Life, 1914-11-26 · page 35 of 44
Life — November 26, 1914 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**The Cartoon:** The small sketch shows an optimist who has tumbled down stairs, cheerfully declaring "Gee, but I'm glad I landed!" — a joke about finding silver linings even in mishaps. **The Article:** This page primarily features an essay titled "The Quality of Humor" debating whether American humor is declining. Critics like Stephen Leacock and publications like the *Evening Post* have complained that humor is disappearing or becoming too harsh (particularly *Punch's* wartime cartoons). The author argues this misses the point: humor cannot be manufactured on demand. True humorists like Dickens and Oliver Wendell Holmes produced humor incidentally, as a byproduct of their work. Attempting to maintain a professional reputation as a humorist is inherently dishonest—humor's real value lies in serving as a vehicle for more meaningful ideas. **Advertisement:** The page also contains a substantial advertisement for Edison's new Diamond Disc phonograph, emphasizing its superior sound reproduction. The page reflects early-20th-century anxiety about cultural decline and changing entertainment standards.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
/ a The Optimist (who has fallen down- stairs): GEE, BUT I’M GLAD I LANDED! The Quality of Humor HeMor—it there be any left in the world—and its presumed rep- resentatives have recently been catching it from the critics. Mr. Stephen Lea- cock, writing recently in an English review, intimates quite strongly that there are no more American humorists. The Evening Post takes Punch to task for the unrelieved savagery of its war cartoons and laments Punch’s decline. A Providence paper, similarly depre- cating Lire’s lack of “fun”, wants to know why it is that among one hun- When Edison says: ‘‘I have found what I have been looking for since 1877,’’ will you take the trouble to find out what itis? The things that Edison spends 37 years hunting for are worth knowing about. NEW EDISON DIAMOND DISC is an entirely new sound-reproducing instrument that re- produces music just as it sounded when the music was recorded. The machine tone has been entirely eliminated. You Should Hear this New Edison Invention If you do not know of a merchant who has the Edison Diamond Disc on exhibition, please write us. If you are a real music lover, we shall, at your request, endeavor to give you a Diamond Disc musicale in your home—or club. Do not hesitate to write us. A permanent diamond reproducing point—no needles to change. Unbreakable Disc Rec- ords. New selections every week. dred millions of people there are not better jokes forthcoming. The truth is that there never has been, nor never will be, a fixed stand- ard of humor, and the trouble lies with the critics who expect such a thing. A professional humorist is an unreal figure, Humor is incidental, or acci- dental. Dickens was a great humorist, but with him humor was a by-product. Oliver Wendell Holmes uttered a fine satire on this whole mistaken idea of humor on the part of the critics in his verses, the “ Height of the Ridicu- lous", about the man who, in won- drous humorous mood, wrote some lines so humorous that it resulted in a supreme disaster. He ends with the wise reflection: “ And since, I never dared to write As funny as I can,” The attempt to maintain a reputa- tion as a humorist is only a species of deception. At its best, it serves only as a means to interest people in other things of more enduring quality.