Life, 1907-07-11 · page 15 of 24
Life — July 11, 1907 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page from Life magazine satirizes prominent American figures through brief biographical sketches with heraldic illustrations: **J.G. Bennett** — Newspaper publisher and gossip columnist, mocked for living abroad in Paris while running a New York column, funding his lifestyle through editorial work while claiming genteel poverty. **Lillian Russell** — The famous actress/singer is portrayed sarcastically as a professional "husband-maker" and beauty who's preserved herself so carefully she cannot escape her past. The joke: despite her legendary voice, she may never actually learn to act. **E.W. Bok** — Appears to be a Philadelphia editor credited with inventing the bifurcated skirt and union suit, who deliberately keeps good ideas out of his publication. The page also includes two editorial jokes: one mocking naturalists' attribution of animal behavior to "human intelligence," and a mosquito dialogue where insects debate exterminating overpopulated humans—reversing typical perspectives for satirical effect.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Bennett J. G. A man about the world, and the owner of a purely per- sonal column in New York with a news- paper attached to it. In middle life he took for his motto, ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” and since then he has been discharging editors from Paris, in- stead of Herald Square. He is said to be the soul of generosity. The only thing he is particular about is the office boy, who writes the editorials and is therefore an object of solicitude. Mr. Bennett occa- sionally visits New York, and brings his own earthquake with him, After the up- heaval, he goes back to Paris and settles down once more to the simple life. His principal dict is cablegrams. It is ru- mored that he makes enough money to support himself. Nature Study Arour the first thing I saw, when I went out to study nature for a living, was a fat old bear working a patent exer- ciser, with chest weights, and stopping every now and then to weigh himself. Here was a puzzle right at the start. “Shall I put this down to intelligence, or the opposite?” I asked myself, and was quite in a quandary I finally decided to ask permission of my readers to stoop to a slight evasion and ascribe it to human intelligence, which, as you know, may mean almost anything. HILANTHROPY is cheaper than restitution. *-LIFE- Who's What In and Out of America A professional Russell, Lillian. husband-maker, and admitted peach of the freestone variety. This young woman was bor in Boston before glasses came into fashion, and when shapes were first being materialized From thence by easy stages she traveled to the Palm Room at the Waldorf. She rarely appears in private. Her principal occupation since the middle of the last century has been to preserve herself, and in this she has succeeded so admirably that no one can separate her from her past. And her voice is powerful enough to filla house. If she lives long enough, it is thought that some day she may learn to act, but this is in the dim future. Her favorite flower is the orange blossom. Author of the following: ‘Husbands Once, but Strangers Now.” Favorite motto: “My face is my fortune.” The Other Standpoint IRST MOSQUITO: Don’t you think these human beings are too numerous? Seconp Mosquito: Altogether so! Some effort ought to be made to extermi- nate them. Bok: E. W.. This young man was at one time an inmate of Brooklyn, where he learned the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments and the game of faro. From thence he moved to Philadel- phia, where he cuts and fits and tries on ideas, carefully keeping them out of his paper, otherwise known as the Town Topics, of Philadelphia. He is the au- thor of the bifurcated skirt and the union suit. Favorite flower, the passion. Motto “To the pure some things are profitable.” “HE 1S a sery dissipated young man, isn’t he?” “Hopeless. They are trying to marry him off to a Newport girl.” SAYING THINGS BEHIND WER BACK comicbooks.com