Life, 1911-11-16 · page 25 of 44
Life — November 16, 1911 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes Chicago's rapidly growing wealth and cultural pretensions in the early 1900s. The cartoon depicts a caricatured figure (likely representing Chicago or a Chicago businessman) being plucked of feathers by "the Powers"—a reference to the city's industrial and financial elite who are extracting wealth. The figure threatens to pose "altogether" (nude) to survive, mocking Chicago's desperation to maintain its lavish lifestyle. Carolyn Wells's accompanying poem humorously describes Chicago as a place of excess and affectation: residents with "hearts and dinner plates of gold," streets like Broadway's "Great White Way," free spending of money ("chink"), and pretentious intellectual pursuits. The satire's key point: Wells admits she's *never been there* but writes about it anyway—mocking both Chicago's inflated reputation and the absurdity of commentary based on hearsay rather than observation. The humor targets Gilded Age excess and unearned cultural pretension.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“\P THE POWERS TAKE ANY MORE OF MY FEATHERS I'LL HAVE 10 POSE FOR “THE ALTOGETHER” TO EARN A LIVING” HICAGO is, I think, out West. I've not been there, but I like best To write of local matters in Places where I have never been. It seems to me, from what I hear, It’s like those pictures strange and queer That interest me, when I look, In my big Dante picture-book. Chicago people, I am told, Have hearts and dinner plates of gold. But as to that, I cannot say; I never have been out that way. Impressions of Chicago Their independence is their pride; Convention's knots they have untied. Their conversation’s full of spice, Chicago must be very nice. I've heard it is extremely gay; ’Most every street's a Great White Way. Men freely spend what they call “chink”; It sounds attractive—don't you think? I've heard, too, of their earnest crowd; Extension-souled, and most high-browed. They chase the Beautiful and True, And only use Thought that is new. And so you readily can see, What a nice place it seems to be; I've not been there—and I don't know Just when I can arrange to go. In fact, I oftenest keep out Of places that I write about. Their great attractions I admit, But I take others’ word for it. Carolyn Wells. comicbooks.com