Life — June 23, 1910 — page 11: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Funnmeter: An Aid to Weary Editors" This cartoon satirizes the challenge editors face in evaluating humor submissions. The illustration shows two men at a desk with an ornate clock labeled "FUNNY" above it—a mock measuring device for determining whether writing is funny. The accompanying text discusses Mr. Chester's advice on short-story writing, emphasizing that good humor requires specific talents: "creativeness imagination, observation democracy, sympathy, humor and industry." The joke targets the subjective nature of editorial work: there's no objective "meter" for measuring humor, yet editors must constantly judge submissions. The cartoon humorously visualizes this impossible task—suggesting editors desperately need such a device because determining what's actually funny is inherently difficult and inconsistent.