The Wall Street Journal Portfolio of Business Cartoons

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: A picture is worth a thousand words. That's literally true with the cartoons in this book. It is a nice collection item for book lovers, nice to have it in the waiting room or drawing rooms.

Rating:
Summary: Too Much "Pepper . . . and Salt" and Not Enough Other Spices
Review: Having recently read the New Yorker's books of business and money cartoons, I must admit that I was disappointed in this book. Although I read "Pepper . . . and Salt" (the Journal's daily cartoon feature on the op-ed pages since 1950) almost every week day in the Journal, the cartoons are simply a lot better on the same subject in the New Yorker.

First, almost anyone will find at least some of these cartoons to be overtly sexist. Even if we grant that public attitudes may have been different when these cartoons first came out, that doesn't make it a good idea to run these kinds of cartoons now. One that offended me was of a woman director asking why an acquisition couldn't be returned if it didn't work out. It certainly is all right to make fun of white males (it's good for the soul), but at a time when women are having trouble achieving equal opportunity in the workplace humor needs to be carefully considered. There are some pro-women cartoons, so don't let me give you the impression that the book is all one way.

The second reason I found these cartoons wanting is that the reproductions were not very crisp. They seemed almost blurred in the copy I read.

The third failing related to a lack of consistenly high quality wit. A few cartoons were first rate, and the others were not. The introductory essays were also not especially witty, just historical perspectives on the cartoons.

Here are a few of my favorites among the cartoons to give you a sense of what is good in the book:

1950's: (1) A man stands between the garage door and the car holding his golf clubs, next to the back fins of a large automobile. Speaking to a woman driver he says, "Whatever you do -- don't back up."

(2) Woman to man, "Mr. Clamwell has been expecting you. He left."

(3) Two men looking into a brokerage firm window, "I'm always happy when the market goes down. Then I feel pretty good about the stocks I didn't buy with the money I don't have."

1960s: (4) Man to another man while driving a car, "I'm getting to be a nervous wreck, waiting for something defective to show up."

(5) Boss to man at 5:15, "No hurry on this Wilberg -- take all weekend if necessary."

(6) TV announcer, "In New York today, two conglomerates gobbled each other up and disappeared without a trace."

(7) Woman coming into VP Sales office carrying her belongings to man packing his, "And to think all these years you've worried about some boy wonder taking over your job."

(8) Secretary to boss while she holds a steno pad, "I know you want me to correct your spelling and punctuation, but what about your misconceptions?"

1970s: (9) Waiter to two men, "And what will you gentlemen be writing off this evening?"

(10) Man to assistant, "Ms. Ryan, send me in a scapegoat."

1980s: (11) "Stanley, just in case the takeover bid succeeds --here is your poison pill."

(12) Children to elderly man, "Grandfather, tell us again what you sold short in 1929."

1990s: (13) TV announcer, "Family values rallied today, despite staunch Hollywood opposition."

(14) Dog in hedge to dog in business suit on side walk, "Could I interest you in a hedge fund?" (15) Woman to man, "Why must we always take the same two weeks as Alan Greenspan?"

Your taste probably differs from mine. With selective reading, you can still have a lot of good chuckles.

Use the humor here to locate your own misconception and disbelief stalls.

Rating:
Summary: Too Much "Pepper . . . and Salt" and Not Enough Other Spices
Review: Having recently read the New Yorker's books of business and money cartoons, I must admit that I was disappointed in this book. Although I read "Pepper . . . and Salt" (the Journal's daily cartoon feature on the op-ed pages since 1950) almost every week day in the Journal, the cartoons are simply a lot better on the same subject in the New Yorker.

First, almost anyone will find at least some of these cartoons to be overtly sexist. Even if we grant that public attitudes may have been different when these cartoons first came out, that doesn't make it a good idea to run these kinds of cartoons now. One that offended me was of a woman director asking why an acquisition couldn't be returned if it didn't work out. It certainly is all right to make fun of white males (it's good for the soul), but at a time when women are having trouble achieving equal opportunity in the workplace humor needs to be carefully considered. There are some pro-women cartoons, so don't let me give you the impression that the book is all one way.

The second reason I found these cartoons wanting is that the reproductions were not very crisp. They seemed almost blurred in the copy I read.

The third failing related to a lack of consistenly high quality wit. A few cartoons were first rate, and the others were not. The introductory essays were also not especially witty, just historical perspectives on the cartoons.

Here are a few of my favorites among the cartoons to give you a sense of what is good in the book:

1950's: (1) A man stands between the garage door and the car holding his golf clubs, next to the back fins of a large automobile. Speaking to a woman driver he says, "Whatever you do -- don't back up."

(2) Woman to man, "Mr. Clamwell has been expecting you. He left."

(3) Two men looking into a brokerage firm window, "I'm always happy when the market goes down. Then I feel pretty good about the stocks I didn't buy with the money I don't have."

1960s: (4) Man to another man while driving a car, "I'm getting to be a nervous wreck, waiting for something defective to show up."

(5) Boss to man at 5:15, "No hurry on this Wilberg -- take all weekend if necessary."

(6) TV announcer, "In New York today, two conglomerates gobbled each other up and disappeared without a trace."

(7) Woman coming into VP Sales office carrying her belongings to man packing his, "And to think all these years you've worried about some boy wonder taking over your job."

(8) Secretary to boss while she holds a steno pad, "I know you want me to correct your spelling and punctuation, but what about your misconceptions?"

1970s: (9) Waiter to two men, "And what will you gentlemen be writing off this evening?"

(10) Man to assistant, "Ms. Ryan, send me in a scapegoat."

1980s: (11) "Stanley, just in case the takeover bid succeeds --here is your poison pill."

(12) Children to elderly man, "Grandfather, tell us again what you sold short in 1929."

1990s: (13) TV announcer, "Family values rallied today, despite staunch Hollywood opposition."

(14) Dog in hedge to dog in business suit on side walk, "Could I interest you in a hedge fund?" (15) Woman to man, "Why must we always take the same two weeks as Alan Greenspan?"

Your taste probably differs from mine. With selective reading, you can still have a lot of good chuckles.

Use the humor here to locate your own misconception and disbelief stalls.

Rating:
Summary: Good chuckles on the business of life
Review: This cartoon collection makes a good coffee-table book or gift. Organized by decade from the Fifties through the Nineties, the cartoons can be timeless or topical. Humor that brings back memories of changes in our society (women moving into the workplace, merger mania, stock market fluctuations) puts life in perspective and gives a chuckle every page.