William Ritt: You’re Telling Me!

Iran Takes From Daily Humor Column (1950’s)


Arash Norouzi

The Mossadegh Project | September 22, 2021                   


Here are a few Iran gags from You’re Telling Me!, a syndicated column distributed by Central Press Association. William Ritt (1902-1972) was a Cleveland based comic strip writer best known since the 1930’s for Brick Bradford, a sci-fi strip similar to Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.




October 10, 1951

Get out the crying towel as well as the welcome mat. Iran’s weepy premier, Mossadegh, is going to visit us.


October 25, 1951

Another it’s-an-ill-wind, etc., example: It took an international oil crisis to prove Iran’s Premier Mohammed Mossadegh is highly telegenic.


November 2, 1951

TO AN American baseball fan, reading about all the abuse being heaped by Egypt, Iran, et al, on the British Empire—it would seem the word should be pronounced “umpire.”

We understand Iran’s Premier Mossadegh is such a crying towel addict he could easily qualify for the post of football coach.


March 6, 1952

Looks like it might be a pretty dry spring after all. Premier Mossadegh hasn’t burst into tears in several weeks now.


June 1, 1952

Iranian cartoonists are now depicting the U.S. as a jackass. Probably trying to take the world’s mind off the spectacle of their own premier bursting into tears when he doesn’t get his way.


September 26, 1953

Ex-Premier Mossadegh is said to eat an average of three chickens a day. Good grief—that adds up to 21 Sunday dinners every week!


April 13, 1954

IRAN’S ex-Premier Mossadegh has issued a 400-page statement on why he should be released from his three-year prison term. Despite his predicament, he certainly isn’t at a loss for words.


October 29, 1955

Mohammed Mossadegh, Iran’s ex-premier serving a three-year sentence, is studying medicine. The old boy probably hopes to cure his country’s ills — when he gets out.


Arthur “Bugs” Baer: More Iran Jokes Than You Can Stand
Humorist Arthur “Bugs” Baer: He's Got More Iran Jokes Than You Can Stand (1950's)

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Related links:

Iran According To Ed Sullivan (1951-1954)

Colonel Joe Bush Says || Iran Jokes from the 1950's

Persia Is Adamant | The Advocate (Tasmania), Sept. 27, 1951



MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”

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