Highbrow---to---Lowbrow.

[Tomasso]

Click once, then again to enlarge.

 

[Widebrim]

Hmmm..."Splashy necktie, double-breasted suit" (with hat): Lower Middle-Brow..."Western Movies": Low-Brow..."Juke Box": Low-Brow..."Pulps, Comic Books": Low-Brow...I guess I've been pegged.[huh]

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think it's interesting that the Low Brow is the only one who's smiling.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Proud to be low-brow!!

 

[Edward]

Ah, I'm all over the place on that chart - sometimes several categories at once. Which is as it should be - I don't like to be boxed in by anyone.

From whence, and, indeed, from when, does this originate?

 

[rumblefish]

Once again, Food and drink is my only venture to high brow.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I think it's interesting that the Low Brow is the only one who's smiling.

But of course. Ignorance is bliss.


.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

From whence, and, indeed, from when, does this originate?

My guess is an Esquire article or book from the 1950s.


.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The whole classifying popular culture into highbrow-middlebrow-lowbrow thing was a postwar fad c. 1950, although the words themselves were around earlier. The chart itself comes from Life, which is the most middlebrow magazine ever published -- in fact, the whole idea of such classifications is awfully middlebrow when you think of it. Highbrows and lowbrows couldn't care less.

Me, I'm probably an upper-middle-lowbrow, from a long line of such. Give me a Spam sandwich and a ballgame and I'm happy.

 

[Paisley]

Highbrow reading: "Criticism of criticism." lol Reminds me of Frasier. However, Frasier's father was a lot more fun.

 

[Story]

Russian astronaut sez "article discriminatory to uni-brows!"

 

[dhermann1]

Yeah, from both the art work and the content I'd peg this at just about 1950. It's an interesting benchmark, tho, for the general drift of popular culture.
Of course, the question arises, "Oh, editors of Life magazine? Just what is the point of all this?"
Edit: Perusing the whole issue, it's clear that the 50's started in 1949!

 

[Viola]

I'm upper-middle and stridently low. Nothing highbrow, nothing low-middle. Must be my low class roots with aspirations of grandeur - what is the climbing vine of choice for each level? (obviously, some sort of tree-parasite orchid down to kudzu). lol

 

[Paisley]

Vines--an interesting question. Suggested answers:

High-brow: espaliered exotic tree
High-middle-brow: bougainvillea, brought in for the winter
Low-middle-brow: climbing hybrid tea rose that won't last the winter
Low-brow: bone hardy climbing rose that was dug up and thrown out by high-brow employer to make room for an espaliered tree

 

[dhermann1]

Super low brow: PLASTIC!

 

[Senator Jack]

Actually, I'm going to say that it's new made to look old based on the Eames and Planned Parenthood references. And then there's the iceberg lettuce dig. Iceberg, I seem to recall, was rather well-accepted back in the day. And Bridge? Low-brow? Mrs. Teasdale sure played a lot of it. Perhaps I'm wrong, though, and maybe there was some incredibly perspicacious around back then to write this.

 

[The Wolf]

It seems to me that LIFE magazine had a photo in a similar vein.
It was a photo of three men admiring art on the wall in front of them.
If I recall the high classman was looking at modern art, the middle classman was looking at a realist painting and the lower classman was looking at a pin-up.

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[vitanola]

Actually, I'm going to say that it's new made to look old based on the Eames and Planned Parenthood references. And then there's the iceberg lettuce dig. Iceberg, I seem to recall, was rather well-accepted back in the day. And Bridge? Low-brow? Mrs. Teasdale sure played a lot of it. Perhaps I'm wrong, though, and maybe there was some incredibly perspicacious around back then to write this.

Of course the Iceberg Lettuce "salad" was low-brow. It was POPULAR!
('though I can't quite think why.) In addition, by 1950 bridge had lost much of its cachet, and was considered to be a bit fuddy-duddy by the more advanced classes, having been a widely adopted fad of thirty years past.

I seem to recall seeing this same chart many years ago, and do not doubt that it is "echt".

 

[LizzieMaine]

I would have thought Pinochle would have been much lower-brow than Bridge. Besides, all the cool people played Canasta.

 

[Senator Jack]

When was Go imported to the U.S.? I'll presume there were some people who knew about it prior to its being marketed here as Othello in the 70s (okay, hold those cards and letters 'based on Go', I should say) but a joke is only funny if most of the readers gets the reference (hello, Dennis Miller), and if it were created in the 50s, this chart seems to have too many obscure references for that era (again, call for Mr. Miller) for it to have been funny to the average reader.

Still, the mix of references makes it difficult to pinpoint. While the style screams 50s, as does some of the content (musical extravaganzas, his and her towels), the Planned Parenthood and Go references indicate at least the 70s. I'd really like to find out the original date of this gag, though. As I wrote, if it is from the 50s, the writer was well ahead of the pack for that time.

Regards,

Jack