W.C. Fields: The Tippler in Ceramics

The American comedian W. C. Fields, shown here, has been a favorite of mine since grade school. From movies like “My Little Chickadee,” and “The Bank Dick.” to his radio sparring with Charlie McCarthy, Fields’ wit and ability to create a distinctive image have never failed to engage my attention – and that of millions of others. Much of his humor revolved around drinking, a personal obsession of Fields that ultimately would lead to his death. In life, however, he made it a prime source of his humor.  Some examples:

“Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake.”

"Once ... in the wilds of Afghanistan, I lost my corkscrew, and we were forced to live on nothing but food and water for days."

"How well I remember my first encounter with The Devil's Brew. I happened to stumble across a case of bourbon— and went right on stumbling for several days thereafter."

“So long as the presence of death lurks with anyone who goes through the simple act of swallowing, I will make mine whiskey.

"When life hands you lemons, make whisky sours."

“The advantages of whiskey over dogs are legion. Whiskey does not need to be periodically wormed, it does not need to be fed, it never requires a special kennel, it has no toenails to be clipped or coat to be stripped. Whiskey sits quietly in its special nook until you want it. True, whiskey has a nasty habit of running out, but then so does a dog.”

As a result of this close identification of Fields with drinking, he has been depicted numerous times on spirits bottles, jugs, beer steins and mugs. I have a whiskey decanter/ jug from the Turtle Bay Distilling Company of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, called W.C. Fields Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. It dates from about 1970. In this case, Fields’ head is filled with whiskey. It is accompanied by a water pitcher with a similar face.   Shown above, neither item has a pottery mark but have been attributed to the McCoy Pottery Company of Roseville, Ohio.

The David Sherman Corp. (DSC), more recently known as Luxco, issued at least three Fields decanters for their whiskey. They depict Fields with a tam from his golfing spoofs, the typical top hat and as a uniformed guard from the movie, “The Bank Dick.” In each case the hat is removed to decant the spirituous contents. These ceramics were issued during the mid-1970s. Each jug bears the name of Paul Lux, a founding partner of DSC in 1958 and, by 2004, the CEO of the firm. Lux is assumed to be the designer of these bottles. The St. Louis based organization owned at least 60 liquor brand names and produced these Fields bottles for its network of distributors, wholesalers and retailers.

England’s Royal Doulton Pottery, famously the largest producer of Toby Jugs, made Fields the subject of a character jug, one that emphasized his florid face and red bulbous nose. A piece of his walking stick serves as the handle. The jug was issued in 1982 as part of the pottery’s Celebrity Collection and included on the base a line from the Fields movie “Never Give a Sucker an Even Break”: "I was in love with a beautiful blonde once. She drove me to drink. That's the one thing I'm indebted to her for."

Two other Toby-like jugs, perhaps designed as bar water pitchers, appear to have come from Japan. The one at right shows Fields in a straw boater hat with a more benign look than is usual. On the base a mark identifies this item as a creation of “Sigma the Tastesetter,” This was a Japanese-based organization. A second jug, left with a black hat has no attribution but the appearance of the item also seems a product of Japan.

Fields also has been a popular figure for beer steins and mugs. One dated 1971 appears to be a hand-thrown artisan creation. The comedian, in bas relief, appears to be struggling to emerge from the vessel. A more conventional beer stein, unmarked, emphasizes Field’s top hat and swollen nose. 

Although the Fields image most often appears on items linked to drinking, the McCoy Pottery also used his face as the motif for the ceramic cookie jar below.  He also has made appearances on a number of glass objects, including shot glasses, drinking glasses and decanters.

Question is, how long will W.C. Fields be recognized as the American icon of the tippler? Note that many of these items were made years after his death in 1946. Because his movies will continue to be available to generations down through the years, my guess is he will be remembered for a long, long time and artifacts bearing his face will continue to be collected.

Snapshots from the Vietnam War — 50 Years After

March 8, 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the first time the U.S. ground forces were deployed in the Vietnam War — the beginning of full-scale combat.  Before that time, although American forces were involved, the possibility of another solution existed.  After that, no chance and the war raged for another 10 years. For me, as for many, the Vietnam War was a pivotal time in life.  With an academic background in South and Southeast Asia, it was inevitable that as a staffer of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs I would be sent to Indochina three times during a period from 1970 until just days before the United States abandoned our embassy in 1975 and the North Vietnamese Army took over. 

