Life, 1915-07-08 · page 17 of 44
Life — July 8, 1915 — page 17: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece mocks both pretentious journalism and human philosophical futility. A modern reporter interviews the Biblical King Solomon in the desert, seeking wisdom about human suffering and life's purpose. The joke operates on multiple levels: Solomon dismisses the journalist's question as the same tired inquiry humanity has asked for millennia—unanswered. He then mocks the reporter for thinking his "public" cares about genuine wisdom, reducing serious inquiry to mere assignment-fulfilling. The cartoon caption jokes about outdated female propriety ("When Grandmother Rode Out She Must Have Been a Sight"), likely commenting on changing social standards. The satire critiques both journalism's superficiality (reducing philosophy to quotable soundbites for readers) and humanity's circular thinking—we ask the same unanswerable questions across centuries without progress. Solomon emerges as weary and cynical about human intelligence.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“WHEN GRANDMOTHER RODE OUT SHE MUST HAVE BEEN A SIGHT” Interviews with Dead Celebrities OTHING is more wonderful than a certain kind of solitude. Only in the trackless desert does the spirit id its fullest release, I had searched for him in vain. Now, sitting on the yellow Arabian sand, while all around me stretched the illimitable wastes, my imagination found vent. Suddenly the great figure came and sat beside me. Yet he ap- peared an ordinary person with a Semitic face. “You are he for whom I have been searching?” I felt that it must be he. Greatness cannot be concealed. He bowed, “O King, you have said there is nothing new under the sun. After all these centuries 1 have come back to interview you and to tell you that you have guessed right. Il is vanity He turned to me gravely. “Young man,” he said, “I was the greatest king of my age. Now that I am dead, I spend my time roaming these desert sands. But I will be candid with you. I am busy. I have countless engagements with myself, stretching way ahead, Tell me, there- fore, in brief language, what you wish to know.” “O Solomon, I wish to know this: Did wisdom die with you, and, if so, what has been the use of all the gen- erations since you were? If the vast majority of the human race, even be- fore they are born, are i doomed to suffer, to grieve, to fail— what, in your opinion, is the neces- sity?” He smiled. “Since the world began,” he said, “that question has been asked, and remains unanswered. Think of the unutterable stupidity of the human race when, after all these centuries and in view of all your philosophers and experts, that is the only question you can think to ask.” “You mistake me, O King. You must at least do me the honor of believing that, as a journalist, I know my public, My assignment is to inter- view King Solomon and get him to talk on his specialty, Your answer is comicbooks.com