Life, 1911-06-15 · page 41 of 44
Life — June 15, 1911 — page 41: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon advertises Knox Straw hats for the coronation season. It depicts a elegantly dressed woman (representing fashionable society) being admired by a man in formal attire and straw hat. The satire targets upper-class fashion consciousness—the idea that correct summer headwear is essential to being a "correct dresser" during coronation festivities. This is straightforward product advertising using social aspiration as its appeal. The surrounding content includes humorous essays on balls, dining etiquette (mocking the stiff formality of London dinners), and jokes about suburban life. The German correspondent's complaint that London dinner scenes lack laughter and animation contrasts sharply with the vivacious femininity celebrated in the hat advertisement above—highlighting period attitudes about propriety, gender, and social performance.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
N LAKE GEORGE The Sagamore Hotel June-October The Resort Beautiful T. E. Krumbholz, Sazamore, N.Y. -MADE AT KEY WEST#— Coronation Week Summer crowns every correct dresser with a Balls This world is but a ball To all. High—foot—, basket—or base—, To chase. Billiard—, or golf—, codfish—, or puff—, Masked—, saltatory; smooth or rough. Foul—, fair or slow, or high or low, Hot grounder, or just plain old snow— It is a ball, That's all. —Chicago Journal. On Dining A’ German writes to the London Daily Mail to protest in a good-natured way against the solemnity of the Lon- don dinner. He thus describes the din- ner scene at a great hotel: Elegant toilets, splendid surroundings —and an absence of sound. Slowly, stiffly, like automatons, the dining ladies and gentlemen proceed with their meal. The scene is undoubtedly very impres- sive, but oh, so sad! Aouid the sparkle or jewels ana stiver and crystal and porcelain, amid a scene that fairly ja- vites, begs, cries for a bright smile, a low, ripping laugh, or at least that deep, animated hum that makes itself noticed where there is a large gathering, the diners sit as in expectation of the judg- ment day. Sometimes somebody does speak. One word or two. The lips | Egyptian The man who has travelled abroad inva- riably prefers Deities” at home » Cork Tips or Plain hardly part. The other nods his head in terrible carnast. Then silence reigns supreme again. A friend who had been in England once related a story, the point of which I have never fully ap- preciated until now. Like myself, the first time he had entered a dining-room in London he looked around in surprise. Finally, toward the end of the meal, he called the waiter. “Tell me, please,” he asked, “does anybody ever laugh here “Well,” replied the waiter, “I am sorry to say that we have had com- plaints, but not often, sir—not often.” —Argonaut. The Extreme Limit “Is there anything worse than living in the suburbs?" asked Howard. “Yes,” replied Mr, Fartrek, of North Hackensack, “there is. Living in the suburbs of the suburbs.” —Harper’s Bazar. “How do you like your new chauf- feur?” “He's utterly impossible! On Park Heights Avenue yesterday he completely missed two dogs, one baby, a telegraph pole and another automobile. I am afraid he has had some great disappoint- ment in life that has taken the spirit out Baltimore Sun, comicbooks.com