This anniversary caused me to review photos I had taken during that period and decide that they could support a narrative about my memories of that time, now long ago.  My first visit to Vietnam was in November 1970 as head of a two-person staff delegation tasked with looking at  the recent North Vietnamese incursion into Cambodia that had thrust that small country into the vortex of the Indochina Conflict.

After some days in the country, my partner and I departed for Saigon to discuss the situation, deteriorating daily for the Cambodian army, with U.S. military officials, including General Creighton Abrams, the commander in Vietnam.  At that point in the war, Saigon still looked like a city at peace when seen from on top of the Caravel Hotel.  From this view no one would know that bloody fighting was taking place not many miles away.

The next photo is of the Continental Hotel, another hostelry across from the Caravel, both of them favorites of visitors.  The Continental was made famous by a long term guest in Room 214.  It was Novelist Graham Greene whose book “The Quiet American”  told of life in post-French colonial Vietnam as American involvement in the country was growing.   For each of the trips the custom was quickly upon arrival to go to the Continental to talk to members of the American press corps who often gathered there.  In turn, the press people were eager to talk to us on the utterly mistaken assumption we had information. 

The final photo from the 1970 trip is of the Roman Catholic Cathedral in downtown Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City).  While the majority of Vietnamese are animists and without organized religion, the Buddhists make up about 16% of the population and Christians, mostly Catholics, another 8 to 9%.  One of the fears about a Communist takeover of South Vietnam was that Christianity would be banned.  In Cambodia, for example, the Khmer Rouge tore down the imposing cathedral in Phnom Penh brick by brick and turned the grounds into a cow pasture.  That did not happen in Vietnam and one can still hear Mass on Sunday at the cathedral.

Our next staff delegation was in 1974 following the “ceasefire” that had been negotiated by the Nixon Administration that fell far short of a real peace.  We spent 10 days in Vietnam and shorter periods in both Cambodia and Laos.  During our Vietnam stay we were flown to all four Corps areas of the country to assess the economic and military situation.  One stop was in Quang Tri, so close to the ceasefire line that we could see NVA fortifications.  The NVA had come across the border with tanks a month earlier and caused considerable damage, including blowing to pieces the cathedral in that city.

The NVA incursion, though eventually beaten back, had left a number of children orphaned or abandoned and we were shown a camp for them in Quang Tri.   The Congress earlier had earmarked $5,000,000 for the benefit of war-disadvantaged South Vietnamese children.  We found conditions in one camp receiving U.S. assistance, shown here, to be providing only rudimentary services.  Yet this was one of the better orphanages; others were operating under deplorable conditions.  

In the Mekong Delta region we surveyed the progress of land reform efforts aided and abetted by U.S. money.  As part of our review, we watched as a field of rice was being harvested. These kind of demonstrations usually are part of officialdom’s efforts to keep the Congressional investigators busy and away from the real problems.  Yet I found this one interesting and land reform the most successful American program.  So successful was it that the Communist government kept much of it in place when it took over.

The last visit was just as Cambodia was about to fall to the brutal Khmer Rouge in 1975.  My partner and I were tasked with accompanying a group of congressmen (and women) of varying viewpoints on the war as a last-ditch effort of the Ford White House to try to save the situation and convince Congress to approve emergency funds to keep the war going in Southeast Asia.  By the time we arrived all food had to be airlifted from Saigon into Cambodian cities.  We flew in a small CIA plane that “cork-screwed” into a landing to avoid unfriendly fire.

In South Vietnam the Congressional delegation met with President Thieu and members of his cabinet at the Presidential Palace, shown below.  The building now serves the same purpose for the current government.  At the time we arrived the ceasefire seemed to be holding in many parts of the country but there had been a troublesome situation in a mid-country province which Viet Cong forces had seized.  South Vietnamese troops could not dislodge them.

An unsettling presence in the city was the delegation from North Vietnam, authorized by the settlement, in the person shown here of Colonel Bao.  We met him for a propaganda harangue of half a hour, while the media thronged around us.   More chilling was an explosion while we were meeting with U.S. military officials at the main U.S. airbase.  Nearby the enemy had blown up a police traffic stand, I am sure to send us a message.

