Life, 1915-06-03 · page 36 of 52
Life — June 3, 1915 — page 36: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several short humorous anecdotes and advertisements typical of *Life* magazine's satirical humor circa 1915. **The cartoons/jokes:** - "A New Trouble" mocks vanity—a woman complains her name appeared in the paper five times but wasn't noticed due to small type size - "It Might Be Worse" offers dark comfort: a pessimist fears nothing he writes will endure; a friend responds he should be grateful to be alive despite his writing - "A Super-Herculean Task" jokes that refilling a whiskey bottle is harder than Hercules's legendary twelve tasks - "The Gentle Cynic" defines cynicism as fake emotion and contrarianism—pretending to weep at tragedy, calling comedians boring, leaving early to seem superior **Context:** These reflect early 20th-century anxieties about modern life, vanity, and performative attitudes. The advertisements (whiskey, garters, books on Egyptian deities and "sexology") show period consumer goods. The humor relies on wordplay and social observation rather than visual cartooning.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
A New Trouble you the editor of the sked the lady with the drab spats. ing. “Tam,” replied the man with t poised pencil, “Well, I called to ask i you wouldn't get larger type. My was in your paper five times | and a neighbor of mine told me never saw it."—Yonkers Statesman, Tt Might Be Worse Port 1 fear I haven't written any thing that will live. Fetexo: Look on the b ht side of it. Be thankful that you are alive in spite of what you have written. —London Opinion Sliced Oranges with adlash of Abbott's Ittters are 1. Sample ters by mall, 23 ets. fi M Are you sure it was a icense you gave me last Certainly, sir. Why? Well, I've led a dog's since.—Boston Transcript. A SUPER-HERCULEAN TASK. Hercules: ** Don't tell me thirteen isn't an unlucky num- ber. Here I have performed twelve Herculean tasks, and now they say I’ve got to refill a CARSTAIRS bottle." Carstairs E sure you get Carstairs Rye in the non-refillable bottle—“a good bottle to keep good whiskey good.” It insures your getting this rare old whis- key whose mellowness is the result of long ageing combined with our more than 100 years experience as distillers, STEWART DISTILLING CO. The Gentle Cynic If for a cynic you want a receipt, Mix with your malice a keg of conceit, Brains but a trifle, envy a ton, And that cheap little trick of mechanical fun, The habit of weeping when others are glad, The habit of smiling when others are sad ; You don't really weep and you don't really smile, But merely pretend with a cynical guile; If some one should act as a Hamlet or Lear, And draw from the people a sigh or a tear, Beware of your feelings, since grief is the cue To say the performance seems funny to you, But if some poor devil is doing his best To give to a story the point of a jest, The surest of signs of your cynical wit When laughter re-echoes from ‘ceiling to pit, Is to say the comedian’s a wearisome bore, Each one of whose stories you've suf- fered before, Then take up your hat and make straight for the door. There's nothing so easy for failures to learn . As this ready-made wit with a cynical turn, —San Francisco Chronicle. Lights Out My dear, you look sweet enough to hat’s the way I intended to look, "Princeton Tiger. EGYPTIAN | DEITIES pp harman PREFER Deities imparts in a clear whol in one volum cher People’s Opinions"* aa. of Contents. Write fo | puRITAN PUB. CO., 797 PERRY BLDG, PHILA.. PA. | No Rubber Weighs Only in Leg Band % an Ounce No_ needless material goes into_ this OPEN TRIANGLE garter. OM- FORT without bulk, STRENGTH without weight, and constant sock SMOOTHNESS. your dealer Single grip, mer cerized, 25; silk, soc: double’ grip, mercer- ‘Grip ized, _35€3 silk Soe. George Frost Co.. Makers, Boston, Mass. comicbooks.com