The Wasp — 1893 — page 494: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This satirical cartoon depicts a well-dressed man and an elegantly-attired woman in what appears to be a hallway or corridor. The caption quotes the man asking if Manager Stockwell has "squandered money in the way people say, Mr. Joblots," referencing claims about embezzlement or financial mismanagement. The woman responds that she's "never heard of it in my perambulations with the Salvation Army," and dismisses the idea that a theatrical manager would waste a fortune—suggesting instead he'd sooner display it in a dime museum as "the greatest freak of the age." The satire mocks both financial corruption among theater managers and the irony of moral virtue-signaling through charity work, particularly during economically difficult times.