Dr. Seuss and Flit: "Wife Swap"

A "Dr. Seuss in Africa" that doesn't make my skin crawl more than a few feet! The lack of any dialect comedy helps, and also the gleeful cheer of the elephants.

Strangely, elephants are one of the few animals -- including cats and dogs -- which Seuss draws with a reasonable realism. Oh, I know their eyes are too close together and their feet protrude too much, but at least he hasn't put frills and stems all over them.

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "Bugge Fatale"

I don't know about insects eating oatmeal for breakfast -- I suppose they'll eat anything for breakfast, actually -- but I'll say this for Dr. Seuss: he sure knew how to draw a va-va-voom bug!

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "Jewels Me Eye!"

Because I can't think of anything clever or historically-relevant to say about this particular Dr. Seuss cartoon, I'll simply ask: does anybody else have fond memories of Cheech and Chong's "Earache My Eye?"

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "French Flit"

When I say repeatedly that the early New Yorker magazine didn't usually tackle serious subjects, I was obviously lying, because here is Dr. Seuss referencing the London Naval Treaty.

Okay, okay, the magazine HAD mentioned the treaty in the past, but only in the context of goofy wordplay or in "The Wayward Press," their semi-regular column about what OTHER periodicals were printing. Written by Guy Fawkes, this was a bitchy take-down of New York's newspapers, often criticizing inaccuracies, inconsistencies between papers, yellow journalism, or -- Fawkes' personal beef -- the misleading elevation of minor, trivial occurrences into headline-breaking NEWS!!!

So although The New Yorker never REALLY covered the London Naval Treaty, their treatment of it probably reflected the mood of the people at the time: that it was a blustery piece of diplomacy which never seemed to end and which would ultimately achieve nothing.

I particularly remember Fawkes' article about it, where he took newspapers to task for sending hordes of reporters over to London where they...sat around and did nothing. The conference was so long and clandestine that the London-based reporters would send back stories about the weather or about the niece of some minor figurehead learning to ride a horse, but the papers would trumpet this stuff as NEWS!!!!!!

Anyway, Dr. Seuss doesn't seem to be taking these issues on in his cartoon. He's just drawing funny Frenchmen. Bless him.

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "Big Top"

I'll certainly give Dr. Seuss this: he hasn't duplicated a theme yet!


Sure it's the oft-spotted John Cleese protagonist, but Dr. Seuss hasn't taken us to the CIRCUS yet, not in this entire long journey through the magical land of Flit.

As an aside, if I am ever told by The New Yorker magazine to stop showcasing their material, I assume it will be because of these advertisements. People sure like to look at them!

PS: ...but not as much as this post from 2007, which scores at least 1/3 of my blog hits during any given week. Either people are cheating on their math homework or they're awfully frustrated with their books of logic puzzles.

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "Self Defense"

The usual assortment of Dr. Seuss insects form the "Self-Defense Association of American Household Insects," and their charibug has a brilliant plan.


Something tells me that this is a reference to a contemporary organization -- the name seems a bit too specific to be a total throw-away -- but I can't find any proof. Maybe I'm just hunting for connections where none exist...

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "Darker Seuss"

Ahh yes, the drama of the depressed bug. I expect this would have happened pretty frequently if insect legs worked that way.


(From the May 10th, 1930 issue of The New Yorker)

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "Scream!"

When menaced by the big-assed stuff of nightmares...


I'm a bit confused by the insignia on John Cleese's right cuff...is that a naval marking, or is was this just something about pajamas at the time?

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "The Big Game Hunter"

I was going to mention that Dr. Seuss draws his insects larger than they really are, but then I'd also have to mention their binocular vision, their dentition, and their unusual number of legs.

Actually, if you look at these creatures and manage to forget that they're "funny," some of them are downright scary!

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "When Knights Were Afraid of Mosquitos"

May your New Year be as happy as a knight with a suit full of bug repellent!

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "On Safari"

Presented without comment, a true story!

