Comets

President Roosevelt stands at the ready with his big stick as a new comet heads for the earth. Caption: The new comet had better not get too near this strenuous earth of ours.

comments and context

Comments and Context

When scientists and astronomers forecast the arrival, in three years, of Halley’s Comet to earth’s night skies, cartoonist Ryan Walker took the occasion to pay humorous homage to the mighty Roosevelt, astride the earth, like a Greek god of old, strenuously aiming to bat it away.

Cartoon postcard featuring a smiling Theodore Roosevelt as a comet flying above the earth.

Collection

Fritz R. Gordner Collection

Creation Date

1910

“Halley’s Comet” on “The Comets Orbit” brushes the surface of “The Earth” on “The Orbit of the Earth” as they draw near each other. Caption: “Brush yo’ off, Suh? Ain’t gwine t’ be ’round ag’in foh sev’ty-five yeahs!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-05-18

A comet labeled “Allds Investigation” strikes a planet labeled “Albany Legislature,” causing it to explode among planets labeled “Aldrich, Penrose, Payne, Vreeland, Dalzell, Cannon, Hitchcock, Woodruff, Ballinger, Root, Platt, Depew, Parsons, Sherman, Bliss, Black, Cortelyou, Odell, Lodge, Hale, [and] Elkins.” A lone planet showing the face of Theodore Roosevelt hovers on the far right. Caption: A comet that has cut loose in the Republican constellation.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-03-09

Cameo portraits of “Clark, Saulsbury, Metz, Wells, Marshall, Gerard, Wilson, McAdoo, Sulzer, Bryan, Elkus, Hudspeth, Underwood, Harmon, [and] Daniels” form a cluster of comets in the night sky on election night, November 5, 1912. An elephant and a bull moose are frightened by the “celestial display.” Caption: A celestial display which may be seen to best advantage on the night of Tuesday, November 5. Elephants and Bull Moose should beware of comets and seek cyclone-cellars. Display will be especially dazzling at Oyster Bay, N.Y., and Beverly, Mass. Visible anywhere in the United States, however, shortly after sundown.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-10-23