Keep smiling! : More news by Liarless for German homes

Keep smiling! : More news by Liarless for German homes

In the 1916 special war edition of Punch Almanack, titled Keep Smiling! More News by Liarless for German Homes, a cartoon by John Hassall satirizes the practice of physical mutilation in order to malinger, with a caption that reads: “Almost the only persons who are making a respectable income in London now are the bone-breakers. Young men are flocking in their thousands to doctors who make a specialty of breaking a leg, or an arm, or even a neck, in order to make them of no use to the press gang.” The accompanying cartoon depicted men leaving a doctor’s office on crutches and bandaged, while in the background, a doctor leans insidiously towards a third man. The sign over the door reads “bones broken while you wait.” While this cartoon is intended as a parody, the draft was in effect by 1916, and men both on the home front and men at the front line found ways to physically injure themselves in order to be sent home or to avoid recruitment. On the front lines, voluntary or involuntary attempts to elude military service presented the threat of treason.

The following item shows a pictorial comic, featuring two men standing in the foreground, while the background features a green wall with a black door in it. On the wall, a sign reads, "Bones Broken While You Wait." One man uses crutches, while the other man's arm is in a sling. There are two additional men in the background. One man with a mustache speaks to a man in an elegant hat.

Written by Walter Emanual, illustrated by John Hassell

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id%3Dnjp.32101062077514%26seq%3D13&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1702077375551439&usg=AOvVaw1Wkz7UOpeofCzMwhDUs2AU

The Famous Punch Almanack

1916

Comic, page 13 of a 56 page comic

English

London; Eveleigh Nash, 36 King St, Covent Garden, W.C.