Perry Barlow: Toys Have Consequences

Even seven decades ago consumers were evaluating potential Christmas toy purchases by criteria other than simply how much pleasure they might give. Perry Barlow's cartoon for the December 10, 1949 Collier's shows a somber couple contemplating a purchase that could have ramifications throughout the household. In contrast, the woman trying out the trumpet, which can have its own widespread effects, seems to be lost in the moment. One wonders whether the recipient will be as pleased.

Perry Barlow
Collier's, December 10, 1949

Scan by Dick Buchanan

Note:  You can always tell a scan from the Dick Buchanan cartoon clip files. It's crisp and sharp and seems to look better, if possible, than the cartoon did in the original magazine. This is Dick's fifty-seventh appearance here on Attempted Bloggery. I am honored to have him contributing. Dick also contributes regularly to Mike Lynch Cartoons, most recently a post entitled "From the Dick Buchanan Files: Gag Cartoon Clichés Part 7 1937 - 1963," the seventh installment in the wonderful series. Me, I avoid clichés like the plague. (Oops, I used that one already.)

My wife tells me our fax machine can make scans too, but that seems pretty farfetched to me.
  

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