
said to have exclaimed-in disgust,
"I don't care what they write
about me, but why can't they stop
those horrible cartoons?"
Well might he complain. Tweed
himself gained 100 pounds in
Nast's representations of him as a
ludicrous cigar store Indian (see
accompanying cartoon) or as a
lecherous kidnapper of small child-
ren.
It was the latter cartoon that
proved Tweed's downfall. Having
escaped to Europe when the
voters (influenced greatly by Nast)
put the Ring out of business, Tweed
was arrested by a Spanish police-
man who recognized him from
Nast's work. The charge was kid-
napping.
The mixup was soon corrected,
however, and Tweed was sent
home to America, tried and con-
victed.
NAST'S influence on America is
felt today. The modern car-
toonist would rather part with
his right hand than with the party
symbols Nast devised - the ele-
phant and the donkey. (Needless
to say, Nast was a Republican.)
The modern Santa Claus was also
the product of Nast's fertile draw.
ing board.
Nast and his contemporaries
wrought great changes in the car-
toon., Lengthy texts and quota-
tions were largely discarded. Often
the picture was allowed to stand
by itself with the briefest of cap-
tions. It was not a sign of grow-
ing illiteracy but a flexing of the
cartoonists' artistic muscles.
See AND NOTHING, Page 5
By JOEL BERGER
ONE OF the finest cars ever pro-
duced in America will soon be
back on the boulevards and high-
ways in a new form.
Announcement of the Continen-
tal-Mark II by the Ford Motor
Company recalls a car that is well
remembered by classic car lovers.
The original Continental was a
beautiful car-a long, low automo-
bile inspired by a one-of-a-kind
model produced for the late Edsel
Ford.
While the new Continental is
being produced by a separate di-
vision of the Ford Motor Com-
pany, the original was crafted by
Lincoln. It bore the title of Lin-
coln Continental.
THE FIRST Continental was a
work of art. It has been dis-
played at the Museum of Modern
Art in New York for its "excellence
as a work of art and for mechani-'
cal performance meeting the high-
est technological standards." Of
the eight cars on exhibit, only two
others were American-the super-
charged Cord convertible and the
World War II Jeep.
Conceived by Edsel Ford in 1939,
the Continental was first produced
in 1940. During the war years none
were produced.
Still in evidence throughout the
country , the Continentals are
cherished by car lovers who have
kept them in peak condition. A
good 1941 model sells for $2,000
or more.
WHAT DO the connoisseurs ad-
mire about this car? The an-
swer is simply that it was distinc-
tive, and resembled nothing ever
produced before or since. A long,
low appearance was given by its
long hood, compact passenger
compartment, short, almost close-
coupled rear deck, a closed rear-
quarter roof panel and the outside
rear spare-tire mount.
Only black mark associated with
the Continental was its pitifully
inadequate engine-a V-12 exact-
ly like those in the stock Lincolns.
As a result, this is the only classic
car in the world worth more fol-
lowing the installation of a new-
er, more potent engine.
Characterized by an almost to-
tal lack of chrome trim, the car
substituted beauty of form for
ostentation of glitter. In the con-
vertible version, the rear seats
were totally enclosed within the
top, only the front seat be-
ing exposed. The car was also
produced as a two-door hardtop
coupe, the style used in the Mark
II.
UIOLLOWING the war years, thef
i shape of the automobile chang-
ed somewhat. Keeping the same
body design, the Continental blos-
somed forth with straight-contour
fenders and a massive honeycomb
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THE ORIGINAL CONTINENTAL-LONG, LOW AND DISTINCTIVE
_1
Experimental
Films
"THE TATTOOED MAN" reflected Republican dismay at reve-
lations about the activities of their 1884 candidate, James G.
Blaine. Without toga, the labels Corruption, Anti-Chinese, Dema-
gogism, and Little Rock Railroad (from which Blaine solicited
bribes) plainly show. "Mulligan letters," one of the tattoos,
refers to esome of Blaine's indiscreet correspondence to railroad
officials.
