Life, 1915-03-04 · page 31 of 48
Life — March 4, 1915 — page 31: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page announces the third week of a caption-writing contest for a Charles Dana Gibson drawing (visible opposite). Readers submit answers competing for $870 in prizes—a deliberate change from previous contests offering only one $300 prize, intended to encourage broader participation. The main cartoon depicts a seesaw labeled "Male Superiority" with a woman and man in opposition, captioned "You Either Come Down or We'll Come Up"—likely satirizing contemporary debates over women's rights and gender equality during the Progressive Era. Below, a brief comic dialogue titled "Ever Experience It?" satirizes generational perception: a man feeling ancient after hearing a teenager reminisce about his childhood—poking fun at how rapidly cultural norms and childhood experiences change, making older generations feel outdated.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“eee The Contest 'HIS is the third week of the contest for the best answer to the question under Mr. Gibson’s drawing, which is printed on the oppo- site page. In previous contests for titles to pictures, the largest prize has been $300, and there has been only one prize. In completing their labors and deciding as to who should get that prize, the judges were of the opinion that it would be better in the next contest to give more than one prize. This idea is now being carried out. It is not nearly so ouraging to compete for ten prizes as it is for one, and so this time Lire is offering $870 as a total, this sum being divided into variou: unts, a list of which is given in the table of prizes. A notice of this contest is now appearing as an ad- vertisement in the principal magazines throughout the country, In this advertisement the reader is referred to the current issues of this paper in order that he may comply with the conditions governing the contest. These conditions will be found on the preceding page, and should be read carefully by every contestant. It is important that every condition be faithfully ad- hered to: In a general way it may be stated that so long as the contestant confines himself or herself within the specified number of words, any combination of those words is ad- missable. For example, the answer may be in the form of a brief dialogue. The method of awarding the prizes has gradually been perfected through experience in previous contests, and is as fair as it is possible to make a decision. From all the answers received, between two and three hundred are set aside as available for the prizes; then each judge reads these independently, and makes his decision without the knowledge of any other judges, by a system of sealed envelopes. This process is gone over several times, until IF THE MUZZLE'S A GOOD THING, PUSH !T ALONG “YOU EITHER COME DOWN OR WE'LL CoME UP” the choice is narrowed down by a mathematical process of elimination to the one answer, which in the combined opinion of the judges, is best. Then the answer which is second best naturally follows, and so on, It may be interesting to our readers to know that the selection of a picture for this contest was by no means as easy as it seems. Mr. Gibson prepared his picture without any idea that it would be used for this purpose; but among a great number of other pictures which passed in review before the editors, this particular one was at last unanimously agreed upon as being the best for a contest, We may say that we ourselves have in mind no title at the present time which we consider fits this picture. In other words, we are just as much at sea as any contestant, and we shall await the final result with as great interest as any of our readers. Please be sure and read all the conditions. This is very important. Ever Experience It? OKUS: I feel like the oldest person in the world. Pokus: What are you talking about? You're not a day over thirty-five. Hoxus: Yes, but I've just been listening to a sixteen- year-old boy tell about the things he used to do when he was a kid. comlicbooks.cfluy) |