James Blaine’s “The Tattooed Man” as Phryné, June 4th, 1884
Above, Phryne Before the Chicago Tribunal, by artist Bernhard Gillam. Of the twenty-two cartoons in “The Tattooed-Man” series, the above is the best known, because of the reaction it generated. It ran as the centerspread in the June 4th, 1884 issue of Puck magazine, during the Republican nominating Convention in Chicago. The Tattooed Man series [...]
The Vault of Republican Morality: James Blaine’s “The Tattooed Man” series, June 11th, 1884
We return again with another cartoon in Puck magazine’s The Tattooed-Man series. parodying former Speaker of the House, James G. Blaine. His long career filled with corruption and impropriety, inspired Puck‘s artist to depict him as a man whose body is tattooed head-to-toe with his many sins. I’m running the series because of Blaine’s numerous [...]
James G. Blaine’s Debut as “The Tattooed Man”, April 16, 2026
Above, by artist Bernhard Gillam, the April 16th, 1884 debut of Presidential candidate & eventual Republican Party nominee James Blaine, as The Tattooed Man. Blaine was the late 19th Century’s version of current candidate, Newt Gingrich — a former Speaker of the House, known for his astoundingly arrogance, reputation for lying, and a long history [...]
Pied Piper of the Republican Party, 1884 — The Children Refuse to be Charmed
With Newt Gingrich remaining in the current Republican primaries for minimally another month — and possibly much longer — we have an opportunity to start into the “Tattooed Man” series of cartoons, that parodied Newt’s 1884 equivalent, James G. Blaine. The above cartoon by artist Frederick Burr Opper, appeared on the rear cover of the [...]