-Frank Beard-The Judge
"I WANT MY PA!" is a barbed allusion to admitted illicit relations
between 1884 Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland and a
Buffalo widow. Paternity of her child was never established,
however. Private lives of candidates may be dragged into the
1956 campaign, with two divorced men, Stevenson and Harriman,
contending for the Democratic nomination.
(Continued frqm Page 5)
sented in this year's series pri-
marily in the short subjects. To-
morrow evening's program in-
cludes Picnic, by Curtis Harring-
ton.
Showing with Beau Geste on
Nov. 28 will be Salvador Dali's and
Luis Bunuel's answer to avant
garde films, Le Chien Andalou. A
chaotic shocker, meant to mean
nothing, the film contains the fa-
mous scenes of a woman's eyeball
being split in half and a couple
making love in the same living
room with the carcass of a mule,
Guests are admitted at a charge
of 50 cents to all Gothic films ex-
cept those from the Museum of
Modern Art. Memberships for the
remaining 11 films, including the
three silent movies, are still avail-
able at five dollars for the series.
They may be purchased at to-
morrow's showing at 8 p.m. in
RackhamAmphitheater.
THE 1956 CONTINENTAL MARK II-"THE SPIRIT IS WILLING BUT THE FLESH IS WEAK."
(4)
ma
~ r
S TO RE
H O U RS
D A I L Y
9
Chamber Music:
a t
High-Brow Jam
Session
(Continued from Page 6) than combos. What is more, there
is no age limit, which you can't
certs of the Stanley Quartet. They say of combos. I don't know if
are relaxed and concentrated. there is a grade school string quar-
They don't seem concerned with tet but there are high school ones.
what people think they are think- There is a mathematics quartet.
ing. They aren't worried about There is a faculty wives quartet.
getting their money's worth. They You don't ever stop being a chanm
permit themselves to be absorbed ber music nut.
and for a few moments live their
lives within an idealization of PEOPLE don't play string quar-
time. tets just for the physical exer-
It was this intimate, human ex- cise nor for the social evening. It
perience of time that led Joyce is the music. Nothing excels
and T. S. Eliot to think of cham- chamber music literature, perhaps
ber music and the quartet when because it was never written for
they wrote their poetry. show but for the sheer love of
Now, the experience of chamber music.
music is not limited to the concert Virgil Thomson has said that
hall; indeed, it was never intended the greatest work of American
for the large concert hall. Cham- composers has been for the string
ber music is a high-brow jam ses- quartet. This is a curious pheno-
sion. Perhaps you don't know it, menon! It seems like such an
but there are chamber music nuts. anachronism when one considers
These peculiar people would rath- how-but then, perhaps, commer-
er play in a string quartet than cialism doesn't dominate the ar-
eat. I bet there~ are more ama- tistic scene as much as we some-
Lady Maci
Weatherc
Imported from I
Now available in "Shorts" as we
sizes. This makes these world-f
available to women of all heig
tion.
As advertised in the iN
$A 95
HCATS TO MATCH
ays~r~e
P-Published by H. Anstice, New York
"THUS ONLY CAN I REACH THE THRONE," Vice-Presidential
Candidate Martin Van Buren is pictured as saying, while being
carried on the back of Andrew Jackson. When the Senate re-
Jected Van Buren's nomination as minister to Great Britain,
Jackson was infuriated. When he ran for re-election, Jackson
picked "The Little Magician" as his running mate, and true to
the cartoonist's prediction, saw to it that Van Buren was nomi-
nated for the presidency in 1836. The drawing may have its
-Thomas Nast--Harper's Weekly
"SAVE ME FROM MY TOBACCO PARTNER," cries a desperate Horace Greeley. "Do somebody
arrest him, or I shall never get to the White House." The partnership was more apparent in Nast's
cartoons than real, but such attacks made 1872 Democratic candidate Greeley question whether he
was running for the Presidency or the penitentiary. Nast's efforts to discredit Tweed and Tammany
Hall have placed a stigma on the New York City Democratic organization that lay handicap Tam-
STAT E
STREET
2