Life, 1914-12-17 · page 36 of 40
Life — December 17, 1914 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This Life magazine page mixes advertisements with satirical humor and war commentary. The main cartoon, "The Catch of the Season," depicts a fashionable woman fishing—a visual pun on courtship as "the catch" during the social season. The "Austrian War Lament" is satirical verse mocking Austria's military collapse during World War I. It lists Austrian towns in increasingly panicked tone as Russian and Cossack forces advance, turning place names into a darkly comic inventory of defeat. The humor lies in the absurdist repetition and the exaggerated desperation—"a million" soldiers reported at various locations, supplies consumed, patriots buried. Other jokes on the page ("Sentimental arithmetic," the siege-gun definition) represent typical Life magazine humor: wordplay and gentle social satire about courtship, commerce, and contemporary life. The advertisements (chocolates, champagne, dentifrice) represent standard magazine content of the era.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘Fondants “Xmas” Box de Luxe TANGO CHOCOLATES These new dainty and delicious confections with the new sweet chocolate coating are presented in a beautifully attractive box in Tango effect and convey beyond any measure of description that temptingly delicious quality, inseparable from premier gift giving. There is, with them, the same touch of distinctive excellence that has stamped 4s Absolutely Best all Chocolates and Bon Bons bearing the name of PARK & TILFORD, NewYork Dealers everywhere and our stores “Let me see,” said the young man thoughtfully, “I've got to buy some flow- ers, and some confectionery, and some theatre tickets, and—" “Doing mental arithmetic?” the man at the next desk “No. Sentimental arithmetic.” —Washington Star. inquired THE CATCH OF THE SEASON OUR_ CON ing and healthful. Sans 1) of bitters by mall, 25 cts, In atampa, C, W, Abbott & Co., Baltimore, Md. SEVERSES FOOLISH MPORARIES LA 2 — Obliging Visitor (at séance),: to Mr. Brown. Artexpant: What Mr. Brown? Visitor: I can not remember his first name, but he is only lately deceased. Artenpant (formerly a department. store worker): Please show the gentle- man some of the latest shades of Browns. —Harper’s Weekly. I want to talk Sliced Oranges with a dash of Abbott's Bitters are appetic: Definition “Pa, what's a siege-gun?” “It's a mechanical device used for altering maps, my son."—Transcript. “My dear, you ought to pass up frivo- lous things and take an interest in deep This is the age of prevention. Good teeth and good health go hand in hand, and good teeth are only a matter of attention and prevention. Attend the dentist regularly—it pays—and prevent decay by using Sozodont liquid dentifrice. Sozo dont liquid penetrates the smallest crevices—it gets back into the places where decay starts, and this, only a liquid can do—Sozodont Liquid. Use Sozodont Powder and Sozo- dont Paste for polishing and brightening the teeth. Send 2¢ for generous sample of Sozodont. State whether you wish liquid, powder or paste. Hall & Ruckel, New York Makers of Sozodont since 1846 subjects. Take history, for instance. Here is an interesting item. Gessler, the tyrant, put up a hat for the Swiss to salute.” The lady was a trifle interested. “ How was it trimmed?" she inquired —louisville Courier-Journal. Austrian War Lament (Or, Pronunciation Made Easy.) We Austrians cannot stand the drizzle Of Russian shrapnel at Przemy: The Russian hordes are in the track of Our noble men who flee to Cracow. A million Cossacks may debouch, At any moment, at. Olkusz! A million more reported are At. Kamionkastrumilowa ! And yet another million have Consumed all food at Jareslaw! Ah! ev'rything they cleared—as well as The larders of Jaszarokszcellas! GREAT WESTERN CHAMPAGNE MADE IN AMERICA Highest Honors in France Extra Dry Seqieltzrerve The Only American Champagne Ever Awarded a Gold Medal at Foreign Expositions Parts Exposition, France, 1688. Then down lava, On rural, innocent Suczawa! And they poured, like molten now they march, screech, On harmless little Drohobycz! with hungry Curs'd be the foreign rascals, greasy, Who chased us at Tustanowice! Steel motor-cars—ten guns in each car— Are rolling on towards Wicliczka! How truly awful will it be If Cossacks mangle us at Stryj! No one inay even dare to guess of , The patriots who fell at Rzeszow. Of Czechs, ‘tis said, they've buried a Battalion at Csikszereda! As at the banquet of Belshazzar, The finger writes at Njiregyhaza! So, ere the sky with dawn grows streaky, ‘Let's fy to dear old Zaleszczyki! —London Opinion. PLEASANT VALLEY WINE CO., RHEIMS, N. Y. OLDEST AND LARGEST-MAKERS OF CHAMPAGNE IN AMERICA Ccomicbooks.com