143. Today in 1920s Turkey: 31 March 1926 (To See or Not to See)
(Cartoon by Cemal Nadir, Papağan or “Parrot,” 31 March 1926, no. 114, page 3.)
Comments
I’m back! After almost a month of involuntary hiatus (work, work, work) I am finally able to return to my regular schedule. Behold, a classic and timeless trope for today’s warm-up post. Published in the bi-weekly journal, Papağan (“Parrot”), this cartoon presents a poor man on the street pretending to be blind in order to drum up some donations. But like many ruses, the beggar’s deception is revealed as the cartoon unfolds.
The image shows the stationary beggar with an eye-patch holding a hat out as passerby carelessly tosses a paper banknote at the hat—the bill never quite reaching the blind-man’s receptacle. The text below indicates where the slip-up occurs:
Türkçe:
— Al şu beş kuruşu bakalım!.. Ölmüşlerime dua et!..
Sahte a’ma: Efendi, parayı şapkaya atsana!...
English:
— Here, (go ahead and) take this five! Pray for my deceased relatives!
The false blindman: Sir, can you throw this money in the hat!
(Comments continued)
The explicit identification of the blind-man as “fake” (sahte) was rather heavy-handed. I think the cartoon would have worked if that bit of information were omitted and the audience was left to piece together the fact that the supposed “blind-man” could in fact see that the money did not make it into the hat.
The cartoonist, Cemal Nadir (1902-1947) was a prolific artist of the 1920s. Other works by the artist that have been covered by Today in 1920s Turkey are:
45. Istanbul’s Request for the New Year
52. Alcohol and Astronomy Don’t Mix
113. A Cartoon Both Crazy and a Bit Creepy
For a bit more on the artist see: Memiş, Şefik and İbrahim Yarış. “Cemal Nadir Güler.” In: İstanbul’un 100 Karikatüristi (Istanbul’s 100 Cartoonists), 70-71. İstanbul: İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi Kültür A. Ş. Yayınları, 2010.
(Entire page, Papağan or “Parrot,” 31 March 1926, no. 114, page 3. Hakkı Tarık Us Collection, Beyazıt State Library, Istanbul.)