Life, 1894-05-10 · page 8 of 16
Life — May 10, 1894 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Reminiscence of a Gripman" - Life Magazine Page 304 This is a humorous first-person account by a cable car gripman (the operator who controls San Francisco's famous cable cars). The narrative spans Monday through Thursday, describing workplace incidents and frustrations. The accompanying illustrations show the gripman's various mishaps: running over a newsboy, struggling with a difficult conductor, and dealing with passengers jumping on and off the moving car. The satirical point concerns the company's cost-cutting by using cheaper cable grips that wear out quickly, forcing frequent stops that inconvenience passengers. The humor derives from the gripman's deadpan description of chaos—injured newsboys, acrobatic passengers—presented as routine occupational hazards. The satire critiques corporate penny-pinching that prioritizes profit over safety and service quality.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
- LIFE: SHE UNDERSTOOD THE USES OF THOSE THINGS. ONDAY. Felt very well to-day. Didn't do a thing except run over a newsboy at Park Place and cut off a couple of his legs. TUESDAY. That conductor on my car is getting too fresh. But I got even with him, Every time he rung to stop, I stopped, but just as the old ladies and old gentlemen were getting off, I made fast with the grip and there was more senile ground and lofty tumbling than ever I saw in my life. . WEDNESDAY. The Superintendent got on at Bowling Green to-day and rode all the way to the Park, so I didn’t have a chance to have any fun on that trip, but I made it up on the others, It’s mighty funny to me if that chump wants to find out what us fellows is doing he don’t put on some spotters. Perhaps he don’t care though if we make time and don’t wear out the cable by making too many stops for passengers, THURSDAY, Just found out why the company don’t put spotters on us fel- lows, It seems there's two kinds of grips and one costs more than the other. The cheap one wears out the cable every time it takes hold of it, so the company uses the cheap one and don’t mind if we do make folks jump on and off when the car is going. Besides that the grip that comicbooks.com