Within days of our departure, Cambodia had fallen, the South Vietnamese army had crumbled, and the Pathet Lao had control of Laos.  There ensued scenes of American ambassador leaving  Vietnam by helicopters from the roof of our embassy, frantic scenes of people trying to escape by plane and boat, and the triumphant march of NVA and Viet Cong troops into Saigon.   

When the Marines landed in March 1965, I was among those who cheered them on.  Partially as a result of being on the scene, it became increasing evident to me that it was a war the U.S. could not win despite the immense blood and treasure expended on the effort.  I have returned to Vietnam twice since 1975, once in 1994 as a lecturer for a tour group of Americans and in 2003 to evaluate U.S. Labor Department aid to the country in the employment sector.  Those visits helped to solidify that view.

I frequently think over what has happen in the years since 1975.  The way the end came, particularly when compared to Cambodia, seems to me to have been as optimal a conclusion as realistically could have been achieved.  While the Communist government dealt harshly with its opponents, it did not unleash a bloodbath and Vietnamese who fled are free to return to visit family.   Memories of the Vietnam War will always remain painful, however, when considering the carnage and the cost.  

Black History Month: A Fourth Look at Whiskey Advertising

February as Black History Month has, year by year, brought to the fore individuals, organizations, activities and events that have helped shape the Nation.  My feeble contribution has been to resurrect vintage whiskey advertising that depicted blacks and to provide some analysis of the illustrations and dialogue evident in those commercial appeals.  My first post on the subject, for anyone interested, was in January 2010.  The second in February 2011 focused on the depiction of African-American waiters.  The third post demonstrated that since the 1960s distillers and liquor dealers have taken different racial attitudes.

For a time those posts exhausted my supply of relevant images.  In the ensuing three years, however, I have been able to collect other examples.  For this post I have grouped them around three themes:  1) The use of what apparently was believed to be black language patterns, 2) the depiction of children, and  3) blacks shown at an occupation.  For last I have saved an illustration that, at least for me, was startling.

We recognize that generations of hardships imposed on the African-American community created distinctive language patterns. Slave owners often intentionally mixed people who spoke different African languages to discourage communication in any language other than English. This, combined with prohibitions against education, led to speech patterns that whiskey interests at the turn of the century apparently thought would have advertising value.

The first example here is from the Schuetz-Renziehausen wholesale liquor dealers of Pittsburgh, an outfit founded about 1880.  It was a highly successful enterprise, occupying an eight-story building on Liberty Street. Frederick C. Renziehausen also became a major distiller of Pennsylvania rye whiskey.  A trade card illustrates two well-dressed black youths who are riding in the back of a wagon driven by a similarly well-dressed adult and pulled by a mule.  The wagon carries a huge bottle of whiskey.  One of the boys is remarking to the driver:  “Golly Boss, der will be no Bellyache dis trip — its ’Diamond Monogram.’”

The second example has the center black figure similarly enthusiastic about the whiskey he is carrying, in this case “Star Whiskey.”  He is remarking “It ‘zactly suits dis chile.”   The ad identifies the spirits as a whiskey distilled and warranted pure by C. L. Dixon of Cynthiana, Kentucky and names a New York distributing agent named W.B. Crowell Jr.  Seen her in a multicolor chronograph, the same trade card was issued in black and white.

The next ad features “Old Harvest Corn whiskey.  The picture is of a black couple sitting in a cabin in front of the fire.  The woman has a small baby on her lap who reaches eagerly for a whiskey bottle.  She is saying “He’s gittin’ mo’ like his dad every day.”  But there is a second message in this scene as the sign, meant for saloons, indicates that Old Harvest Corn “was the cause of it all.”  Are we to assume that whiskey was involved in the conception of this child?

Unlike the three previous examples, all of which were issued prior to 1920 and National Prohibition, the final ad organized around a speech theme was issued after Repeal, probably in the late 1930s.  It has a waiter theme.  The faithful retainer here is offering “Dere sho’ am a run on dis Gibson celebrated rye whiskey.”  Note how the diction changes when the text gets to the product name. 

My second theme is the use of sub-adults in such ads.  We already have seen several youngsters.  Here are three more, led by a small black boy with an ax who is menacing a chicken.  It was issued by the National Distilling Company, an outfit that bought up distilleries and stocks of whiskey during Prohibition and by the mid-1930s was vigorously merchandising its products.  The message here is confusing, seeming to identify the boy with Carrie Nation, the axe-swinging anti-alcohol zealot who had been long in her grave.

