Dumkupf vs. Laocoön

A cartoon from an old (1927-vintage) issue of The New Yorker. It made me smile, even though it’s probably supposed to appeal to class and ethnic biases.

Cartoon of a shop window for "J.M. Dumkupf—Plumber".

The window displays a version of the Hellenistic statue group of Laocoön and his sons being consumed by snakes, except in this version the snakes are serpentime pipes.

The caption: "on beautifying the city."
cartoon by O. Soglow (?) in The New Yorker issue for Sept 17, 1927

“Look, my dear friend Amaryllis Partington-Smith-Symythe-Vanderbilt-Smythington-Smyth–a banausic of foreign abstraction, decorating his shop-window with classical statuary! Très amusant!”

“Wasn’t your dad a fruit-peddler named Rabinowicz?”

“SHUT UP, YOU WHORE!”

About JE

James Enge is the author of the World-Fantasy-Award-nominated novel Blood of Ambrose (Pyr, April 2009). His latest book is The Wide World's End. His short fiction has appeared in Black Gate, Tales from the Magician's Skull, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and elsewhere.
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