Today in 1920s Turkey: 21 December 1925 (Youth Serum+Love= Warm Winters)
(Illustration by İhap Hulusi Görey, Akbaba or “Vulture/White-Bearded Old Man,” 21 December 1925, no. 318, page 4.)
English
Man: My dear wife, a youth serum has been discovered… From next winter onward we will not have to run the heater. You will (just) warm me like (you did) thirty years ago.
Türkçe
Erkek: Karıcığım, gençlik aşısı keşf edilmiş… Artık, gelecek kış soba yakmayız. Yine otuz sene evvelki gibi, sen beni ısıtırsın.
Comments:
This heart-warming illustration is based on a news claim that the always elusive youth serum has finally been discovered. Of course, time has demonstrated that such claims were false, or at least premature, but the image stands as a reminder that such sensationalist “stories” and the hopes they stir are as old as time.
The early Republican press often published outlandish stories about science and technology which were popular with the readers because they promise new possibilities (always located in the near future) while exciting the imagination. In some cases, the news is treated in a cartoon or clever illustration, but more often than not, the story is allotted its own space in the paper. An example of another humorous take on technology-related news can be found in post #5 (Planes: A Modern Perspective). Examples of other stories reporting on the possibilities of science and technology are the posts from the past: #48 (Inauguration of First Transatlantic Telephone Service), #75 (Earliest Gender Reassignment Surgery?), #88 (Flying to the Moon in a Zeppelin), and #149 (Vitamin Cigars for Healthy Children).
This illustration includes another recurring topic that Today has considered on several occasions, that is, age and aging. Examples of such content can be found here: #53 (Old Folks and Old Photos), #71 (Spring Flowers or Autumn Blossoms?), #72 (Calculating a Woman’s Age) and #136 (An Enthusiast of Antiquities).
Our illustrator, İhap Hulusi Görey (1898–1986) is one of the many artists who began their career drawing for a 1920s-satirical journal—moving on to become a celebrated graphic artist of the Republic. He became best known for his advertisements and an early example of this kind of work from the Today archives is found in post #70, which considers an ad for His Master’s Voice phonographs and records. Whereas an example of another humorous illustration by the artist is the subject of post #44 (Football Before Females.)
This cartoon is republished on page 80 of Turgut Çeviker’s book, Karikatür Üzerine Yazılar (İstanbul: İris Yayıncılık, 1997). Specifically, for more on İhap Hulusi’s career as a cartoonist, see the book’s article, “Karikatürcü Olarak İhap Hulusi (İhap Hulusi as a Cartoonist)” (pp. 76-80).
(Entire page, Akbaba or “Vulture/White-Bearded Old Man,” 21 December 1925, no. 318, page 4.)
This article has been updated and modified from its first iteration published right here on Steemit on 21 December 2017. For the original version see:
129. Today in 1920s Turkey: 21 December 1925 (Youth Serum+Love= Warm Winters)