Oh Man! The Surprise
Clare Briggs
Clare Briggs is a famous cartoonist who lived from 1875 to 1930. Poems by Wilbur Nesbitt.
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I do often wonder if there are any ‘lost’ Briggs comics because they were censored for being a bit too explicit about alcohol use. Though this one in 1919 – if I’m reading the panel correctly – is super duper early in the prohibition era, and may not even be in it, given the Volstead Act only went into effect between Oct 1919 and Jan 2020.Report
He drew one about writing a check to the bootlegger.
The guy was Cheech *AND* Chong rolled into one.Report
That’s wild, I don’t remember that one. Wild in that, yes, in universe, he’s writing a check with all the paper trail that entails*, and the meta-narrative that there is not present any scintilla of ‘wink wink nudge nudge’, just the wife saying that “the bootlegger” contacted her….
…wait that might be the ‘subtle’ part? He’s sweating and taking care of the business right away because the bootlegger talked directly to his wife? which is then a threat to her safety?
*though looking it up, Capone wasn’t convicted of tax evasion until 1931Report
He’s got a few more that talk about the travails of trying to get a tipple in peace.
(There’s one I remember but can’t find where two knuckleheads are trying to make a transfer in public but they’re trying to do it all surreptitiously and, of course, they drop it and it ends up all over the sidewalk and they both run away like they’re expecting the paddy wagon to turn the corner any second.)
Eliot Ness himself wrote about the misgivings he had about enforcing a law that a majority of honest citizens didn’t want.
Briggs was doing his part to thumb his nose at The Man.
Bless him.Report
Though in that comic you linked, it was called ‘a certain package’ (wink wink, nudge nudge).
I think I do remember the other one you are talking about too.Report