The bankruptcy barrel is a visual symbol, primarily of the 20th century, used in cartoons and other media as a token of destitution. Not intended to be realistic, it consists of a suit made of only a wooden barrel held on by suspenders, indicating that the subject is so poor that he is unable to afford even clothes. It was a common representation of bankruptcy, appearing in many animated shorts, political cartoons, comedies, [1] and other media. [2]
The Max Fleischer animated short “Ace of Spades” in 1931 displayed several characters reduced to bankruptcy wearing barrels. Will Johnstone's editorial-cartoon character "the Tax Payer", first published in the New York World-Telegram in 1933 and regularly thereafter, showed the taxpayer reduced to wearing a barrel for clothing. [3] [4] [5] Other cartoonists then copied this theme. [3] Canadian cartoonist John Collins, editorial cartoonist of the Montreal Gazette from 1939 to 1982, commonly used the character "Uno Who" in his editorial cartoons. Uno Who was almost always shown wearing a bankruptcy barrel, and for much the same reason (high taxes) as Johnstone's taxpayer. [6]
The bankruptcy barrel has been used for other meanings such as the January 1989 edition of Esquire magazine which featured Robin Givens on the cover wearing the barrel in a somewhat seductive manner, showing her cleavage partially covered by the barrel and commenting that she was aiming at either going for broke or ending up a millionaire. It was also used in a 1999 Wendy's commercial referring to the dot com bubble where a destitute dot com magnate is left only with a barrel but can still afford a discounted Wendy's hamburger. However, Wendy's founder Dave Thomas (out of desire not to see him remove the barrel to fish for change) offers to pay for the man's meal.
However, the use of a barrel as clothing for comedic effect (rather than to necessarily show penury) goes back further; the hapless character is reduced to wearing a barrel for modesty because his clothes have been stolen or some other putatively amusing circumstance has arisen. George Etherege's 1664 comedy The Comical Revenge or, Love in a Tub included a barrel-wearing character. [7] The 1921 film Tol'able David contains a scene with a character wearing a barrel. [8] Moon Mullins was occasionally seen wearing a barrel after losing at cards. [9] A 1987 episode of The Smurfs used it to denote debt, where the villain Gargamel had all his possessions seized to satisfy a debt, only for the collector to remark "I will be back for the barrel!" In "Hollywood Steps Out" and the first Captain Underpants book, the barrel is used as a visual euphemism implying that the character is actually naked.
The bankruptcy barrel is similar to a drunkard's cloak, an actual punishment seen from medieval times forward (but now obsolete) as a sort of pillory to punish drunkards and other offenders.
Depictions of the drunkard's cloak usually show a barrel with a hole cut into the top for the head to pass through at the neck and two small holes cut in the sides for the arms (or just the hands) to pass through. This differs in detail from bankruptcy barrel, which is almost always shown with the top of the barrel at the armpits, the arms free above that, and the barrel held up by two straps passing over the shoulders.
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images intended for satire, caricature, or humor; or a motion picture that relies on a sequence of illustrations for its animation. Someone who creates cartoons in the first sense is called a cartoonist, and in the second sense they are usually called an animator.
A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons or comics. Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literary and graphic components of the work as part of their practice.
An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or current affairs in a national or international context. Political cartoonists generally adopt a caricaturist style of drawing, to capture the likeness of a politician or subject. They may also employ humor or satire to ridicule an individual or group, emphasize their point of view or comment on a particular event.
A political cartoon, also known as an editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine artistic skill, hyperbole and satire in order to either question authority or draw attention to corruption, political violence and other social ills.
The Pensacola News Journal is a daily morning newspaper serving Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida. It is Northwest Florida's most widely read daily.
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Comics journalism is a form of journalism that covers news or nonfiction events using the framework of comics, a combination of words and drawn images. Typically, sources are actual people featured in each story, and word balloons are actual quotes. The term "comics journalism" was coined by one of its most notable practitioners, Joe Sacco. Other terms for the practice include "graphic journalism," "comic strip journalism", "cartoon journalism", "cartoon reporting", "comics reportage", "journalistic comics", and "sketchbook reports".
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John Alton Collins was born in Washington D.C., and moved with his family to Canada in 1920. He studied art at Sir George Williams University and the Montreal School of Fine Arts. In 1939, he became the first staff cartoonist for the Montreal Gazette, where he worked until his retirement in 1982. Many of Collins's cartoons included the character Uno Who, a cash-strapped taxpayer who wore only a bankruptcy barrel. He was considered a gentleman among editorial cartoonists, with a reputation of speed and reliability. John Collins died aged 89 on September 17, 2007.