Although many of the youngsters shown are smartly dressed, the kid shown above is the real dude.  He wears a straw hat, a checked coat, a cravat, a vest and striped pants.  This dandy is saying in small letters on the base:  “I take Old Continental Whisky!  What do you drink?”   Note that this young man is speaking “The King’s English.”  This trade card was issued by the Bernheim Brothers of Lexington, Kentucky, whose ads did not always treat blacks subjects with the same respect.

The final youth is carrying a signboard, both front and back, a job that was not uncommon in that day but less so today.  His sign advertises Kentucky whiskeys from a B. Kaufman and touts “Old Liquors for family use and medical purposes a specialty.”  Although no location is indicated on this trade card, my research indicates that Bernard Kaufman was a wholesale liquor dealer in business from 1880 to 1890 at two addresses on Washington Street in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Now we move to adult blacks seemingly engaged happily their respective occupations.  The first is the label of a post-Prohibition whiskey called “Cotton Picker Corn Whiskey.”  It depicts an elderly gentleman in the South standing amidst a field of fluffy cotton — definitely an idealized picture. The Old Quaker Company that issued it, however, existed north of the Mason-Dixon line in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

Another whiskey that celebrated a happy black worker was “Singing Sam” brand of Kentucky corn whiskey.  The label illustration is a figure playing a banjo with notes streaming from his mouth while he leans against a pile of wood that he likely just chopped.  This post-Prohibition brand was issued by a Kentucky distiller named Artie Cummins.  He had purchased what was left of an abandoned distillery at a worker village called Athertonville, rebuilt the plant, and operated it until 1946. .

The final worker is also our only female, clearly looking very well after a squalling infant.  Among the messages on this trade card is that the liquor is:  “Emphatically…’The Whiskies of our Daddies.”  Maybe that is why the baby looks so distressed.  My considerable research about “Old Maryland Dutch Whiskey” has revealed nothing about its origin except a claim that it was distilled on the Eastern Shore of the state.

The saloon sign for Hapstone Rye that ends this post still has me scratching my head.  It appears to show a smartly dressed gentleman of color standing with a white woman with a low bodice who is eyeing him intently while in the midst of hiking her dress to fix a stocking. The sexual implications are evident. This was one of many pre-Prohibition brands from the Samuel Westheimer Co. of St. Joseph, Missouri. Given the anti-miscegenation laws in place in the South, one wonders what point Westheimer was trying to make with this image and how it was received. 

There they are: eleven whiskey advertisements, including trade cards, newspaper notices, bottle labels and saloon signs  — all depicting American blacks.  If issued today most would be readily identified as racist — or at least distasteful.  Distain, however, should not blind us to such images. They remind us of a past we should never, never forget.   

Watch Famous People Open Bottles with Their Teeth

                                                                                                                                Well, not exactly.  Most of the faces shown here at one time really DID snatch the caps of beer, wine and soda bottles.  That is what they were designed to do.   They are in the tradition of the varieties of cast iron openers that I featured as “vernacular art” in a post in June 2011.  That article has had the most “hits” of any on this blog (2,440 as of this date). One difference is that the openers shown below all sport the faces of famous people, including national leaders, politicians, artists and one rock star.  Moreover, these openers are available for purchase from their creator.

His name is Stephen Maxon and he maintains a website called “Max-Cast Sculpture and Foundry Services.”   Shown here, Maxon provides a whimsical story about himself along with a few salient facts.  He has a master’s in fine arts (MFA) from the University of Iowa, he belongs to the American Craft Council, and his work has been shown in galleries scattered from New York to California.  Of himself he concludes:  “After years of study and toil, Maxon renounced his MFA to become an outsider artist.  Finding casting much less difficult than bending steel bars with his teeth, he developed new ways of melting medal via thought control…After making and losing several fortunes, he currently lives in a trailer in rural Iowa receiving messages from outer space in his dental filings.”

As noted in my 2011 post, figural bottle openers are a post-Prohibition phenomenon, meant to be attached with screws through holes in the ears to a vertical wooden surface. A bottle of beer or soft drink can be inserted into the mouth cavity, pulled down and the cap removed.  In dealing with the famous subjects of Maxon’s vernacular art, I have decided that, rather than dwelling on their careers, to examine their beverages of choice and when possible provide their recipes (in bold).  

