Life — May 11, 1911 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This is Life's "Joy Rider's Number" cover, satirizing the then-popular automotive craze of "joy riding"—reckless driving for entertainment. The illustration shows two young people on a bicycle (not a motorcar, notably) with a dog running alongside, all in exuberant, chaotic motion. The woman wears a fashionable checkered hat and waves a megaphone. The satire works through ironic understatement: the cover's title claims this bicycle scene is "the real thing"—suggesting that actual joy riding (in automobiles) was so dangerous and excessive that a bicycle ride with a dog and megaphone represents the genuine thrill-seeking spirit of the era, just in safer form. It mocks both the joy-riding fad and the era's automobile mania.