Life, 1914-06-04 · page 32 of 52
Life — June 4, 1914 — page 32: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page combines a **title-contest for an untitled cartoon** with editorial commentary on women's fashion and feminism. The cartoon depicts a street scene where a woman in modern dress appears to be dancing or moving freely among formally dressed onlookers—likely satirizing the "new woman" and suffragette movement of the 1910s. The accompanying text attacks this modernity. The poem "To Woman" nostalgically urges women to abandon the "sex question" (feminism/suffrage) and return to traditional femininity. The essay parodies this backward-looking sentiment by contrasting two eras: an idealized past where mothers wore restrictive hoop skirts yet appeared selfless, versus a predicted 1960 future where mothers wearing modern, revealing fashions would be equally devoted—suggesting that fashion changes cannot erase maternal love, thus subtly undermining the anti-feminist message. **The satire's target**: Life attacks progressive women's liberation while the embedded essay ironically undercuts that very criticism, implying progress is inevitable and natural.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
(This picture has no title.) For the Best Title to this Picture in Twenty Words or Less LiFe Will Pay $500 Conditions of the Contest The title, with sub-title, or in whatever form submitted, must not exceed twenty words. The paper upon which the title is sent should contain nothing but the title, with the name and address of the author in the upper left- hand corner. Manuscripts dressed to The Contest Editor of Lire, 17 West 31st Street, New York. Envelopes addressed in any other way will not be considered. All titles submitted must be at Lire office not later than Thurs- day, July 2, 1914. The contest will close at noon of that date. Within two weeks from July 4, a check for $500 will be sent to the winner. should be ad- Announcement of winner will be made in Lire’s issue of July 30. It is not necessary to be a sub- scriber to Lire in order to. com- pete. Only one title from each con- testant will be considered. No manuscript will be returned. The editors of Lire will be the judges. They will award the prize to the title which, in their judgment is the most deserving and will debar any contribution not conforming to these condi- tions. The classification of the titles will be supervised and cer- tified by Messrs. Lybrand, Ross Bros. & Montgomery, certified public accountants. The sooner you get your answer in the better. In previous contests many have arrived too late. To Woman BAckwarn, turn backward, dear ones in your flight, Make yourself girls again just for to-night ; Drop the sex question, sport, Blow us one kiss of the old-fashioned sort. “Wad Some Power” Extract from a Daily Paper. suffragette, One of my earlicst recollections is that of my sweet-faced mother attired in a soft gray dress distended by a huge hoop skirt, and on her head a scrap of a gray crépe bonnet with rose-colored strings, supported by a chignon, or waterfall, as it was familiarly called. The brown eyes that looked out at me from the framing bonnet were full of unselfish love, and the hoop skirt, huge as it was, could not keep me from her embracing arms. Mother knew little of art and much less of ‘the duty of self-ex- pression. She always appeared beautiful to us, and above all criti- cism. May our children look upon us with the same eyes. Y S, yes, without a doubt the news- paper correspondence columns in 1960 will read: One of my earliest recollections is that of my pink-faced mother attired in a near-Poiret costume of orange and mauve, with wired panniers and a spiral minaret overskirt. On her head 9 towering black affair shaped like a super-dreadnaught run over by an automobile, and topped by a hur- rah’s nest of Paradise plumes. But the brown eyes that looked out from their penciled shadows were full of unselfish love, and the slit skirt, scant as it was, could not keep her from running to kiss me when I fell. Mother knew little of art, but much of the beauty of self-expression, as was proved by the tautly filled silk stockings that gleamed through the slit. And so, though the cubist colorings have passed away, and the sloppy V- necked blouse is a thing of the past, to us mother’s old clothes are above all criticism. Mortuer. Carolyn Wells. comicbooks.com