The first personage shown here is Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), the brutal dictator of the Soviet Union from the mid-1820s until his death.  As might be expected, Stalin’s drink of choice was vodka.  Legend has it that his father used to give the baby Joseph a cloth soaked in vodka rather than a pacifier.  As adult Stalin is said to have imbibed vodka daily.

The next face is that of Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi (1869- 1948), the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India.  A strict vegetarian, Gandhi is said to have favored “nourishing and non-violent drinks like juices and squashes.”  He found intoxicating drinks abhorrent and a social malice because he believed they acted as deterrents to humankind’s inter purification and spiritual evaluation.  On the other hand, there is some evidence that like other Hindus he may from time to time imbibed his own urine. 

The man with glasses sporting a hat with crossed sabers is “Rough Rider” Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), the 26th President of the United States.  Teddy liked mint juleps, using fresh mint from the White House garden.  He reputedly used the promise of that drink to entice Cabinet members to play tennis with him.  Roosevelt’s recipe: 10 to 12 fresh mint leaves crushed in sugar water,  2 or 3 ounces of rye whiskey, 1/4 ounce of brandy, stirred and garnished with fresh mint sprigs.  

Maxon also has featured painters of note.  Shown here are two faces of Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) one painted and one left plain.  As for the famous artist’s drinking habits, I will quote something Wiki Answers gave to the question ‘Was Picasso retarded?’. The reply: “Picasso was not retarded. Picasso was drunk and high on absinthe, which gave him great inspiration for his work. Though, his absinthe addiction also drove him to insanity.” Picasso’s reputed last words were: “Drink to me, drink to my health. You know I can’t drink anymore.”

Although Picasso probably would not have enjoyed having his mouth used to decapitate bottles, his colleague,  Salvador Dali (1904-1989), below, would do almost anything to get his face and figure before the public,  apparently believing that any kind of publicity was good.  He invented a drink he called the “Casanova Cocktail.”  The recipe: One tablespoon of Campari bitters, one teaspoon of powered ginger, six tablespoons of brandy, and a pinch of Cayenne pepper. Combine the ingredients and put in the freezer.  After 30 minutes remove the contents and add the juice of one orange.  Stir and drink.  

Of this concoction, Dali claimed: “This is quite appropriate when circumstances such as exhaustion, overwork or simply excess of sobriety are calling for a pick-me-up. Here is a well-tested recipe to fit the bill. Let us stress another advantage of this particular pep-up concoction is that one doesn’t have to make the sour face that usually accompanies the absorption of a remedy.” 

Elvis Presley (1935-1977), although presumably the victim of a drug overdose, has the reputation of not being a regular drinker of alcohol.  His favorite beverages are said to have been Pepsi Cola and Mountain Valley Water.  The facts not withstanding, several alcoholic libations have been invented in the memory of the King of Rock and Roll.   One Elvis Presley Cocktail was unveiled recently on the 80th anniversary of his birth.  The recipe:  One ounce of vodka, 3/4 ounces of hazelnut liqueur, 3/4 ounce of Bailey’s Irish Cream, and 3/4 ounce of creme de banana.   Pour the ingredients into a shaker tin with ice.  Shake well and strain into an old fashion glass with ice.  The assumption is that this drink will taste just like a peanut butter and banana sandwich.  That was Elvis’ favorite.  

Other Maxon creations can be discerned from the final illustration showing a range of personalities in painted cast iron.  Among them I recognize Ronald Reagan, George Bush,  John Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and maybe George Romney.   The artist sells these bronze polychrome bottle openers for $83.00 each.  With a door knocker tongue inserted they are $94.00.  He also features other sculptures in cast iron and bronze, the bottle openers being among the least expensive.  One creation called “Bonsai Bass” fetches $4,500.  You can buy a Maxon opener and a whole lot of beer for that outlay of cash.

Charles Darwin and “The Monkey’s Uncle”

     

My father was a confirmed believer in evolution, often referring to “our ancestors the fish.” By contrast my father-in-law found the idea of a primate ancestor thoroughly disgusting and rejected it, unwilling to believe he descended from “a monkey’s uncle.”  We have a son who is an evolutionary biologist.  Because evolution is a frequent topic of conversation in our household, it seems appropriate to devote a post to Charles Darwin, shown above, whose 206th birthday the world celebrates on February 12.

