Life, 1914-03-26 · page 8 of 41
Life — March 26, 1914 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon satirizes debate over formal dress codes. It shows a tailor presenting a double-breasted frock-coat to a woman, while depicting a man reading. The text argues the frock-coat remains appropriate formal wear worn by "highest officials" despite some Americans preferring sack-coats (like three-button cutaways). The joke caption has the man saying he's reading "a new book—list of the marriages of the divorcees" and the woman responding "it must be the new 'who's whose.'" This references high-society divorce scandals—a common satire subject in this era. The article defends tailors' expertise and American men's right to dress formally, implicitly critiquing those who reject traditional formal wear as undignified.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
He: You KNow She: The Delaware National Park Wile we are casting about for a suitable disposition to make of Delaware, it might be well for Con- gress to consider converting it into a national park. There is no reason whatsoever why all the big national parks should be in the West. Delaware may be very poorly situated and very poorly equipped for statehood, but it THIS IS A NEW BOOK—LIST OP THE MARRIAGES OF THE DIVoRcEES, IT MUST BE THE NEW “ WHO'S WHOSE” is very excellently situated and not at all badly equipped for parkhood. So far as size is concerned, it would be less than two-thirds as large as Yellow- stone National Park, Such a park at such a point could be put to many happy uses. For instance, it could be used for mooring our navy as fast as it becomes obsolete, which is one of the fastest phenomena of this very fast age. The Coat Question We wish to emphasize that the double-breasted frock-coat is by no means relegated to the background. * * * The frock-coat is worn by the highest officials of our nation, and this itself maintains the dignity of this coat—This from the Tailors’ Association at a convention in Wash- ington. S it true that the frock-coat is worn by the highest officials of our na- tion? Our recollection is that no prominent baseball man, even upon offi- cial occasions, wears a frock-coat. We are quite sure that Mr. Murphy, of New York, usually arrays himself in a three or four-button cutaway. The frock-coat is affected by the governors of Southern States, and occasionally by Mr. Bryan. Mr. Wilson usually wears a sack-coat, even upon important occasions. What business has any tailors’ asso- ciation to assume that it can dictate to the American men as to the impor- tance or dignity of a particular coat? It is the business of American men to dress as uncomfortably as possible. If a three-button cutaway looks worse than a frock-coat, there is no reason in the world why a man should not wear it. “OH, DEAR! MOTHER ALWAYS SAID I WAS A LADYBUG, AND I'M ONE OF THOSE HATEFUL ROACHES" comichooksqom