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "Whoopee!"

Who ever said Dr. Seuss wasn't a horndog?


From the January 25, 1930 issue of The New Yorker. And, errr, "of its time."

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "An Optimist"

On January 4, 1930, Dr. Seuss gives us two tragically mutated Lovecraftian nightmares...AND a well-worn vaudeville joke!

This "What is an Optimist?" schtick was a big thing at one time, but it's hard to know whether it was passe by 1930.

I bring this up because throughout its first year of publication the fledgling New Yorker magazine peppered its pages with the same joke, over and over again:

Pa, what's an optimist?

A man who thinks he can do it in par.*

Sometimes, for variety, they'd reverse it.

A man who thinks he can do it in par.

Pa, what's an optimist?

This was obviously some New Yorker editor's 1925 idea of a joke, and the repetition was also supposed to be funny, but...well, I hereby admit that I didn't get it. Eventually it seemed like something they were doing just to fill the occasional half-inch of blank column.

* (I'm paraphrasing a bit because I haven't read those issues in several years, but the joke appeared so often that I think it's permanently engraved in my mind).

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "Selfless Death"

Awwww, this one is truly sad. Not even the ubiquitous cat could bear to be in it.


From the December 7, 1929 issue of The New Yorker. Weep!

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "Cello Contraption"

He's trying out that panel-style again in the November 16, 1929 New Yorker:


It's difficult to comment on this one, other than to suggest that spraying insecticide directly into your face is probably a bad idea. Note that the cat was smart enough to move out of the way.

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "Insect Heaven"

This time around -- in the October 26, 1929 New Yorker -- Dr. Seuss draws some pretty cool bugs. I like the way they speak in old-timey-prophet fashion.


The good doctor has also added to theological knowledge: Insect Heaven is located within sight of Earth and Saturn, and perhaps the other planet is Uranus with slightly exaggerated rings. Scientists have yet to locate the distinctive planetary feature which looks an awful lot like the letters "Dr. S".

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "Consideration"

This episode of "Dr. Seuss and Flit" is a bit unusual, because it comes in comic strip form.


Have you noticed that comic axes always have little notches in their blades? I suppose this is to represent that they're "used often," and maybe also to add some interest to the picture.

Most interesting, however, is the tibia that somebody chained to the wall. Bad tibia!

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "Like a Moth to a Tiki Light"

In other news from September 14, 1929, Dr. Seuss continues to entertain us with his Flit advertisements. This time, a woman is going to a party dressed as a butterfly in a hula skirt, but her husband thinks she'll get killed.


Note the ever present cat, and also note that Seuss' cats tended to have strangely boot-like feet.

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "Aeronaught Edition"

Dr. Seuss was nothing if not imaginative, and he certainly knew how to work the current fads into his advertisements. But none have been so faddish as this one.

Immediately after Charles Lindbergh flew his famous 1927 flight, The New Yorker began covering every aspect of the airplane phenomenon. They tried to be cynical and reluctant about it, but that didn't stop them reporting about the latest airports, and the latest enhancements, and even sending one of their reporters in a flight over Manhattan.

By the time of this Dr. Seuss cartoon -- August 31, 1929 -- the fad had reached its height. The New Yorker was FULL of advertisements for $2000 personal planes; they even outnumbered the car and cigarette ads!

I'm not sure when the dream of "an airplane in every home" came crashing down. The depression probably killed it, as did the realization that businessmen didn't like having to FLY THEMSELVES to the office, and it would take a while for a really comfortable passenger plane to appear.

Dr. Seuss and Flit: "Niblick in the Mosquito Hole"

Call me stupid for not knowing what a "niblick" was, but I suspect it's a term that isn't exactly common these days. I mean, sure, golfers are willing to wear ugly sweaters and "get exercise" by riding around in little motorized carts, but to say "niblick" would be plain silly.

I'm just happy that this particular Dr. Seuss cartoon -- from August 3, 1929 -- is refreshingly free of ethnic stereotypes.