Life, 1913-05-01 · page 16 of 48
Life — May 1, 1913 — page 16: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes the early 20th-century "physical culture" movement—the newly fashionable obsession with exercise and fitness. The top illustration shows a speeding automobile with figures watching, labeled "A Stroll in the Country," mocking how modern transportation has replaced traditional walks. The main text parodies fitness advice manuals with absurd "bed exercises": rolling blankets into balls, grabbing mattresses with your teeth, lifting entire beds onto your shoulders. The humor lies in the ridiculous exaggeration—these "movements" are nonsensical and impossible, mocking the era's pseudoscientific exercise fads. The small cartoon below shows a job interview where an employer asks an applicant about children, stating they "make it a rule to give the preference to men with large families"—satirizing paternalistic hiring practices and the era's assumptions about family obligations and male employment. Together, the page humorously critiques modern obsessions: exercise crazes, automotive culture, and rigid social/employment norms.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
The New Art E XERCISING in bed having come into vogue, we sug- gest the following as being among the latest move- ments: No. 1. With a deft movement of both forearms, roll the blankets, eider-down quilts and sheets into a neat, but not too gaudy, ball. Toss this up in the air and catch it lightly upon the soles of the feet. Do this ten times the first morning, adding five cach morning. No. 2. Lie prone upon the stomach and grab the mat- tress firmly in the teeth; move the head backward. By practising this motion for a week you will be able to im- prove the muscles of the shoulder-blades. No. 3. Get under the bed and, lifting it lightly upon the shoulders, walk around the block three times. If you are living near a public square, increase your journey every day until you have compassed the square. No. 4. Be sure and have two mattresses to your bed, and occasionally sleep between them. The upper mattress should be rather heavy. It presses out the muscles and stomach and prevents you from getting fat in case you have a tendency that way. Above all things do nothing violently! A STROLL IN THE COUNTRY Applicant: WED N H RY, BUT MAKE IT A RULE TO GIVE THE PREFERENCE TO MEN WITH LARGE FAMILIES. Employer: MARRIED, EH? HOW MANY CHILDREN? | comicbooks.com