One-Shot Wonders: Why Herr Schnitzel Failed in Business by Daniel McCarthy, 1898

 

Daniel McCarthy was a well-regarded cartoonist in the 1890s, but you'll not have seen much of him on Stripper's Guide because he penned very few series. Luckily we have a one-shot wonder we can show, this full pager that ran in the New York World on April 3 1898. As you can gather from this quite funny (though a bit repetitve) strip, men's social clubs were once all the rage. Only a few are left these days, like the Lions, the Rotarians, the Elks and so on, and I imagine they are holding on by a very slender thread. I for one always thought it would be great to be a member of these clubs, but McCarthy shows us that there was one big downside to them; the constantly outstretched palm that always seemed to be pointed in your direction.