Life, 1913-01-30 · page 15 of 36
Life — January 30, 1913 — page 15: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The top cartoon satirizes an art editor desperately seeking illustrations, offering vague promises of undefined possibilities if a contributor would visit "once or twice a day"—mocking editorial desperation and evasive pitch tactics. The main article humorously proposes that Yale's prehistoric-man expedition should instead search for a "prehistoric woman." The satire critiques early 1900s women's liberation: the piece idealizes a hypothetical prehistoric woman who managed her own household, children, and husband without relying on doctors or joining women's clubs—implying that contemporary women of means have become dependent, frivolous, and abandoning domestic duties for social organizations. The "Standard Oil" brief makes a crude joke equating corporate dissolution with feminine emotional breakdown: when Standard Oil Company dissolved (antitrust breakup), its stock value doubled, compared to how a woman's "value" supposedly increases after crying herself out. The final "Wimble/Gimple" dialogue jokes that Gumble calls his extravagant wife his "blonded indebtedness"—a pun on "blonde" and "indebted," suggesting wives cause financial ruin through spending.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Art Editor: wHY—ER—YOU SEE, SO FAR WE HAVE NEVER USED ANY ILLUSTRATIONS, BUT, IP YOU COULD DROP IN—ER—SAY ONCE OR TWICE A DAY, THERE'S NO TELLING—ER—WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN The Pre-Historic Woman N expedition from Yale College has sailed for South America in order to make further extensive searches for the prehistoric man. This gentleman is (academi- cally) supposed to have existed in Peru fifty thousand years ago, and Prof. Hiram Bingham of Yale is going to unearth him, if possible, and bring him back for pur- poses of exhibition and study. It seems to us that Professor Bingham might be better engaged if he started out to find the prehistoric woman instead of the prehistoric man. This interesting person, if ever discovered, might furnish a fit subject for sociol- ogists and lecturers. We do not know what the prehistoric woman was like, but we have an idea that she washed her own dishes, made her own raiment, nursed her own children, and managed her own husband. We do not believe that the prehistoric woman belonged to a woman's club, although she may have wielded one in the interests of the family. We do not believe that the prehistoric woman, when the baby got sick, suddenly fell into a panic and called in the family physician. We have an idea that she treated the children herself. And, in fact, while she was a very su- perior and dominating person, that her activities were narrowed to the limits of her own home, rather than out- side of it. If, therefore, this lady could be discovered and placed upon exhibition, she might become, even at this late date, an exceedingly useful and inspiring member of society. The Female of Her Species, Etc. HE dissolution of the Standard Oil Company has been followed by a big increase in the value of its stock. In one week before the first of the year, Standard Oil ad- vanced nearly one hundred points. The Standard Oil Company must have a feminine temperament. That is what happens to a woman when she becomes dissolved in tears; the dissolution is always followed by a period of reaction, in which the value of the woman doubles. IMBLE: Isn’t Gumble’s light-haired extravagant? Giapie: You bet! ness. wife pretty He calls her his blonded indebted- comicbooks.com