The Outbursts of Everett True

[undyingking]

I've just discovered this excellent newspaper cartoon, which apparently ran from 1905 to 1927, although that link seems to carry a mostly early selection. The concept is simplicity itself: in the first panel something happens to annoy Everett (a portly old gent), in the second panel he berates (often violently) the perpetrator. The first few compress all this action into just one panel, but it definitely works better with two -- you get a good contrast between the relaxed scene of the setup and the chaotic denouement. Artiness aside (and the scenes are very nicely depicted), though, the beauty of it is the language of Everett's rants.

As an example: panel 1, the desk clerk in a posh-looking hotel is saying to Everett Best I can do for you is a room in the attic - six dollars a day.... Panel 2, Everett has grabbed the clerk round the neck with his umbrella, has hauled him over the desk, and is yelling You take me for a rube because I haven't got my necktie and fingers covered with spangles, and you let me stand around and wait five or ten minutes while you read the sporting news. Don't you! I'll give you a lesson in the first principles of hotel clerking, you simian-headed biped!!!!!

What I love about this is that his fury is so irrational and stream-of-consciousness-y: he doesn't even address what the clerk has actually said to him, which was clearly just the last straw.

Comments

[sdn.livejournal.com]

he's a walking id! this is the best strip ever.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Those are marvellous and most of them are still valid today.
Reminds me of Henry Rollins in a way. ;o)

[jadeent.livejournal.com]

"Simian-headed biped." I must remember that insult :-).

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Mm, getting towards Captain Haddock territory there!

[thecesspit.livejournal.com]

I wonder if Everett True from the NME circa 1991 named himself after the cartoon?

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Mm, I guess so. I always thought at the time that sounded like a kind of made-up name ;-)

[venta.livejournal.com]

I accidentally heard Everett True speaking at the weekend, and he claimed he did. Apparently he chose the name as being so obscure no one would know about it, and seems vaguely disconcerted that the internet has come back to bite him, spreading The Real Everett True to a much wider audience.