The Wasp — 1890 — page 193: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains theatrical gossip and social commentary rather than political cartoons. The two sketches illustrate anecdotes about San Francisco society figures and entertainment personalities from what appears to be the late 1800s. The upper cartoon depicts a door-keeper turning away a poor man from a baseball game. The lower cartoon shows a woman at a boarding house window rejecting a similarly destitute man. Both illustrations satirize the casual cruelty of the privileged toward the poor—the jokes hinge on the gatekeepers' dismissive attitudes toward those lacking money for admission or lodging. The surrounding text gossips about actors like Clay Greene, Mrs. Haxton, and Fanny Gillette, discussing theatrical performances and personal scandals. The humor targets both class pretensions and theatrical melodrama.