1942.02.02 “Always did want to branch out”
by Ralph Lee (1906-1947)
14.7 x 23.2 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection
Ralph Lee was an editorial cartoonist for the Portland Oregonian. He died suddenly, at 41, in January 1947. His cousin, Art Bimrose, was the editorial cartoonist for the Oregonian for more than three decades. In 1937, the Oregonian hired him part-time to work on printing plates. Following Lee’s death, Bimrose was hired as the Sunday editorial cartoonist.
By February 2, 1942, nationwide scrap drives are underway, Civil Defense messaging is saturating newspapers, and “salvage” is framed as patriotic action available to everyone. The war effort is being domesticated and moralized.
Lee activates a prewar, Depression-era virtue: saving string, keeping odds and ends… my grandparents were the masters of “better save it, it might be useful.” This is not industrial production; it is moral participation. The caption is deceptively light.
