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The makers of Durham Smoking Tobacco wanted you to know that they were the official smoking tobacco of grotesquely large-nosed men of the 1880s.
So, let’s examine this, if we may.
We have here, in this trade card, a well-dressed ginger fellow with an enormous proboscis. He’s standing on a platform in front of an open cabinet and he’s smoking a pipe. Apparently, he’s also engaged in conversation with his friend. But, his friend’s head and body are blocked by a very large package of Durham Smoking Tobacco complete with a golden bull on the front. Why the tobacco is just hovering there remains a mystery.
Honestly, I truly don’t understand the illustration. It’s very odd, and what’s more confounding is the fact that the caption doesn’t help us.
It reads:
“THAT’S WHERE YOU MAKE YOUR MISTAKE, AND I DO NOT
WONDER AT YOUR TROUBLES,” SAID HIS FRIEND. “NOW THIS IS
THE ONLY TOBACCO THAT A SENSIBLE MAN EVER THINKS OF
SMOKING.” AUGUSTUS TOOK HIS FRIEND’S ADVICE AND HAS
Has…
Has what? Has learned the ancient magical levitating arts? Has gotten rhinoplasty? Has had a doctor examine his weird knee? Has noticed his head is as large as his trunk? Has realized his friend is being smothered by a package of tobacco? Has…
Has WHAT?
We’ll never know. And, that makes me sad.
2 comments:
The red-headed chap is actually talking to his friend the tobacco bag who is afflicted with a scrawny man growing out of it's butt. He then switches subjects to talk about Caesar Augustus but stops mus sentence when he drops dead from too much smoking.
You had to be there.
That makes as much sense.
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