Although Darwin was a thoughtful, serious scientist who made a monumental breakthrough in human thinking,  his revolutionary ideas were often ridiculed by skeptics and, at the time, made the subject of satirical cartoons and other illustrations.  In many cases, the monkey was at the center of such lampoons.  Darwin himself frequently was depicted as a monkey by cartoonists and illustrators.  

Because, through horrific circumstances, a French satirical magazine has been much in the news of late, I thought it appropriate to begin with a picture of Darwin as a monkey that appeared in 19th Century French publication “La Petite Lune” (The Little Moon).  It shows the scientist as a monkey wearing shorts, a tail over one hairy arm, hanging from a tree labeled “Tree of Science.”  It is believed that this image by artist Andre’ Gill was published about 1871, not long after Darwin had published a major work, “The Descent of Man.”

In that book, Darwin had argued that humans and monkeys share a common ancestors, a conclusion that many found hard to swallow.  The cartoon left portrays Darwin as a monkey, again with his human head.  He is shown holding up a mirror to a monkey sitting next to him and apparently showing the animal how much they look alike.  Appearing in Figaro’s London Sketch Book of Celebrities in 1874, the caricature was accompanied by two quotations from Shakespeare:  “This is the ape of form,” from Love’s Labor Lost and “Some four or five descents since…” from All’s Well That Ends Well.  Some have seen this as particularly demeaning to Darwin on the grounds that the monkey should be showing the mirror to the scientist, not the other way around.

The next cartoon at left is in the same vein,  Darwin’s head on a monkey body, apparently researching the large and protruding bustle on a tall woman whom he seems to be addressing.  While the message conveyed there is somewhat cloudy, the intent once again is ridicule the British biologist and his theories of human evolution.  Although the cartoons shown above have shown him with more or less human hands and feet, the image right has endowed him with chimpanzee-like digits.  Note that he appears to be grasping in one paw, a scroll.  This is apparently a reference to his writings on the “descent of man.”

Earlier, after the publication of “Origin of Species” by Darwin in 1859 and more particularly an article entitled, “Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms, with Observation of their Habits,”  Punch, the satirical London magazine, in 1882 published on its cover a cartoon that depicts the scientist as ancient sage watching as worms evolved into lizards, lizards into monkeys,  monkeys into sprites and cavemen, culminating in the figure of a British dandy.  Even though the figure of Darwin himself is human and not monkey, the purpose of Linley Tambourine’s cartoon clearly is to ridicule his theory of evolution.

A satire on Darwin could be made into a cartoon puzzle.  Shown here is a picture that contains no fewer than 13 animals in a illustration that accompanied an advertisement for British manufacturer of  boots and shoes. Call the “Monkey’s Tea Party,” the viewer is challenged to find a portrait of Darwin amidst the tumult.  It is not hard.  He can be found upside down on the right center of the picture.  

Spoofing Darwin could be put to mercantile purposes beyond the boot trade in England.  Merchant’s Gargling Oil, sold as fit for man and beast, found a natural foil in Darwin and his theories.   Its Victorian trade card shows a gorilla-like beast pouring the gargling oil on his leg while intoning a quatrain:   “If I am Darwin’s grandpa, It follows, don’t you see, That what is going for man and beast, Is doubly good for me.”  I say old chap, devilishly clever advertising, don’t you think?”

The final cartoon here is a satire on the satires.  It was penned by Chris Madden, a cartoonist whose work is frequently found in the pages of Philosophy Now magazine.  He has copied almost exactly the image of Darwin shown above, put him into tree and added a second figure behind asking “What about me?”  The other man-monkey would appear to be Alfred Russel Wallace, the British scientist who jointly deserves credit with Darwin for conceiving the theory of evolution through natural selection.  Wallace did not face the same level of ridicule as the elder scientist.

We cannot be sure what Darwin’s responses were to these images in his lifetime, but from the perspective of our times we know that the last laugh truly is from the scientist, not his detractors.  Although some elements of his theories of the origins of humankind have been challenged, shown to be flawed, or corrected,  Charles Darwin (with Wallace) were on the right track and he deserves to be ranked among the great thinkers of historical time.